1.5.4 Getting a Home

(Note: It is not necessary to get a home immediately, and sometimes the simplest approach is the best one: page a staff member and ask her to set you up with a home or tell you how to do so.)

`Home' has both a technical and non-technical meaning on MUCKs. In the technical sense, all players and things have a `home', a place to which they are `linked', and to which they will return if the MUCK doesn't know where to put them or if they are sent home by a command or program. A player's home must be a room. A thing's home may be a room or player.

In the non-technical sense, your `home' is, naturally enough, where you live. Your `non-technical home' (the place where you hang out, keep your belongings, sleep, etc.) does not necessarily have to be your `technical home', but it is more convenient for both to be the same.

Getting a home on the MUCK involves both technical and non-technical issues. Read this section completely before typing any of the commands.

On the non-technical side, you will need to find a place where you can put a home. There may be places where the builder has installed a command that lets you put in a home: read `news' and any materials in the place where you start off, or ask people online for information about such places.

If you don't find such a place, or if you find a public place where you would like a home but such a command is not available, you will need to contact the owner of the room and work with her to set up a home. Type ex here to find out the name of the room's owner, then contact her by page or page #mail. On most MUCKs, wizards or staff members work with new players to help set up a home. It's worthwhile asking people online how this matter is usually handled on your MUCK.

On the technical side, getting home involves three steps:

1. Creating a home.
2. Linking yourself to the home.
3. Linking the home to the rest of the MUCK.

If you are using a program that automates the process, creating a home is simply a matter of following instructions provided on a sign or directory. Usually you just type something like claim <# or direction>.

To create your own home, make a room with the @dig command, syntax @dig <room name>. (You must have a `builder bit' — the B flag — in order to use @dig. On most MUCKs, all players have a builder bit.)

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> @dig Cashmere's Den
  Cashmere's Den created with Room #1234.
  Parent set to Outdoor Environment Room(#101RJA).
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Note the dbref of the newly created room (#1234 in this example). You will need it in order to go there or link the room to the rest of the MUCK. If you forget the room's dbref, you can determine it with the @find command.

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> @find cashmere's den
  Cashmere's Den(#1234RJ)
  End of list
  (1 object found)
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(If you see the room's name, but not its dbref, you are set Silent. Type @set me=!S to clear the Silent flag set on your character.)

A newly created room is said to be `floating': it exists, but is not linked to anything else on the MUCK. In other words, there are no `doors' in and out of the room. If your MUCK has convenient `global exits' (commands that take you to a centralized location from anywhere on the MUCK) it may be feasible to leave the room floating indefinitely.

If your MUCK has a convenient global exit, and you would like to set up a home without having to wait for help from someone else, @dig a room as described above, then use the @link command (syntax @link <object> = <home>) to set your home and the home command to go there.

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> @link me = #1234
  Home set.
> home
  You wake up at home, without your possessions...
  Cashmere's Den(#1234RJ)
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As the example suggests, you can loose things when using the home command: when you type `home', both you and anything you are carrying go home. If you are carrying things that do not belong to you, or that are linked to somewhere else on the MUCK, they will return to their homes when you use the home command (in other words, the home command is recursive). There are two ways to avoid this problem. Teleporting may or may not be allowed on your MUCK (usually players can teleport to and from rooms they own). If you are able to, teleport to the new room first, then link yourself there.

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> @tel me = #1234
  You feel a wrenching sensation....
  Cashmere's Den(#1234RJ)
> @link me = here
  Home set.
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The second alternative is to use gohome rather than home. The gohome command takes you to your home without causing the things you're carrying to also go home. However, gohome is a user-created command: though it's widely available, there is a possibility that your MUCK does not provide it.

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> @link me = #1234
  Home set.
> gohome
  You head home, arriving safely.
  Cashmere's Den(#1234RJ)
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If you plan to leave your room set floating for a while, and your MUCK has a gohome command, you can just use it whenever you want to go home. If there is no gohome command, it will be worthwhile to create an action that takes you there without causing you to loose things you are carrying. Use the @action command (abbreviated @act, syntax @act <action name> = <origin or attachment point of action>), and the @link command (syntax @link <action> = <destination>) to create the action

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> @act myplace = me
  Action created with number #1236 and attached.
> @link myplace = #1234
  Linked to Cashmere's Den(#1234).
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