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| The imporance of chat cannot be understated. Besides sheer entertainment value and social aspect, chat is a major part of the game, despite the fact that it has no direct on your kingdom.
If you want to make serious allies, chat is the place to go. Don't expect much from an alliance if its owner invites you and you have no idea who he is. Typically, such owners are newbies who invite every loc they get. Please refrain from bursting into chat shouting "I NEED ALLIES!!!!!!", or shouting anything else for that matter, but I'll get to that later. Instead, take advantage of the social aspect of chat. Get to know people, make contacts, and, finally, make allies whom you know, trust, and respect.
Chat can also be educational. No matter how hard I try, this site can't cover everything. Posting in forums will get you an answer eventually, but asking questions in chat can be quicker. Just don't overdo it and always ask politely...no one is obligated to help you and if you're pushy, you'll get a reaction, but it probably won't be the one you're looking for.
Finally, chat can be a good source for anything you may need. Don't scream at people you don't know about needing gold, food, locs, or whatever, but if people know you and like you, chances are good that you'll get what you need. If you really impress a powerful player by being friendly, respectful, and showing potential, you might even find yourself a benefactor.
For a guide to chat lingo, I did a quick search and fate led me to the Dwarfnet Internet Guide. I'm mainly posting it for translation purposes: most people stick to more common examples like cya, brb, afk, bbl, lol, rofl, lmao, etc. For terms specific to FW, see my glossary.
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| Chat commands take the form of a / (forward slash) followed by the specific command. Typing /help will give you a list of available commands, but I'll go ahead and repeat them here.
| /brighter |
brightens your color |
| /color <red> <green> <blue> |
changes chat font color (see below) |
| /darker |
darkens your color |
| /help |
shows available commands and other help |
| /ignore |
puts a specific player on ignore * |
| /join <channel> |
moves you to another channel or creates a new one ** |
| /me <action> |
action or emote, e.g. /me smiles = "* Grumpy smiles" |
| /msg <message> |
sends a private message (pm) to a specific user * |
| /unignore |
takes a specific ignored player off ignore * |
* Highlight the name of the specific player in the list to the right by left clicking.
** Occupants of a channel may be viewed by left clicking the channel name on the right and a channel may be joined by double clicking.
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They aren't commands, but there are two other things worth noting. Links will be clickable (or are supposed to be, but they don't always work) when beginning with "http://" or "mailto:". You'll also see a plus or minus sign next to everyone's name in the list to the right. A plus indicates that they are currently looking at chat, as opposed to any other screen of the applet, though they could still be looking at another window. A minus indicates that they are looking at another screen of the applet.
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"the rudd yellan gruebleen orangeman in his violet indigonation" - James Joyce, Finnegans Wake
As mentioned previously, the command to change your chat color is in the form /color <red> <green> <blue>. Red, green, and blue are numbers ranging from 0 to 255, representing the decimal equivalent of an RGB hexadecimal triplet. Although I recommend you be original and find a unique color, instead of using a common color, here are some standard colors:
| red |
255 |
0 |
0 |
| orange |
255 |
165 |
0 |
| yellow |
255 |
255 |
0 |
| green |
0 |
0 |
255 |
| cyan |
0 |
255 |
255 |
| blue |
0 |
0 |
255 |
| indigo |
75 |
0 |
130 |
| purple |
128 |
0 |
128 |
| violet |
238 |
130 |
238 |
| magenta |
255 |
0 |
255 |
| white |
255 |
255 |
255 |
| light grey |
211 |
211 |
211 |
| silver |
192 |
192 |
192 |
| grey |
128 |
128 |
128 |
If you're experienced at HTML or making graphics, you'll probably be able to come up with your own color. If not, there are two easy ways to find a color. The first is trial and error—"random" may be substituted for one or more of the three numbers. Type "/color random random random", without the quotation marks, and copy it to your clipboard. Paste...enter...repeat until you get a good color.
The other way is to use a graphics editor like Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop or an online html color picker to find a color. My favorite color picker is hIdaho Design's ColorCenter. To use it, first set the background to black by changing all of the numbers on the left to "00" or by clicking the black square in the lower left-hand corner of the palette in the bottom frame. Change the scrolldown menu in the upper left corner from "background" to "text" and just play around with the colors until you get one you like.
Whatever color you choose, make sure it's easily legible. Generally, as long as one of the three values is about 150 or higher, you should be fine. Try to be original too. Although I listed them above, every primary color has been done.
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Civilized behavior is a must in chat, especially for newbies. This is not just for netiquette's sake—it's for your own good. Being rude or obnoxious is a very efficient way to commit suicide if there are vets in chat. It will also make finding friends and allies in chat all that more unlikely. A few points in no particular order, combinging general netiquette and Forgotten World etiquette:
- Don't discuss HTML: you have your own chat. If HTML is down, Classic IS NOT a backup.
- Don't shout: hands off the caps lock.
- Don't whine: it won't get you any aid to help recover from attacks or bring any assistance against your attacker.
- Don't beg: no one owes you anything.
- Don't boast: megalomaniacal newbies have short lifespans.
- No profanity or abusive language: this one is chat policy and repeated violations will get you banned. Abusive language in private messages IS logged.
- RTFM: try to find the answers for yourself, either here, or in New Player Help, before asking stupid questions in chat.
- Don't steal other people's chat colors.
- Black may be beautiful, but it isn't funny: /color 0 0 0 has been done by just about every newbie at least once and it hasn't been funny since the first time, and then only barely.
- Avoid the question "are there any girls in the room?" It doesn't impress them.
- Don't discuss religion, politics, abortion, etc.
- If you want to have a long conversation about something like Magic: the Gathering, get a private channel.
- If a channel is called private or priv or dom_only, or whatever, it's PRIVATE...stay the hell out.
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