This section provides an introduction to MUD, and was written to be of some help to absolute beginners who are just starting with the game. Before you can begin to play "properly", there are a few basic facts you should know to smooth the way. Traditionally, this information is obtained from other players, but newcomers are often too shy to ask. Also, although other players will usually help you once they realise you really ARE a complete novice, it's often hard to convince them that you're not an experienced player acting dumb!

All MUD players would agree that the first few games are very confusing, and not everyone stays the course. However, many years of experience in showing newcomers the ropes has highlighted certain areas where most players have problems. To help you find your feet more quickly, then, the commonest questions asked by novices are paraphrased in this document, with the appropriate replies. Note that these questions are game-related only - if you have problems accessing the game, or with your communications software, contact Viktor Toth direct (Viktor the arch-wizard is the person which runs MUD). The e-mail address is sysop@mud2.com.

The questions are listed in a vaguely "easiest first" order. Some of the later ones you won't understand until you've played the game and seen things happen you'd like explaining. At the very end, after the questions, is a list of words and phrases commonly used in MUD by the players, the meanings of which aren't always apparent to the beginner.

Other essential information is provided within MUD itself, by the commands HELP, COMMANDS, INFO and HINTS. There is also a good deal of assistance and advice in the MUD on-line Library, written by some of the more experienced players. Take a browse through some time: select option L from the menu you get after you've logged in, and type HELP from there to find out how to work the Library program (it's easy - you're doing it now!)

Throughout this text, and normally in MUD itself, commands are written in upper case. The reason for this is so you can tell what to type; there is no requirement that you actually type the commands in upper case when you're playing! Similarly, example responses from MUD are placed in single quotes, so you can tell at a glance what they are, although in the game itself they obviously won't be quoted.