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		<title>Mertjai: Created page with &quot; &lt;nowiki&gt; =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= .............._______ ............./      /            THE LEGENDARY TIMES ............/...&quot;</title>
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		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Created page with &amp;quot; &amp;lt;nowiki&amp;gt; =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= .............._______ ............./      /            THE LEGENDARY TIMES ............/...&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;New page&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt; &amp;lt;nowiki&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
.............._______&lt;br /&gt;
............./      /            THE LEGENDARY TIMES&lt;br /&gt;
............/      /&lt;br /&gt;
.........../      /.....______.._____.....______.._____.......____&lt;br /&gt;
........../      /...../     /./     \.../     /./     \...../    \&lt;br /&gt;
........./      /...../  ___/./  ____/../  ___/./  __.  \.../  /\  \&lt;br /&gt;
......../      /...../  /_.../  /....../  /_.../  /..\   &amp;gt;./  /./  /&lt;br /&gt;
......./      /...../  __/../  /____../  __/../  /.../  /./  /./  /&lt;br /&gt;
....../      /_____/__/__../  \_\  /./  /__../  /.../  /./  /_/  /&lt;br /&gt;
...../                / /./       /./     /./  /.../  /./       /&lt;br /&gt;
..../                /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD&lt;br /&gt;
.../________________/       running on   bashful.cc.utexas.edu 9999&lt;br /&gt;
                                                 128.83.108.17 9999&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
    http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/Web/People/johnmil/legend/legend.html&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
VOLUME TWO, ISSUE TWENTY-EIGHT                             July 5, 1995&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                     *****************************&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                       ...:/:[ CONTENTS ]:\:...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                            *CODE UPDATE*&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                     -  New Moods System -&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                            *ARTICLES*&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                     _  An Interview with Ptah -&lt;br /&gt;
                     -  A Slight Oversight -&lt;br /&gt;
                     -  MUD party pictures available -&lt;br /&gt;
                     -  Fund Raising Update -&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                            *SOCIAL EVENTS*&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                     -  A Knightly Wedding -&lt;br /&gt;
                     -  Clan Updates  -&lt;br /&gt;
                     -  The Perils of Levelling -&lt;br /&gt;
                     -  Kiera and the OTS Make Peace  -&lt;br /&gt;
                     -  Miscellaneous Bits  -&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
Please send your responses to articles to the Legendary Times address at&lt;br /&gt;
legend@dbtech.net. Letters to the editor are welcomed :)&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                         THE NEW MOODS SYSTEM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A new roleplaying addition has been added into the mud. It's 'moods' --&lt;br /&gt;
essentially an adverb system for modifying your says, whispers, and&lt;br /&gt;
talks.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- What does it do?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    Well, instead of the usual says that look like this:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    Slasher says, 'Kill! I wanna kill!'&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    You might see any of the following:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    Slasher says, eyes gleaming wickedly, 'Kill! I wanna kill!'&lt;br /&gt;
    'Kill!' Slasher says, gibbering insanely. 'I wanna kill!'&lt;br /&gt;
    'Kill! I wanna kill!' Slasher says, redfaced with anger.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    The extra tags may or may not be there, but any of the different&lt;br /&gt;
    placements of the speech tags might be.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- How do I use it?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    In order to speak says as listed above, you must have the eloquence&lt;br /&gt;
    skill. Once you have this skill, your says will automatically have&lt;br /&gt;
    the movable tags shown above. So will your whispers and your talks.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    To add moods, you preface the regular say, talk, or whisper with&lt;br /&gt;
    a mood. For example:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    You type:&lt;br /&gt;
        SAD WHISPER JUJUBE I DON'T WANT TO DIE&lt;br /&gt;
    They see:&lt;br /&gt;
