You Are Here: Readme.txt file
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"You Are Here" is (c) Roy Fisher (royhome@powersufr.com), based on material by Trina Davies. It is, however, free to use, play, copy, and distribute. This file may answer a couple of questions people may have about the game. It may not, of course. Such is life.

As the game is deliberately simple, no walkthrough is provided.


Q: The game has lots of unexplained references. In fact, it looks like it's part of something else.

A: That's it exactly, though we do think it is perfectly enjoyable on its own. It's actually a promotional game for a multimedia theatre production called "MultiUserDungeon". This award-winning play concerns the long-distance Internet relationships formed by four people playing an online MUD. Half of the play takes place in the MUD, half in the real world. In fact, on stage the MUD characters and their real-life counterparts are portrayed by completely different sets of actors. The conceit of "You Are Here" is that this is the game the characters are playing--hence all the fantasy gaming clichés.


Q: How come you can't die permanently? And how come the puzzles are so easy?

A: The game was designed to be played online from MultiUserDungeon's web site (at www.multiuserdungeon.ca). The site uses Matthew T. Russotto's Java-based Z-Machine interpreter, so some players won't be able to save their game. Allowing "unlimited lives" lets players complete the game in one sitting. (This is also why the puzzles are so easy...) Besides, lots of MUDs are generous with newbie resurrections.


Q: What parts of "You Are Here" are in the play?

A: <GAME SPOILERS>Not everything, of course. Draxx, Kendra, Morgana, and Lancelot. The Wizards (a common term used in many MUDs). The deliberately-muddled Greek mythology (In the play, the Wizard who created this area is a 14-year-old hacker who took Greek mythology in his social studies class). A couple of items and locations, especially the Inn. Also, players may have stumbled across a couple of scripted scenes from the play, such as Draxx and Kendra's picnic... and earlier, one half of a conversation between Moragana and one of the Wizards. The Stonecurse quest is loosely based on an urban legend about e-relationships, though it and its twist ending aren't used in the play itself.</GAME SPOILERS>


Q: There's no way I can get up to Edmonton to see this production. Can you tell me what happens in "MultiUserDungeon"?

A: <PLAY SPOILERS> Girl meets Boy. Girl falls for Boy. Girl and Boy share quality e-time. Girl flies across the world to be with Boy. Girl finds out what Boy is hiding. There's also a subplot where Boy meets Girl, Boy falls for Girl, Boy discovers Girl is really... oh, I'm sure you can guess. The assignation of each Boy and Girl to "You Are Here" characters is left as an exercise for the reader.</PLAY SPOILERS>

The producers of the play plan on posting pictures from the run on the MultiUserDungeon web site some time in November (see www.multiuserdungeon.ca). That'll also give you an idea of what goes on.


Q: I feel kinda silly asking this, but what is a MUD anyway?

A: In short, it's a fantasy adventure game, classically a text-based role-playing game, in which many, many people can log on at the same time and perform quests together. Often, the interaction with other players is more fun than the game itself... not to mention that, regardless of what you're like in real life, you can be whoever and whatever you want. For some personality types, MUDding is an obsession. Long answer: see www.multiuserdungeon.ca.

