Dragonia

Policies and Procedures

Purpose

Dragonia exists to provide a place for (1) people who are interested in dragons to meet and act out or interact with dragons and (2) to provide entertainment to those using this service. To this end, Dragonia is built, maintained, and serviced by private effort and the service provider, maintainer(s), and/or builder(s) reserve the right to restrict access to anyone.

Policies and Procedures

These policies and procedures are subject to change without notice. It is the responsibility of the users of Dragonia to know and agree with these policies.

Accessing

Dragonia is to be accessed through Internet TCP Telnet protocol. Additional protocols may be added at any point, and may potentially include HTTP, Gopher, FTP, or HyTelnet. Access is provided initially on telnet://moo.cas.muohio.edu:4457. This access may be moved or modified at any time. Only Telnet protocol capable clients may fully participate in Dragonia. If your ISP doesn't provide Telnet, complain until you do get Telnet access.

Character Creation

Users of Dragonia are to have one character only (with the exception of builders, programmers, and wizards). Users are also required to have a valid e-mail address at which the character information can be mailed. This address will also be used for announcements regarding Dragonia. Without the e-mail address, or a specific exemption from one of the wizards, no character can be created. Characters can be automatically generated at the main, or login, screen.
Dragon characters are only created when there is a free dragon egg available in the hatching cave. Dragon eggs that are not present in the hatching cave are considered infertile and will never create a character. Human characters may be created at any time.
Users of Dragonia are permitted once to choose some of their characteristics. They may change sex (gender) and (in the case of dragons) type (occidental or oriental) at the point of initial character generation. At any point a character may change aliases, description, home, etc. If a user wishes to change the basic information about the character (i.e., sex or dragon type), the user must be willing to have the character "start over"--that is, all equipment, features, skills, etc., are to be abandoned and the character regenerated. This is a wizardly action.

In-character and out-of-character

In-character (IC) refers to actions that fall within the role-playing of the environment. Dragons should act like dragons, not like two college students discussing pick-up lines for MOOs. Likewise, out-of-character (OOC) actions occur outside of the role-playing enivironment. OOC is tolerated when all characters or objects (including listening objects) in a room consent to OOC behavior. Otherwise, in-character behavior is to be expected. Builders, programmers, and wizards can choose to ignore the IC/OOC policies based on their own individual discretion; they are not to abuse this, either. Punishment is left up to the wizard contacted with any IC/OOC violations.

Builders

Builders build rooms and areas in the MOO. Their output is expected to be quality and highly detailed. Builders have a building quota which is extended by good quality work. Builders can teleport between locations and page other users. They can look into how Dragonia works, but not in too much detail. Builders are required to have an "alternate" character that plays in Dragonia, as opposed to a builder character that builds Dragonia.

Programmers

Programmers build objects in the MOO. They provide spells, special behaviors in rooms or on other objects, and may work within the Dragonia core to extend the system. They are expected to produce quality programs for Dragonia's users. They can do everything builders can do, along with attaching to any feature and extending some measure of control over player characters. Thy are expected to have an alternate character, like builders.

Wizards

Wizards control every aspect of Dragonia. They can do anything, short of restoring permanently dead characters or restoring erased data. Wizards understand the MOO, can create characters outside of the policies and procedures, and can act with fiat. They can shut down Dragonia. They are expected to have a programer and a player alternate.

Behavior

Behavior on the MOO (language, actions, emotes) fall within what is to be considered appropriate for polite company, unless all participants in that room agree to act differently. Violations of the policy will be dealt with severly.

@move, @join, @page, ', +

These are reserved for a feature object that the character may discover in his or her adventures in Dragonia. They are not included in the basic character so as to preserve some of the virtual reality. Builders, programmers, and wizards retain these verbs.

Combat and temporary death

Fighting is not to be automated. There is a rich attack system. Defenses, including lethal defenses, are automated, but all attacks are to be launched by the character. Death results in a character going into a "comatose" state, where he or she is unconscious for two real minutes. The attacker may then loot and flee. Dead characters may lose some attributes or skills due to this state. Recovery of those attributes would be through the same means they were gained (dragons aging, skill advancement). "Dead" characters will reawaken where they were killed. Attackers and dead characters will not be able to combat for an additional 30 real minutes after death.

Permanent death

When attributes are lowered below 1, or in cases of death magic or dragonfire death, the character will be permanently dead. The user will be presented with the opportunity to regenerate the character immediately, but all skills, equipment, etc., is permanently left behind with the corpse. Names may be reused. Dragonfire death is permanent and irrevocable.

Feature objects

Feature objects add skills to players and permit players to use those skills. @add-feature and @remove-feature have been placed on $programmer and $wizard only. Acquiring features is a "learning process."

Magic

Magic spells are kept on features. These are to be designed by programmers or wizards, but can be suggested by any user. Spell use acts as any other skill. Certain objects may resist or assist in spells, or provide spell-like effects.

Getting Started

When you agree to all of the above policies and procedures, use your Telnet client to connect to telnet://moo.cas.muohio.edu:4457. Once there, connect as a guest (type connect guest) and explore Dragonia. If you still want to be a user, disconnect, telnet back to Dragonia and attempt to create a character (following the instructions on the login screen).