        'I don't want to die,' Slasher whispers sadly to you.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    You type:&lt;br /&gt;
        POUTING SAY YOU NEVER LIKE WHAT I SAY. YOU HATE ME.&lt;br /&gt;
    They see:&lt;br /&gt;
        'You never like what I say,' you say, lower lip trembling. 'You&lt;br /&gt;
        hate me.'&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    You type:&lt;br /&gt;
        SHY TALK CINDERELLA CAN I BE YOUR HERO?&lt;br /&gt;
    They see:&lt;br /&gt;
        Galahad says to you, eyes averted, 'Can I be your hero?'&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- That's a pain to type. Is there a shortcut?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    Sure. Every mood abbreviates just like all other mud commands. You can&lt;br /&gt;
    simply cut it as short as possible so that it does not conflict with&lt;br /&gt;
    other commands, and it will work. Note that all regular mud abbreviations&lt;br /&gt;
    and socials have priority, so typing LOV will get you the love social,&lt;br /&gt;
    not the LOVING mood. For that you need to type LOVI at the least.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    There's another shortcut, one which essentially adds over a hundred&lt;br /&gt;
    rather generic socials to the library.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    You type:&lt;br /&gt;
        DISTRACTED&lt;br /&gt;
    They see:&lt;br /&gt;
        PicnicBasket looks distracted.&lt;br /&gt;
    Then you type:&lt;br /&gt;
        SAY SORRY, SOMEONE TELLING TO ME.&lt;br /&gt;
    And they see:&lt;br /&gt;
        'Sorry, someone telling to me,' PicnicBasket says, mind clearly&lt;br /&gt;
        elsewhere.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    Using this method, the say will remember the last mood you entered.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    Note! Either way, saying, whispering or talking clears the mood, and&lt;br /&gt;
    you have to enter it again if you want to use the same mood several&lt;br /&gt;
    times in a row. Which looks bad anyway.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    If you use this two-part method, you can also do this:&lt;br /&gt;
        ANNOYED&lt;br /&gt;
        ANGRY ' HEY!&lt;br /&gt;
    And they will see:&lt;br /&gt;
        Huggermugger lookes annoyed.&lt;br /&gt;
        'Hey!' Huggermugger says angrily.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    The latest mood will supersede the old one.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- Cool! How many moods are there and how can I get a list?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    There are currently 140 different moods. What's more, each mood has&lt;br /&gt;
    between one and three different speech tags that can be attached. To&lt;br /&gt;
    get a complete list of the moods, type MOOD. The full list is a little&lt;br /&gt;
    longer than a screen, so we advise you set SCREENLEN to something&lt;br /&gt;
    less than 23 to see it without getting spammed.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- This is all ANNOYING. I hate it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    No problem! If you find yourself disliking this, just type MOOD OFF&lt;br /&gt;
    and you just won't see it anymore. :) You'll get the exact same&lt;br /&gt;
    messages you used to. Having mood off will also prevent your messages&lt;br /&gt;
    from being autocaptitalized or punctuated for you.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    People just entering the game may need to type MOOD ON to activate&lt;br /&gt;
    seeing it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- Help! Everything's getting split up into two sentences!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The punctuation marks that are read as ending sentences (? ! . and ...)&lt;br /&gt;
are not interpreted as such when enclosed in () or &amp;quot;&amp;quot;, so those of you&lt;br /&gt;
who find stuff breaking in odd places may want to make use of the double&lt;br /&gt;
quotes.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The interpreter will not split up stuff like ?!?!? or ??? but it may do it&lt;br /&gt;
to really odd combos like !...!, and there's not much that can be done about&lt;br /&gt;
it. :) Inventive typists can always find a way to defeat the system.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It DOES currently break, unfortunately, on Mr. and Mrs. and other abbreviations&lt;br /&gt;
with periods after them. I suggest leaving off the periods. :) Maybe someday&lt;br /&gt;
we can add a list to check for, but until we have the processor to ourselves&lt;br /&gt;
I don't want to add that many if checks. :P&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The double Huh? messages that those without eloquence are reporting will be&lt;br /&gt;
gone soon.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
So will the occasionally garbled messages that happen when there are many&lt;br /&gt;
people in a room and someone uses talk with a mood to a specific other&lt;br /&gt;
person (must be a given one in the order of who's in the room). In any case,&lt;br /&gt;
