Did you play in a MUD or MUSH, when you were younger? I did! I did spend some time in the Lochness MUD and on the Elendor MUSH. These were multi-user environments that felt a bit like a text adventure: you typed things like “look” and “north” to look around and move about; on a MUD you’d also fight monsters, on a MUSH it was all about the roleplaying. I loved it.
Well, I thinking: shouldn’t it be possible to reproduce this kind of environment using Gemini, the network protocol somewhere between Gopher and HTTP, and text format somewhere between plain text and Markdown? I’ve been working on a little extension to Phoebe to allow me to do that. Phoebe itself is a Gemini-based wiki and I don’t actually use any wiki features in this new game. Phoebe simply handles the server startup, configuration, and so on. The game is called Ijirait, the plural of Ijiraq, a shape-shifter in Inuit legends and also a moon of Saturn. I’ve created a little wiki for it. It has four pages. 😄
Imagine the biggest and bestest Code of Conduct and adhere to it. Right now, Ijirait has no permissions, no objects, no containers, no programming… but you can connect and talk to other people. Your words hang around for 10 minutes – I might have to extend that, perhaps 10 minutes after somebody else has seen them?
You can create new rooms and add new connections between rooms, and you can rename and describe them, but you cannot delete any of them. I thinking of implementing something that I’ve been championing for a long time with regards to data: software should forget stuff that isn’t important. Thus, I’m thinking of rooms that haven’t been visited in a long time of fading away. Similarly, characters that haven’t seen any play time should fade away.
Use the “type” link to just type the commands...
And there’s even a simple client script in the “script” directory of the Phoebe repository. It doesn’t look like much but it works!
**alex@melanobombus**:**~/src/phoebe**$ script/ijirait --url=gemini://campaignwiki.org/play/ijirait --cert=$HOME/.emacs.d/elpher-certificates/alex.crt --key=$HOME/.emacs.d/elpher-certificates/alex.key
Use 'quit' to leave the game.
**Outside The Tent**
You're standing in a rocky hollow, somewhat protected from the wind. There's a large tent, here.
Exits
* A tent flap leads inside. (**tent**)
* A diamond-encrusted mahogany door (**door**)
People
* **Didia (you)**
Commands
* **look**
* **help**
>
#Ijirait #Gemini #MUSH
**Glass staircase**
Your steps echo down this long staircase spiralling up and down the
magnificent glass tower.
Exits
* Climb down to the ground floor (**down**)
People
* **Didia (you)**
* **Arinte**
Words
5 minutes ago, Didia said “Welcome, Arinte!”
5 minutes ago, Arinte said “Hello! Thank you.”
Butterflies are dancing up and down the glass staircase.
3 minutes ago, Didia said “Where will the glass staircase go?”
Didia sit down at the edge of the stairs, letting her feet dangle down
the shaft in the center of the spiralling glass. A beam of sunlight
illuminates the scenery.
72 seconds ago, Arinte said “To the top! Maybe this tower is some kind
of astral lighthouse?”
Just now, Didia said “Indeed, maybe it is! If so, perhaps there's also
a harbour for ships sailing the astral sea.”
Commands
* **look**
* **help**
>
(I fixed the title but the typo is still visible in the URL itself.)
