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Looking to talk with others about your addiction to Virtua Fighter?
There's help out there for you. For those who are IRC regulars
already, Virtua Fighter is discussed on #vfhome, under any EFNet
server.
Kill valuable time by reading #vfhome logs! (maintained by the notorious Mr. Bungle)
If the above made no sense to you, here's how to chat
about Virtua Fighter in real time with other fanatics.
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Getting Started
Get an IRC Program. IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It's THE
best way to chat on the internet. If you're used to AIM or Yahoo
messenger, IRC will be easy for you to get into and you'll find it's a
lot more versatile.
For Windows users, I recommend mIRC. It's almost certainly the most
popular IRC program and it's free (without ads or nagging). Get it at
the mIRC homepage.
The program's installation is pretty standard --
fill in the blanks and keep clicking Next until you get to the end,
then click Finish.
For Macintosh users, Ircle seems to be popular. Get it at
the Ircle homepage.
It may need to be decompressed but there is no
installation process. Once it's running, go to step 2.
Connect to the internet, then run the program.
Choose where you want to chat. You'll need to choose some options
and fill in blanks.
For IRCLE:
Read below. An ircle user assures me that Ircle is easy enough to
figure out, so if you read the instructions for Mirc, you should be
doing almost the same thing with Ircle.
For MIRC:
When you first run mirc, you'll get a typical "about" box which you can
click "OK" to get rid of. You will then get an options box. Make the
following choices.
For the first dropdown, "IRC Servers", choose "EfNet" - there are many
servers out there, but doing this will give you a list of EFNet
servers, which are the only ones where VFers congregate (as far as I
know).
For the next dropdown, you choose a specific EFNet server to connect
to. Which one you pick doesn't really matter, as long as it works.
Once you've chosen a server, click on the first blank space and type
in a name. You don't need to put your real name, and in fact I
recommend you don't. This name won't be what appears on screen to
other people, it's just extra information about you that they can look
up if they want to. The next blank is where you can enter an email
address, again this is optional and probably should be a fake email
address, just for your privacy. If someone wants to know your real
address, they can ask for it.
The last two blanks are for your nickname (usually called your 'nick'
for short) - the first blank will be your primary nickname, and the
second blank will be an alternate (in case the first nickname was
already taken by someone else). Try to come up with something really
unique. With tens of thousands of people chatting every day, most of
the obvious nicknames have already been taken.
A NOTE ABOUT IRC SERVERS: Because EFNet is the most popular chat
service, you will often find that you cannot connect to the servers in
mIRC's list every time. However, there are some servers that are very
reliable, and with that in mind, I'd advise you do this - Try out
several servers, and if any of them don't connect you after one or two
tries, delete it from the list (use the delete button on the right).
If you find one that lets you in every time, leave it alone and stick
with it for as long as you can. MIRC will always remember the last
server you connected to. Once you're on IRC, people in the chatroom
can recommend other reliable servers to add to your list. Three that
almost almost never fail me are:
irc.arcti.ca
irc.homelien.no
irc.prison.net
There are many others. But if you add any of these servers and use
them to connect, you'll be in good shape.
Click the button that says "connect to IRC server" - it will try to
connect and if it's successful a big block of text will scroll across
the screen which outlines the server's rules and contact information.
This stuff isn't too useful, you can ignore it. When the text block is
finished scrolling, a box should pop up asking you which channel you
want to join. Channels are like specific chatrooms. Type #vfhome in
the blank (including that # symbol) and then click the Join button on
the right. You will then be looking at other VF fanatics talking (or
you'll be looking at them sitting there quietly, not saying a word.
That happens a lot). Typically #vfhome has anywhere from 6-20 people
on it. If I'm on, you will see my name in the list on the right (look
for CreeD, CreeeD, or CweeD, or CreeDo).
Some basic IRC commands and all that-
To say something to the whole room, type anything and press enter on
the keyboard. It will appear on your screen and everyone else's.