that'll be fixed soon too. :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- Are there help files on this?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    HELP ELOQUENCE explains how to use the basics.&lt;br /&gt;
    HELP MOOD gives the syntax for the mood command.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- Why can't everyone use this?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    Because it's only for the eloquent, who have been waiting for some&lt;br /&gt;
    time for this skill to be useful.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- Hey! Why can I be 'coy' but not 'flirtatious'? Can you add 'flirtatious'?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    You can't be flirtatious because it's included in coy. There are a lot&lt;br /&gt;
    of adverbs you might want to use that are covered in others. We're not&lt;br /&gt;
    going to add 6 more synonyms for happy, when in practice the 4 or 5&lt;br /&gt;
    that are there already cover 15 different ways of saying it. If you&lt;br /&gt;
    find a CATEGORY of emotion that is skipped (like, in the first version,&lt;br /&gt;
    I forgot completely about the many ways of being scared), please let&lt;br /&gt;
    me know and I will see if it can be added eventually. But don't ask&lt;br /&gt;
    for something that has a close parallel already.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- Does this work with socials?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    No, but who knows, it might work with some of them someday. Don't hold&lt;br /&gt;
    your breath.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
- Why didn't you fix hellebore, add more spells, add more skills, write&lt;br /&gt;
  another area, or whatever else, instead of wasting time on a cosmetic&lt;br /&gt;
  thing like this?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    Because this code wasn't for Legend but for a different project--I just&lt;br /&gt;
    happened to be able to port it. :) Count your blessings.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
    -Ptah&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                      \*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                        AN INTERVIEW WITH PTAH&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Recently, Laura, a player on Legend, conducted a lengthy interview with&lt;br /&gt;
Ptah on a wide range of subjects. She used this interview as the basis&lt;br /&gt;
for an article on MUDs which she wrote for &amp;quot;her last undergrad class&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
(she's planning to submit it to a magazine such as &amp;quot;Internet World.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Laura, who graduates with honors this summer, will be starting&lt;br /&gt;
an MA program in Art History with a fellowship in the fall. In addition to going&lt;br /&gt;
to school and raising a family, she has built and played on &amp;quot;Northern&lt;br /&gt;
Crossroads&amp;quot; (a Diku MUD), C'thulhu based MUD, and (briefly) our own Legend.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The LT is going to be featuring four separate excerpts of this&lt;br /&gt;
interview, arranged by subject: muds in general, interaction on&lt;br /&gt;
muds, the future of the internet, and building on the mud. The first two&lt;br /&gt;
excerpts follow.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                        ABOUT MUDS IN GENERAL:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: How does this mud differ from others, and how would you like it&lt;br /&gt;
to be different?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Muds till now have been primarily either games or social spaces. This&lt;br /&gt;
mud attempts to combine the three main aspects of mudding--a gaming&lt;br /&gt;
system, a system for social interaction, and a system for fantasy&lt;br /&gt;
roleplaying. It offers much more flexibility for social interaction than&lt;br /&gt;
your usual gaming mud--perhaps less than a social mud. It tries to strike&lt;br /&gt;
a balance, in other words. The historical theme we use also puts it&lt;br /&gt;
outside the realm of any of those types at times.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
My goal for this place is to make it social, political, game, roleplaying,&lt;br /&gt;
educational, the works.  Perhaps I will incorporate the library function&lt;br /&gt;
into here too.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: True virtual reality - everything at once?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Sure why not?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Just today I wrote a post on Usenet about the state of the art in muds&lt;br /&gt;
--about how there wasn't one.  The mudding community offers no real&lt;br /&gt;
self-evaluation, has no clear vision of its role within the Net.  There is&lt;br /&gt;
no standard set as to what is competent.  There are no critics.  I believe&lt;br /&gt;
that mud design is game design -- for which there is a well-established&lt;br /&gt;
