Alter Aeon FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

FAQ Section 2 - Donations and services

Question  2.1  - Master Price List and Index

Prices are listed in US dollars and in-game credits.  Note that you
may be able to trade for credits in game instead of sending in cash.

Faq 2.6 - Clans
Clan dues                - $10.00 (1000 credits) and up
Additional clan rooms    - $25.00 (2500 credits)
Rename clan trader       - $10.00 (1000 credits)
Clan equipment restrings - $10.00 (1000 credits)
Clan bank flag           - $10.00 (1000 credits)

Faq 2.7 - Object Restrings
Object/Item restrings    - $10.00 (1000 credits)

Faq 2.8 - Custom Player Strings
Ground strings           - $10.00 (1000 credits)
Recall strings           - $20.00 (2000 credits)
Fight strings            - $50.00 (5000 credits)

Faq 2.9 - Player Name Changes
Rename a character       - $20.00 (2000 credits)
Swap character names     - $30.00 (3000 credits)

Faq 2.10 - Weightless Containers
Weightless containers    - $25.00 (2500 credits) and up
Weightless expansions    - $10.00 (1000 credits) and up

Faq 2.11 - PPK Flags
Remove PPK flag          - $25.00 (2500 credits)

Faq 2.12 - Storage Lockers
Storage locker rental    - $25.00 (2500 credits) per year

Faq 2.13 - Credit Prices
5,000 In-game credits    - $50.00
2,500 In-game credits    - $25.00
1,000 In-game credits    - $10.00
500 In-game credits      - $5.00

Question  2.2  - Why donate to the game?

Alter Aeon is a custom developed mud, and we accept donations to help
keep us on the net and open to all players.  Without your support, we
probably wouldn't be here.

Naturally, we don't expect you to go unrewarded for your donation.  A
number of different things can be had for your donation.  See the other
FAQ pages for lists of available options.

Question  2.3  - How can I send a donation?

Please send donations to:

Dentinmud Internet Services
#309 800 South 4th Street
Louisville, KY 40203.  USA

Personal check or PayPal (www.paypal.com) are preferred methods of payment
at this time.  For paypal, send to 'soda@xirr.com'.

For PayPal, please allow a few days for processing.  If it is an e-check,
we prefer that the check clear first.

Sorry, we don't take credit cards (yet), and please don't send cash unless
you have to!  With your money, please let us know which character you are,
and what you would like to buy.

Question  2.4  - So what can I get for my donation?

The general rule of thumb is that we won't give out anything that gives you
an edge in the game over other players.  You can't buy hitpoints, stats, eq,
exp, etc.  Some of the things we do offer:

Clan dues, rooms, and decorations  - $ 10.00 and up
Item and player string changes     - $ 10.00 and up
Character rename                   - $ 20.00 
Character name swap                - $ 30.00
Weightless containers and upgrades - $ 10.00 to 100.00
Remove ppk flag                    - $ 25.00

All values are in US dollars.  If we have to do currency conversion, please
add a reasonable amount to cover conversion fees and processing.  Any
residual will be credited to future purchases if necessary.

Make sure you check the faq pages for anything you wish to purchase.  Some
things (strings in particular) may have strong restrictions.

Question  2.5  - What can't I buy?

While we greatly appreciate the support of the players, there is one very
important thing to consider:

Our policy is not to offer rewards that would unbalance the game or
grant donating players a meaningful edge over other players.

This means that things like powerful equipment or modified characters
are not available.  Our goal is to keep the game fun and fair for everyone,
and it becomes difficult to do that when others can effectively buy an
advantage.

Question  2.6  - Clan related donations

You may buy several different things for your clan:

Clan gold (dues only)    - $ 10.00 US per 4 million gold
Additional clan rooms    - $ 25.00 US per 19 room block
Rename clan trader       - $ 10.00 US - one-time setup fee
Clan equipment restrings - $ 10.00 US - per item, up to four total
Clan bank flag           - $ 10.00 US

You can use a donation to create a clan instead of coming up with the
default 1 million gold startup fee.

Clan equipment renames existing objects only, typically only one specific
object type and wear location.  Your clan may only have 4 wear locations
for clan equipment.  Clan equipment restrings are subject to the same
rules as regular equipment restrings.

(We plan to add to this list later.)

------------- WARNING ---------------

Clans can only have 50 million gold in dues.  If you try to buy more
than that, we won't be able to put it in.  Your money won't be lost, but
we'll have to figure out something else to do with it.

We're serious about the 'dues only' thing.  You can't buy gold for the
clan account, or for your characters.

Regarding clan rooms, the fee listed above is a setup fee to create the
rooms and add them to your area.  There is no maintenance fee, other than
increased dues.  See 'help clan area' for more information.

Question  2.7  - Custom Object Strings

Changing the strings on an item changes the following four strings:

Name:       'sword sub-issue sub'
Inventory:  'a sub-issue sword'
Ground:     'A sub-issue sword lies on the ground here.'
Long desc:  (this is what you see when you look at the item)

Restringing a single item costs $10.00 US, and only includes those four
strings. Wear, wield, and other strings can not be set on a per-item basis.

Restrictions on strings:
All strings have to be somewhat in theme with the mud, or not so obviously
out of place that they are annoying.  As an example, "Jerk's fifty page
porno mag" would be an unacceptable weapon name.

In general, inventory strings can NOT include color tags.  If you think
you have an exception, do the following:

1) Make sure you only have ONE color change.  'a flaming green longsword'
   MIGHT be acceptable. 'a flaming green and blue longsword' is
   totally unacceptable.

