Alter Aeon FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

FAQ Section 1 - What is Alter Aeon?

Question  1.1  - What is Alter Aeon?

Alter Aeon is a text based game that you can access from any computer
on any kind of internet connection.

You can interact with it by typing commands, and the game sends back
the results of your command.  You can also use one of our custom game
clients to get buttons, hitpoint/mana bars, maps, etc.

To try out one of our custom clients, see our web page at:

http://www.alteraeon.com

Question  1.2  - All text? No pictures at all?

Yes.  There is some ascii art (pictures drawn with text characters)
but for the most part, the game describes what you see, hear, touch
and interact with by sending you words and descriptions.

Question  1.3  - Is Alter Aeon multiplayer?

Yes.  Alter Aeon has an active userbase and has been around for 20+
years.

A lot of the appeal of the game is found in the interactions you have
with other players, whether by grouping, socializing, trading or
exploring together.  We have a full featured chat system that helps
support communications, including private tells, user created channels
and an internal email system.

Question  1.4  - What kind of game is Alter Aeon?

Alter Aeon is loosely based in a fantasy setting, and largely
resembles Dungeons and Dragons in game mechanics.  You can kill
monsters, use spells and skills, explore, or just relax and talk 
to other players.

Question  1.5  - How do I connect? I want to play!

You can connect to the game via the custom game clients that were
created specifically for Alter Aeon, or you can use a standard
telnet client, or any of the other major clients that support the
telnet protocol.  You can download the custom clients and read more
about them at: 

http://www.alteraeon.com/alter-2.1/connect.html

The address for the game is alteraeon.com, and the port is 3000.

Question  1.6  - Do I have to pay anything at all?

No.  Alter Aeon is free to play, and there is no restriction on
how long or often you use it.

Question  1.7  - You accept donations though, right?

Yes, we do.  Donations are always welcome, but you will never be asked
or required to pay money to play.

Note that the things you can get for your donation will not buff your
character, make it stronger, or give you a permanent edge over other
people in gameplay.  We do not sell characters, awesome equipment,
fame, or experience.

Even though you can't use your millions to buy a super-powerful godlike
character, there are some real nice things you can get, including
incredibly convenient weightless containers and extra practices for
learning extra spells and skills.

See section 2 of this FAQ for details.

Question  1.8  - How big is Alter Aeon?

Alter Aeon is HUGE. As of this writing, Alter Aeon has over 500 areas
spread across over 45,000 distinctly different rooms.  In those areas
are 26,000 different types of objects, and 20,000 different types of
interactive 'monsters' or 'mobs' for short.

For objects and monsters, there may be several of each type in the game
at once, so there is never a shortage of things to do or items to collect.

You can see a list of the major areas to visit at: 

http://www.alteraeon.com:8080/areas

Question  1.9  - I've played MUDs before, is Alter Aeon based on one of them?

No.  Alter Aeon was coded entirely from scratch.  It does not use
any kind of generally available code base, and is unique.

The default command interface and prompt is similar to DIKU and
MERC variants, with the addition of many common commands used in
other codebases.  There are also a huge number of custom commands
and interfaces specific to Alter Aeon.

Question  1.10 - Is Alter Aeon heavily administrated?

No. Unlike other MUDs, we prefer to stay out of the business of 
our users unless absolutely necessary.  There are powerful and 
effective commands available to everyone to use in the case that 
some kind of dispute arises.

That being said, there are strict rules against any kind of
harassment, real world threats, and illegal activity.  See the
'rules' command for details, or visit the web page at:

http://www.alteraeon.com:8080/rules