tradition of criticism and it is also more -- world design and server&lt;br /&gt;
design -- for which no basis exists yet.  Muds cannot mature until the&lt;br /&gt;
people who work on them agree to reward the good themselves .  All the&lt;br /&gt;
effort to take muds seriously has sprung from outside the community.&lt;br /&gt;
Academics jumped on muds as a fascinating experiment -- but they approach&lt;br /&gt;
it as that, too distanced to try to develop them.  No sense of fun :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: How does a MUD differ from, say, a Bulletin Board System (BBS)?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Most net functions are solitary.  The standard setters know this and&lt;br /&gt;
are working on interactivity--but the fact is that this sort of virtual&lt;br /&gt;
face-to-face communication is probably the most powerful attractor in the&lt;br /&gt;
Net.  Communication, be it by publication, by email or&lt;br /&gt;
face-to-virtual-face, is the true draw.  Information is only secondary. It&lt;br /&gt;
is the human contact that keeps the Net-addicted coming back.  BBSes offer&lt;br /&gt;
chat, and online services offer chat and forums and newsgroups.  Muds&lt;br /&gt;
cannot replace the multi-threaded hypertextual conversation that&lt;br /&gt;
listserves and newsgroups give, but they give instant reaction and&lt;br /&gt;
interactivity.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The role of muds can and should be educational, political, social&lt;br /&gt;
--everything in the virtual world that gatherings serve for in real&lt;br /&gt;
life.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: Do you think that muds could turn into virtual libraries or&lt;br /&gt;
classrooms, then?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Can?  They have.  I'm working on a mud that is a virtual&lt;br /&gt;
library right now actually.  And several universities have used mud&lt;br /&gt;
interfaces for their campus tours or their libraries.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: Copyright is a big issue here?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Certainly. Who copyrights this interview?  You the author?&lt;br /&gt;
Does Donat, who just dropped a chat into the middle of it, have any say?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Is this public speech?  Is this publication? Can it be freely reproduced?&lt;br /&gt;
If I chatted out the source code to some Microsoft program, would it be&lt;br /&gt;
illegal?  If I chatted out the code to the PGP key, a common encryption&lt;br /&gt;
standard, and some of our players were in Australia, that WOULD be&lt;br /&gt;
illegal, according to the laws on the books.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: Is such a law enforceable?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Of course it is not enforceable.  That's the problem with Net&lt;br /&gt;
legislation.  Well, no more enforceable surely than someone slipping the&lt;br /&gt;
PGP code to Canada.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: So how do you think these issues should be handled?  Who would you say&lt;br /&gt;
owns the copyright on this conversation?.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: I would tend to regard this as public conversation--muds as PLACES and&lt;br /&gt;
I would regard Usenet and listserves as publication and hence protected&lt;br /&gt;
speech.  This would be protected assembly.  Unfortunately, under current&lt;br /&gt;
law, none of them are either.  They are all simply telecommunication, on&lt;br /&gt;
par with a phone conversation or a fax, not only subpoenable, but also&lt;br /&gt;
unprotectable by most any constitutional right.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: So you regard MUDs as places of assembly.  As an implementer of one of&lt;br /&gt;
the most unique MUDs on the net, what purpose do you think they serve?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: I don't think they serve a fraction of their purpose yet.  They may&lt;br /&gt;
never be fulfilled in text form--but the fact is, when we talk virtual&lt;br /&gt;
reality, we mean muds--full immersion ones, but muds nonetheless.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: Do you think we will eventually have a VR5-type environment, like the&lt;br /&gt;
TV show?'&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Eventually, sure.  Ten years.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: That long?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Maybe less.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Let me clarify.  The ability to give us  fully rendered realistic&lt;br /&gt;
landscape we can move in and interact in in--full 3D virtual space--oh,&lt;br /&gt;
we could build it now.  The ability to have the DEGREE of interaction&lt;br /&gt;
represented in VR 5--the amount of expressions, of ranges, of contact, of&lt;br /&gt;
pain stimuli, all that stuff, that is a longer ways away.  Right now it&lt;br /&gt;
takes electrodes slapped all over one's face to get something as advanced&lt;br /&gt;
as Moxy on the Cartoon Network and that is really, cartoonish.  As&lt;br /&gt;
