| Action | | A type of object used to trigger an event. Actions are set on other objects. For example, you can have a pillow object having an action object called 'whap'. 'Whap' becomes a command you can type that will automatically whap another character with the pillow. Actions are very versatile and can be enhanced with MPI to do many things. The most common actions are called 'exits', which trigger a move from one room to another. |
| Clone | | A non-functional copy of a player's connection, visible using the WHO or FIND programs. Clones are an artifact of someone having lost their connection before logging off the muck, where server still thinks the connection is open. Eventually clones time-out and are automatically logged off. Clones cannot be manipulated or restored. The command '@bootme' removes any clones. |
| Dbref | | Database reference, a number that uniquely identifies an object. Dbrefs are numbers preceeded by a hash: #1184. Two objects may have the same name but they will always have a unique dbref. In many situations, the object name and its dbref are interchangeable. |
| Exit | | A type of object used to create a movement link between two rooms. Exits are the destinations listed just below a room's description. They are in effect one-way teleporters. Note that exits are actually a subset of action objects. Most objects can have actions, but only room objects can have exits. |
| Grain | | In A Bug's Muck, grain is a kind of currency that limits a player's ability to create objects. It is not used or mentioned in role-play situations. Grains are randomly found by moving about the muck, therefore the more you participate, the more you can build. Many mucks call these 'pennies'. |
| Here | | A synonym for your current location. 'look here' will give the same results as 'look'. Here is most useful when setting attributes on a location, as it saves you from having to remember the dbref or type in a long name. Ex: @desc here=A cozy little room. |
| In-Character | | Indicates a character's fictional role-play personality is in use. Often denotes a player or puppet who is engaged in role-play. |
| Me | | A synonym for you, your awake player on the muck. If your name is Silver and your dbref is #1184, you can type 'look Silver' or 'look #1184' or 'look me'-- the results are the same. Me is useful when setting attributes on yourself. Ex: @desc me=A tall purple ant. |
| MPI | | A programming language used for dynamic descriptions on rooms, things and players. Players are strongly encouraged to learn a little MPI, as it greatly expands what you can do with your character and object descriptions. |
| Muck | | You probably know by now what a muck is, but what does the word mean? Some say 'MUCK' stands for 'Multi-User Chat Kingdom', but it doesn't really mean anything. It's simply a word devived from MUD (Multi-User Dungeon or Domain), an older form of online gaming/community that is more rules-based than chat-based. Muck sounds good and implies 'mucking about', which many of us do a lot! |
| MUF | | A programming language used mainly for system programming. |
| Object | | A muck is made up of an organized hierarchy of components called objects. Object types are: rooms, players, things, exits/actions, programs. |
| Out-Of-Character | | Indicates the characters's fictional personality is being ignored in favor of the player's real-life personality or some other persona. Denotes that the character is not seriously role-playing. Note that some characters have an alternate personality for out-of-character purposes. |
| Player | | A muck object that is the owning player's main perspective in the MUCK. |
| Pose | | A pose is something your character does or says that interacts with other characters. A true 'pose' is a command that results in your character name followed by an action. For example, 'Silver sits down.' |
| Powerpose | | Writing a pose which dictates the action or condition of another player without their consent. Powerposing is considered rude and is heavily discouraged. |
| Puppet | | A special 'thing' object with player-like abilites and controlled by the owning player, commonly used to create additional characters for role-play. You cannot log on to the muck as a puppet, but puppets can do most other things that players can do. In A Bug's Muck, there is no distinction between players and puppets for role-play-- puppet-characters have the same rights and respect as player-characters, they are simply two different mechanics for creating a character. In many mucks a puppet is known as a 'zombie', but that term is never used in A Bug's Muck. |
| Room | | A type of object used to represent a location within the muck. Rooms can contain exits, players and things. |
| Spam | | A large amount of uninteresting, superfluous or annoying text. |
| Spoof | | A spoof is a message to all in a room that that does not begin with a player name. For example, '"I don't know," says Silver.' A spoof could be and often is annonymous and is useful for adding narration to role-play. For example, 'A breeze whispers through the trees overhead.' |
| Thing | | A type of object that is used to represent tangible items that are not characters or rooms. Things are often used as character props such as articles of clothing, weapons or furniture. Note that a puppet is a special type of thing object with player-like attributes. |
| Tinyplot | | A rough script for one or more role-play sessions. Often abbreviated TP. |
| Toad | | A player that was eliminated from the muck, usually due to consistently rude or destructive behavior. To toad someone is to permanently kick them off the muck. The term comes from the idea that a wizard has turned the character into a toad. |
| Twink | | A consistently rude, discourteous, or otherwise obnoxious player. Used in many mucks to describe players who routinely powerpose or consistently ignore warnings about rude behavior. The term is not used much in A Bug's Muck. |
| Wizard | | A player with special administrative abilities and responsibilities. |