Communication Guide

There are several different methods of communication on Arx. Reference the following lists to find the one that's right for you! Be sure to keep OOC and IC separate, and respect the wishes of those who desire to opt out from the former.


OOC Communication


Pages: Private messaging between two or more players. You can page Becky on her own, or page Becky, Joe, and Bob simultaneously. (+help page)

    page Becky=OMG, look at her butt!


Mail: For when you need to send something long, contact someone offline, or just want to send a note that will stay in the recipient's mailbox until deletion. (+help mail)

    @mail/quick Becky/OMG=It's sooooo big.


Channels: Public, real-time methods of communication, which can be as broad as Public channel or more narrowly scoped for organizations. There is no emit when you join or leave a channel, so don't be afraid to flip them on or off as needed. Type '@clist' to see which channels are right for you. (+help channels)

    addcom pub=Public
    pub No, it's Becky.


Bulletin Boards: This is another form of public communication that subscribers can review at their leisure. There are boards for everything from staff announcements, to classified ads. (+help bb)
    +bbnew (@bb/new) is a handy command that will display posts you haven't seen yet, one by one.
    +bbpost (@bb/post) news/1989=I've got a blank space, baby, and I'll write your name.


OOC Say: For sending an ooc message to everyone in the same room, usually for helpful ooc heads up in a scene, or unhelpful ooc commentary that no one really asked for but there we are.

    ooc Oh god our rolls are awful, were all going to die.
    ooc :starts getting ready to make a new character.


Note that the OOC say command is different than @ooc, which is a command to put your character in an OOC state not in any room in particular, and you leave by typing @ic.



Organizations: Using @org will display any organizations you are ICly a member of. This will let you know who you can contact, who is the leader of your organization, etc. (+help @org)



IC Communication


Posing: The pose (or :) command emits to the room what your character is doing ICly. Using say (or ") emits the text afterward as dialogue. See the following examples:

    pose plays the piano with passionate fervor, swaying along to the rhythm of the music.
    say Hello, is it me you're looking for?


Emits: The @emit command writes everything following the emit exactly into the same room the character is in, to allow more narrative freedom. It is considered bad form for them to be ambiguous as to who the author of the emit is, so commonly character names are included somewhere in there (there is a @setting command to preface every emit with the author's name).

    @emit It was a dark and stormy night. Bob grouses, "I hate the rain, Becky."


Places: If you're in a room with places installed (type 'places' to see) you can 'join #1' (or whatever the appropriate place number is from the list) to have a private method of communication with the others who have joined that same place. It does not prevent you from - and please continue to - roleplay to the room at large with the usual commands. But if you've got a witty comment for your table alone, you can use tt or tabletalk. (+help places)

     tt :mutters lowly, "Another one bites the dust."


Messenger: Whether it's a message by delivery boy or raven, the messenger command is a means to dispatch a written letter to another character. Items can be sent as well. You can review both sent (messenger/sentindex) and received (messenger/oldindex) messages. (+help messenger)

    messenger Jason=Do you ever wonder what happens to the words that we send? Do they bend, do they break from the flight that they take, and come back together again? With a whole new meaning in a brand new sense, completely unrelated to the one I sent?


Whisper: In a scene, and you'd like to communicate privately in a conspiratorial fashion? Be reasonable, don't whisper at someone across the room. (+help whisper)

    whisper George=I'm never gonna dance again.
    whisper George=:whispers carelessly.


Shout: The shout command will echo a message to every surrounding room.

    shout HEY IS ANYONE THERE, I'M ALONE AND SCARED AND WOLVES ARE AFTER ME! IT'S STEVE'S FAULT!


Feel free to use the 'help' command to see individual help files on any of the commands.