cartoonish, approximately, as the socials system used on muds.  VR5&lt;br /&gt;
implies the capability to 'emote' and it is gonna take a while to be able&lt;br /&gt;
to represent that. :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: Do you think this mud will go commercial?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: I think that this mud is of a caliber that could go commercial, yes.  I&lt;br /&gt;
do not think it will.  The mud right now is made up of frontiers people.&lt;br /&gt;
Commercial would imply taxes :).  It would imply laws.  And that means&lt;br /&gt;
that some of the frontier people would move on to a new frontier.  I like&lt;br /&gt;
them, and don't want to see them go.  Nor do I feel it is entirely fair to&lt;br /&gt;
confiscate their homesteading for a new city hall.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                       MUDS AND INTERACTION:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: How do you thinks muds effect people's perceptions of each other?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Trick question.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: Not intended as such...shall I rephrase?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: No, because it gets at the heart of the issue.  People tend to think&lt;br /&gt;
that muds alter how people perceive one another. That gender and race and&lt;br /&gt;
handicaps cease to matter.  It is a noble vision, sure, one shared in&lt;br /&gt;
general by these frontier netters.  In truth, muds reveal the self in&lt;br /&gt;
rather disturbing ways.  We all construct 'faces' and masks to deal with&lt;br /&gt;
others.  Usually in interpersonal relationships, the masks can slip, they&lt;br /&gt;
evolve and react, and they have body language and cues.  On a mud, on the&lt;br /&gt;
net, whatever---they cannot.  And people see specifically this:  what you&lt;br /&gt;
choose to represent yourself as, and THAT is more revealing of your true&lt;br /&gt;
nature than gender, race, age, or anything else.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Does it affect people's perceptions of others?  Sure.  But a more valid&lt;br /&gt;
question is, how does it affect our perceptions of ourselves?  Take the&lt;br /&gt;
typical mud character.  95% of the women of muds are beautiful.  If not&lt;br /&gt;
beautiful, they are cute.  If not cute they are perky, or mysterious.&lt;br /&gt;
They are all attractive.  And what's more, the difference between the&lt;br /&gt;
females played by men and women is minimal.  It's mostly a matter of&lt;br /&gt;
experience.  The men who play women mostly have the experience in flirting&lt;br /&gt;
of a four-year-old.  They are too crude and too direct.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Interestingly, it doesn't take long to learn.  Now, consider the men.  They&lt;br /&gt;
are also all handsome or mysterious, or terribly scarred.  People talk a&lt;br /&gt;
lot about how on muds, gender relations are altered.  The sexual&lt;br /&gt;
interactions become more important.  There is more stereotyping.  The&lt;br /&gt;
blame usually falls on the men who pursue the female characters.  But the&lt;br /&gt;
fact is, I have rarely seen a mud player whose self-image was not sexually&lt;br /&gt;
attractive and, therefore, I have to wonder, who's doing the stereotyping,&lt;br /&gt;
and are the sexual interactions more important--or just more visible?  In&lt;br /&gt;
a sense, the characters we construct for ourselves on muds are ones that&lt;br /&gt;
permit us to live out what we would like to be or do.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: Do you think anonymity is affecting this?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Certainly. But I have to reiterate, it's not a matter of how we hide,&lt;br /&gt;
it's a matter of how we are revealing ourselves.  In face-to-face, you&lt;br /&gt;
present a front, but it is never perfect.  Who knows, it may come down to&lt;br /&gt;
pheromones and subliminal emotional messages.  The basic fact is,&lt;br /&gt;
face-to-face, you cannot truly end up with a recognizance of what this&lt;br /&gt;
person wants to be quite as clearly.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: Can you comment then, on what happens when these mud-friends meet Real&lt;br /&gt;
Life?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Sure.  I can comment from two angles actually.  People I knew in real&lt;br /&gt;
life BEFORE going on the mud have become much clearer to me now, enough so&lt;br /&gt;
that I can explain to others, who know them only on the mud, something of&lt;br /&gt;
their motivation and manner on the mud.  People I knew on the mud first&lt;br /&gt;
and met later, well, there the things you thought you knew sink into the&lt;br /&gt;
general, more complete impression of their character.   You see the things&lt;br /&gt;
that they purposely do not show.  You understand why they emphasize one&lt;br /&gt;
part of themselves more than anther part on the mud.  On muds you meet who&lt;br /&gt;
people want to be, even if only subconsciously; in Real Life, you meet who&lt;br /&gt;