2) Make sure your item has a damned good reason for being colored.  Just
   saying 'but its a green ring with a red gem in it' isn't sufficient.
   A longsword dripping bright green flames when drawn might be ok.

3) Convince Dentin that your item has a good reason to be colored.  In
   general, assume Dentin will disagree with you and deny your request.

Remember, we're trying to keep with the theme of the game, so don't ask
for obviously stupid restrings!

Question  2.8  - Custom Player Strings

There are three types of strings that are settable on players:

Ground strings        - $ 10.00 US
Recall strings        - $ 20.00 US
Fight strings         - $ 50.00 US  (yes, $50.  This is not a typo)

Restrictions on strings:
All strings have to be somewhat in theme with the mud, or not so obviously
out of place that they are annoying.  Character strings should also have
your characters' name in them.  Specifically, something like:

Duke Nukem stands before you with his rocket launcher in hand.

would be totally unacceptable for a player named 'jed'.  It would also be
unacceptable for players 'duke' and 'nukem' as well due to context.

All strings MUST contain the full, proper, and capitalized name of the
player.  Other players must be able to identify a player from the ground
string.

Ground and recall strings may be a different color than the default.  They
may not contain color changes inside the string.

Notes on fight strings ----------------------------------------------

Because fight strings are a fundamental part of the game mechanics, they
are VERY heavily regulated:

Fight strings may NOT contain color changes of any kind.  Color
changes in fight strings cause substantial formatting and presentation
issues for other players and will not be considered.

Fight strings should be as short as possible, and typically do not
exceed two words.  Examples of past fight strings are "Darth Malcolm"
for the player "Malcolm", "SqueaK" for "Squeak", and "Rubedo Soulless"
for "Rubedo".  More than 3 words or 20 characters are not allowed.

You should negotiate fight strings well in advance so something suitable
can be settled upon.  Note that the price is kept high to prevent overuse
and misuse.  

Question  2.9  - Player renames and name swapping

Some players regret having chosen their original name, but would still
like to play that character instead of creating a new one.  This option
allows you to change the name of your character completely, or swap
the names of two characters that you own.

Rename a single character              - $ 20.00 US
Exchange the names of two characters   - $ 30.00 US

You MUST own all characters involved in the rename.  Further, you MUST
log them in on request of the admin immediately prior to the renaming.

As one final restriction, players near the top of the 50 'Most Ignored
Players' web page (found at http://xirr.com:3004/annoyance) may or may
not eligible to be renamed.  This restriction is to prevent problem players
from renaming to avoid ignore and channel bans.  Please verify that your
character is eligible to be renamed if it appears on this list.

Question  2.10 - Weightless containers

For donations of $25.00 US or more, we often give out what's called a
'weightless' container.  You can pick your own strings and names for these
containers (subject to rename restrictions), and best of all these
containers have zero weight regardless of what you put in them!  They
start off holding a pretty decent amount of stuff, and can be expanded
later with additional donations.

Rates and sizes are:
$ 25.00 -  500 pound capacity
$ 50.00 - 1200 pound capacity (20% extra)
$100.00 - 2500 pound capacity (25% extra)

Expansions are:
$ 10.00 -  240 pound expansion
$ 50.00 - 1200 pound expansion
$100.00 - 2400 pound expansion

Renames are:
$ 10.00 - restring a weightless container (keyword changes are free)

All containers are size 50 and should hold nearly any sized thing, so
long as the weight capacity is not exceeded.

Note also that we can't guarantee the existance of any restrung objects
if you don't take care of them.  Weightless containers can usually be
restored from backup if something truly terrible occurs, but don't risk
it by leaving your container on the ground!

Question  2.11 - PPK flag removal

Not all pain is gain.

If you somehow end up with a PPK character that you really wish were no
longer ppk, the only way to get the PPK flag removed is via donation.
The cost for this is $ 25.00 US, and is only good for one removal.
Should you register for PPK again, you must pay again to get the flag
removed a second time.

Be certain before going PPK!

Question  2.12 - Storage lockers

For $25 per year, you can purchase a storage locker.  This locker is
usable from your recall, and provides convenient sorted lists, get and
put commands, as well as the ability to enter the locker and sort your
equipment on the ground without the fear of losing items.

You can only purchase locker space in units of one year, up to a maximum
of ten years worth of time.

You can test drive the storage system for a month using the
'storage activate' command.  This will give you a one month trial period
in which you can use your locker.  When the trial period runs out, you
will still be able to retrieve your equipment from the locker, but you
won't be able to add anything new.  (We wouldn't want you to lose your
equipment!)

Question  2.13 - In-game Credits

In-game credits can be purchased that you can trade with other players
or use to buy any of the other things listed in the 'donations' faq.

The conversion rate is 100 Credits per Dollar.

For example, you could use 1000 credits to buy a ground string, or
you could trade 1000 credits to another player, which the other player
could use to buy a ground string.

While credits can be used to buy anything on the donation list, they
cannot be converted back into dollars.  They must either be spent as
part of a donation or traded to other players.

Question  2.14 - Refund policy

The official refund policy is 'no refunds after exchange has occurred'.
You may cancel at any time prior to the actual service being performed.

Clan dues are the only exception to this.  Clan dues will be pro-rated
at 1 million gold per month, limited by the dues remaining in the clan.
A minimum value of 1 million gold will remain in clan dues in all
cases.

Please be sure before you buy - it saves everyone hassle.