To say something privately to just one person, type /msg NickName
blahblahblah (where NickName is the nickname of the person you want to
send the message to, and blahblahblah is whatever you wanted to say to
them. Be careful typing nicknames. I often make the mistake of
sending messages to Myke when I meant to send them to Myke` - that
little ` makes a difference. It's embarrassing to send a private
message to the wrong person.
To change your nickname, type /nick NewName ... where NewName is the
new nickname you want. If nothing happens, that generally means it's
taken.
To join another channel, type /join #ChannelName ... to leave one
you're already in, you can type /part #ChannelName or you can just
close the window that channel is shown in. You can join multiple
channels and try talking in several places at once.
To do an "action" on the channel, type /me does whatever ... on IRC
if I typed /me does whatever, then what everyone else would see is:
*CreeD does whatever*
.. you get the drift.
to leave IRC entirely, type /quit ... or click the disconnect button
at the top left (a broken lightning bolt). Or close out of mIRC as you
would any other windows program. It'll ask if you're sure and you can
click Yes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. I'm having trouble doing this.
A. If you can't get on IRC, usually it's because the server you're
trying to connect to is full. Try another and read my advice at the
end of section 3.
Q. Nobody's talking, but I see people entering and leaving. Is
something not working?
A. Probably everything is fine. Sometimes people sit on IRC all day
without saying much of anything, or often they'll be connected but
they've walked away from the computer. Try saying something, and you
might bring some of these idlers to life.
Q. What's this 'status' window that I can't close?
A. It shows that you're connected and shows you any information or
messages the server sends to you. Generally you won't ever need to
look at this window, it's just there. When you see "Ping? Pong!" for
example, you're seeing the server "pinging" you (sending out a test
signal to see if you're typing or just sitting there without doing
anything). Servers do this to make sure that people who haven't said
anything for hours can be kicked off to make room for people who want
to come on and chat. You probably won't get kicked off as long as you
do SOMETHING (i.e. chat, or send private messages, etc.)
Q. Nobody's talking about Virtua Fighter. Are you sure this is
the right place?
A. Yes, talk about Virtua Fighter isn't that common on VFhome. It's a
social place too, although you can ask a question or make a statement
about VF and usually see some people pick up the discussion.
Q. How can I see someone's profile?
A. IRC doesn't have AOL-style profiles, but you can get some basic
information on someone by typing /whois NickName ... you'll see the
name and email address they entered when they set up their IRC program,
it's unlikely that this will be their real name or email address. The
little slogan at the bottom is the slogan of the server they're
connected to, it's not anything the person wrote. So basically /whois
gives you almost no useful information =)
Q. How can I tell where messages are coming from? Or how can I show
who my messages are going to?
A. Since your messages go everywhere, it's hard to tell what's going
on. Often on IRC you'll see something like this.
<rsw> do you have painful hemorrhoids?
<creed> who here likes to play pai?
<you> I do.
To make it clear, you should preface your messages with the person's
nick that you're talking to, for example:
<you> rsw: I do.
... hope that they do they same for you.
Q. It seems like my messages or people's responses take a long time.
A. Your server may be lagged... it works, but it's slow. I'd recommend
disconnecting from it and finding a better server.
Q. Wow, a ton of people all quit at the same time. What's going on?
A. A netsplit. This is the term for the occasional little IRC
'earthquakes' you see when one IRC server loses its connection to
EFNet. The result is that everyone on that server is temorarily unable
to see or talk to other people on EFNet... only to people connected to
the same server as they are. It's not uncommon for you to choose a
server and see every single person 'leave' while you're sitting in
#vfhome all by yourself. These things usually correct themselves in
only a minute or two, and then everyone appears to come back into
#vfhome at once. Just wait, or if you're impatient disconnect and
reconnect to another server.
Any other questions? Ask me. Send me a Private Message by clicking
on my Profile, then clicking "Send a private message."
Written by CreeD | Edit and Format by Myke | Last Updated 2002/01/21
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