they are and rarely get to know what they want to be.  And the complexity&lt;br /&gt;
of personalities means that there are many people a single individual can&lt;br /&gt;
want to be of course.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: Do you think there is a large difference in seeing people as an&lt;br /&gt;
Immortal and in player-to-player interactions?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: Certainly. Because as an immortal I have to express a different&lt;br /&gt;
part of who I want to be :).  I have to be more serious, more&lt;br /&gt;
intellectual, more focused.  It means I read people very differently.&lt;br /&gt;
It means I read them the way I have just been telling you about.  When&lt;br /&gt;
I play a mortal, hell, I play it fair :).  I let my wish-fulfillment&lt;br /&gt;
meet their wish-fulfillment and skip the analysis.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Q: How about dealing with troublesome people problems - those who cheat&lt;br /&gt;
etc.  Can you comment on that aspect?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A: I treat it as a park and a system.  People who cheat are ripping up the&lt;br /&gt;
lawn, ruining the picnic tables.  So I first take them aside and ask them&lt;br /&gt;
to stop, then I kick 'em out.  I hate doing it though.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
               -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                          AN OVERSIGHT&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As many attentive readers (and IMMs) pointed out, in the last issue, I&lt;br /&gt;
forgot to mention the change in the &amp;quot;Legendary Times&amp;quot; editorship. As of the&lt;br /&gt;
last issue, I took over the editorship of &amp;quot;The Legendary Times&amp;quot; from Ptah,&lt;br /&gt;
the founding editor (however, Ptah is still very much active in writing&lt;br /&gt;
articles and giving me pointers :). I'd like to take this opportunity to&lt;br /&gt;
thank Ptah for the classy job he did in setting up LT's format and&lt;br /&gt;
producing the first year or so of the LT and MANY issues. I am&lt;br /&gt;
only now just starting to realize how much work he put into it. I urge you&lt;br /&gt;
all to thank him as well :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
-Rusalka&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                   /\///\\///\\/////\//\\\\///\\\\///&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                    MUD PARTY PICTURES AVAILABLE&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Pictures from the Texas MUD party are available for anonymous ftp at:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
   ftp.io.com (type &amp;quot;ftp ftp.io.com&amp;quot;)&lt;br /&gt;
   login: anonymous&lt;br /&gt;
   password: &lt;br /&gt;
   cd pub/usr/robingar&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Solo is the dog there, but the others are the people :0&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
These files are in .pcx format, PC Paintbrush. There are various converter&lt;br /&gt;
programs for other formats available as shareware. For Macs, Ptah suggests&lt;br /&gt;
GraficConverter :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                            FUND DRIVE UPDATE&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It's getting close now! We only need $400 more to acquire the new system&lt;br /&gt;
(Sadist has generously advanced this amount, but we do owe him the $400).&lt;br /&gt;
The IMM's are currently in the process of arranging for the new site and&lt;br /&gt;
system :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As weŐve mentioned before,  an anonymous player has pledged to match ANY&lt;br /&gt;
donations made by players (non IMMs) up to the sum of $200. Thus, your&lt;br /&gt;
donation will essentially be DOUBLED. If you can send a dollar, it will&lt;br /&gt;
count as $2! If you can only send $25, it'll count as $50! Please make&lt;br /&gt;
this generous person's gift worthwhile by doubling our efforts to get a&lt;br /&gt;
new site for LegendMUD.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Current status:&lt;br /&gt;
TOTAL CASH IN HAND:    $1130                    up by $20&lt;br /&gt;
TOTAL DONORS:           19                      up by one&lt;br /&gt;
ROUGH TOTAL PLEDGED:   $1130                    unchanged&lt;br /&gt;
TOTAL PLEDGES:          21                      unchanged&lt;br /&gt;
AVERAGE DONATION:      $59.50&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Items donated: a 200mb hard drive&lt;br /&gt;
               a monitor&lt;br /&gt;
               a keyboard&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
We suggest that those who have the money burning a hole in their pocket&lt;br /&gt;
go ahead and send the checks directly to the following address and we&lt;br /&gt;
will get the letters out to them as soon as we can, perhaps even crossing in&lt;br /&gt;
the mail. This is the address to send donations to:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
           (make checks payable to Raphael and Kristen Koster)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                     Raph and Kristen Koster&lt;br /&gt;
                     University Station&lt;br /&gt;
                     PO Box 1114&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
If you are an overseas donor who cannot write a check in US Dollars,&lt;br /&gt;
please email us at koster@dbtech.net.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
****************************************************************************&lt;br /&gt;
              ________________________&lt;br /&gt;
            /                         \&lt;br /&gt;
        o O | Wonder what folks are    |&lt;br /&gt;
  `\|||/    | doing over at LegendMud? |&lt;br /&gt;
   (o o)     \________________________/&lt;br /&gt;
ooO_(_)_Ooo_____________________________________________________________&lt;br /&gt;
_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|&lt;br /&gt;
__|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|___&lt;br /&gt;
_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                        A KNIGHTLY WEDDING&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The long awaited wedding of Dominic, the Knightly Guildmaster and Lirra,&lt;br /&gt;
the Lady Knight took place about a week ago. It was held in a small,&lt;br /&gt;
intimate clearing in Sherwood, with several guests in attendance. Ptah&lt;br /&gt;
conducted the ceremony, with Chrysostom serving as best man and Rusalka&lt;br /&gt;
serving as a a very late maid of honor. A small woodwinds quartet&lt;br /&gt;
provided music for the festivities.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The bride was resplendent in a flowing white lace wedding gown, a white&lt;br /&gt;
lace veil, a white garter with a blue ribbon, white lace gloves, and a&lt;br /&gt;
pair of white dress slippers. She held a pocket handkerchief to catch her&lt;br /&gt;
tears of joy :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Dominic and Lirra wrote their own vows to celebrate their marriage. First&lt;br /&gt;
came Dominic's; facing Lirra and holding her hands he told her:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
'Out of the depths of time,&lt;br /&gt;
 And across the distances.&lt;br /&gt;
 From the strength of arms,&lt;br /&gt;
 and the weakness of humility.&lt;br /&gt;
 In the depths of homage,&lt;br /&gt;
 and the ravages of war.&lt;br /&gt;
 Across the barriers,&lt;br /&gt;
 whatever their form,&lt;br /&gt;
 I pledge to thee my love,&lt;br /&gt;
 my honor, and the strength of mine arms.&lt;br /&gt;
 to protect and cherish thee,&lt;br /&gt;
 across the reaches of eternity.'&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
After accepting Dominic's vow, Lirra made her own:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
'It's hard to put what i feel into words.&lt;br /&gt;
 We have known each other for a long time.&lt;br /&gt;
 Through that time, together, we have experienced many things.&lt;br /&gt;
 The most cherished is our love for each other.&lt;br /&gt;
 My love for you runs very deeply.&lt;br /&gt;
 More than words can describe.&lt;br /&gt;
 In more ways than one you have been there when I have needed you the most.&lt;br /&gt;
 Standing by my side and protecting me from life's cruel hand.&lt;br /&gt;
 Today i come here and plegde my unending love to you&lt;br /&gt;
 and to let others know of my love for you.&lt;br /&gt;
 I will cherish each moment we have together till the end of time.&lt;br /&gt;
 I also pledge to be there when for you when I am most needed,&lt;br /&gt;
 as you have done for me for so many times past.&lt;br /&gt;
 There is so much more i can say....&lt;br /&gt;
 but words cannot describe how I truly feel about you.'&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
After Dominic accepted Lirra's vow, rings were exchanged, after which&lt;br /&gt;
everyone cheered and congratulated the new couple. As befitted Dominic's&lt;br /&gt;
status as one of the leading cookie collectors on Legend, cookies were&lt;br /&gt;
served to all the guests (along with wedding cake :). Even more&lt;br /&gt;
fittingly, Lirra presented her new husband with A Crystallized Cookie&lt;br /&gt;
on a thong.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The editor notes that this was the most spam-free Legend wedding that&lt;br /&gt;
she has yet attended, and hopes that this trend will continue :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                        ///\/\\\///\\\//\\&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The Knights have announced that while Dominic is off-Legend (he will be&lt;br /&gt;
having RL site trouble for the next week), Crowe will be the acting&lt;br /&gt;
GuildMaster and Lirra will be the acting Deputy Guild Master.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                         *****************&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The Hermetics have gained a new member, Eseau Isaac, who will serve as their&lt;br /&gt;
second Shield Maiden. Guildmaster Zandy notes that, considering who the&lt;br /&gt;
Hermetics' first Shield Maiden was (Sylia), she has &amp;quot;large shoes to fill.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                        //\////\\\///\\\\\&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No got in trouble with the Dark Lord for accidentally levelling and&lt;br /&gt;
sporting the title &amp;quot;No more pkill, pkill s***s.&amp;quot; The Dark Lord apparently&lt;br /&gt;
prefers that Its minions get permission before acting so hasty a fashion.&lt;br /&gt;
After materializing in the form a large,  catfish over No's stricken&lt;br /&gt;
head, It explained that It had never intended No to be a pkiller in the&lt;br /&gt;
first place, but instead intended that he remain a thief. It also&lt;br /&gt;
informed No that No's level had dashed hundreds of years of diabolical&lt;br /&gt;
plotting. Finally, it assigned the following punishment to No -- not only&lt;br /&gt;
must he continue levelling till 50 (since he had already botched&lt;br /&gt;
everything by levelling once), but he had to aid OTS members as well.&lt;br /&gt;
Although No sighed heavily over his grevious fate, his fiance and fellow&lt;br /&gt;
anti-Paladin was heard to assert she thought he &amp;quot;got off pretty easy.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                          *************&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The OTS-Kiera war finally came to a climax. Apparently Kiera got tired of&lt;br /&gt;
the way that things were dragging out and announced the following on CHAT:&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;quot;Well, all, pass this word onto the bards, excuse me, OTS folks : From&lt;br /&gt;
now forward, I will be doing the following:  a) selling items from OTS&lt;br /&gt;
corpses  b) attacking OTS when link dead, and c) permakilling anyone OTS&lt;br /&gt;
I can.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The very next day (or two), she carried out her word after attacking&lt;br /&gt;
Zorn. Not only did she kill him twice or so, but she attempted to sell off&lt;br /&gt;
his gear as well (no one would buy, though). Things got even crazier when&lt;br /&gt;
No, due to his before-mentioned punishment from the Dark Lord, ended up&lt;br /&gt;
placing Zorn under his protection despite his long standing friendship&lt;br /&gt;
with Kiera. However, calm was restored when the OTS members, under Greyscot's&lt;br /&gt;
leadership and with help from various non-members, agreed to pay up the&lt;br /&gt;
reported three million in gold which Kiera demanded. Thus, it looks like the&lt;br /&gt;
longest running war we've yet seen on Legend may have finally drawn to an&lt;br /&gt;
end, providing that OTS members are able to get the money to her. At any rate,&lt;br /&gt;
last seen, Kiera had the following title : &amp;quot;Kiera is celebrating the end&lt;br /&gt;
of a silly war (drunken aura).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                          {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ptah announces that Mania has come back! She is abroad in Germany at the&lt;br /&gt;
moment, but will return to the mud as a player in August. For those who&lt;br /&gt;
weren't here when she was last around (well over a year ago!) Mania is&lt;br /&gt;
the original builder of Germany--though we bet she'll have trouble&lt;br /&gt;
recognizing it now!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                         ****************&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Breton will be off-line for the summer as he is travelling and working&lt;br /&gt;
in Scotland. He'll be back in September to regale us with tales of the&lt;br /&gt;
highlands, no doubt :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                         */*\*/*\*/*\*/*&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Errata : In the last issue of the LT, I announced that Llew had performed&lt;br /&gt;
the wedding ceremony of Lark and Kendrick. Actually, it was performed by&lt;br /&gt;
Parrilyn :)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
 Legendary Times is put out by the gods of LegendMUD. Please send all&lt;br /&gt;
 replies/additions to Please send items and your responses to articles&lt;br /&gt;
and to our address at legend@dbtech.net. for inclusion in the&lt;br /&gt;
next edition. We, however, reserve the right to moderate this discussion,&lt;br /&gt;
and may object to some submissions. If you feel we have wrongly omitted&lt;br /&gt;
 one of your messages, please talk to Rusalka online or through EMail&lt;br /&gt;
 and see if I did indeed receive it in the first place.&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
 The LegendMUD anonymous ftp site has all back issues of the Legendary&lt;br /&gt;
 Times available for anonymous ftp. Its address is given in the banner&lt;br /&gt;
  at the top of this message. Once connected, cd pub/users/legend/lt,&lt;br /&gt;
  and you will find directories containing volumes one and two, broken&lt;br /&gt;
 in sets of ten issues. The anonymous ftp site also houses other files&lt;br /&gt;
      that may be of interest to you. Visit our Web page too!&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;/nowiki&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Mertjai</name></author>
	</entry>
</feed>