Play Online
- Introduction
- Connecting to FIMS
- Registration and Confirmation
- Logging In
- Communication
- Starting a Game
- Playing a Game
1. Introduction
This document provides an introduction to using FIMS. While it is likely that
the vast majority of FIMS usage will be via graphical clients, no such clients exist at the time of writing - hence this document is aimed primarily at early adopters and testers who are keen to try out FIMS before the first graphical clients are released.
the vast majority of FIMS usage will be via graphical clients, no such clients exist at the time of writing - hence this document is aimed primarily at early adopters and testers who are keen to try out FIMS before the first graphical clients are released.
2. Connecting to FIMS
FIMS is a Telnet server, in keeping with the tradition established by FICS and ICC. This means that FIMS is simple, scalable, and doesn't require any special client software to connect - a Telnet client, as provided by nearly every operating system, will suffice. With its stateful, low-latency design, it is much better suited to the interactions involved in playing a board game online than a web-based service.
Connecting to FIMS is as simple as executing:
telnet fims.morabaraba.org 5000
This will normally be done from a command prompt.
Unfortunately for Windows Vista users, Microsoft no longer includes a Telnet client as part of the standard install. This unfortunate Vista
"feature" can be remedied as follows:
- Click Start->Control Panel
- Open "Programs and Features"
- Select "Turn Windows features on or off"
- Select the Telnet Client option
- Click OK
Vista should then install the Telnet client, which may be used as described
above.
3. Registration and Confirmation
To use FIMS, you need to register an account. This is free, and we won't share any of your personal information. Registration is a three-step process:
- You connect to the server and register an account
- The server emails you confirmation instructions
- You connect to the server and confirm your registration
Step 1 may be achieved by connecting to the server and issuing the command:
register bobjones bobjones@email.org mypassword
(register <username> <email> <password>)
Please bear in mind that FIMS passwords are transmitted over the Internet in clear text - don't reuse your Internet Banking password!
Step 2: You will receive an email from the FIMS server, along the lines of:
Dear bobjones,
Thank you for registering with the Free Internet Morabaraba Server! Before you can login and start playing Morabaraba, we need you to confirm your account. This allows us to be sure that you are using your own email address. If you registered with FIMS, please go ahead and confirm your account by connecting to the server and entering:
confirm 67cd8ba4-7ccb-4348-b1da-68407349c1c0
If you have received this email in error, we're very sorry - we won't contact you again, and no action is required.
We look forward to seeing you on FIMS!
The Free Internet Morabaraba Server Team
http://www.morabaraba.org
Step 3: Connect to FIMS and enter the "confirm <id>" command - eg in the
example above it would be:
confirm 67cd8ba4-7ccb-4348-b1da-68407349c1c0
After that, your account is created - you're ready to login and start playing Morabaraba!
4. Logging In
Almost all actions require you to login to the server. This is so that the server knows who's who, so it can store your game records and route game information to players. Logging in is very easy - connect to the FIMS server and issue the command:
login <username> <password>
In the registration example given above, the user would be able to login with:
login bobjones mypassword
5. Communication
A key part of playing board games such as Morabaraba is the social interaction. This is especially important when you're playing online, so we've added a couple of commands to help you to communicate:
tell <username> <message>
is used to send a message to a specific user. For example,
tell bobjones Nice to see you online again, Bob!
would send the message "Nice to see you online again, Bob!" to the user
bobjones. You can also send messages to everyone at the same time:
shout <message>
will send the message to everyone. For example,
shout bobjones just won the world championship!
would send the message "bobjones just won the world championship!" to all connected FIMS users.
There are also some commands you can use to figure out who is online:
who
lists all of the online users, while
admin
lists all of the online administrators.
You can also find out more about a particular user by using the command:
finger <username>
For example,
finger bobjones
would provide you with more information about the user bobjones. You can
provide information about yourself to others by using the setfinger command:
provide information about yourself to others by using the setfinger command:
setfinger <line> <message>
where <line> is from 1 to 10; this allows you to set any of the 10 message lines which appear in your finger response. For example, the command:
setfinger 1 Hi, I'm Bob Jones, a fictional character!
would set the first finger line to "Hi, I'm Bob Jones, a fictional character!"
6. Starting a Game
There are two steps to starting a new game on FIMS:
- One of the players issues a challenge
- The other player accepts the challenge
To issue a challenge, use the command:
challenge <whiteplayer> <blackplayer>
For example,
challenge adamoell bobjones
would issue a challenge for adamoell to play White against bobjones. If accepted, adamoell would move first as he is playing white.
To accept a challenge which you've received, use the accept command:
accept <whiteplayer> <blackplayer>
For example,
accept adamoell bobjones
would accept the example challenge above and start the game. If you issue a challenge but change your mind about the game, you can withdraw the challenge as long as it hasn't been accepted yet:
withdraw <whiteplayer> <blackplayer>
For example, to withdraw the example challenge above you would use:
withdraw adamoell bobjones
7. Playing a Game
Once you've accepted a challenge, the game starts. You move using the move command:
move <whiteplayer> <blackplayer> <move>
You have to specify the players so that the server can identify which game the move belongs to. You specify the move in the FIMS format, as described at http://www.morabaraba.org/notation. So, for example:
move adamoell bobjones a7
If your game doesn't go well, and the position becomes hopeless, you may
decide to resign the game:
decide to resign the game:
resign <whiteplayer> <blackplayer>
For example, if in the example given above, bobjones issued the command:
resign adamoell bobjones
the game would be completed as a win for White. Alternatively, if the game reaches a balanced position, and neither player can make progress, you may wish to agree a draw:
draw <whiteplayer> <blackplayer>
The draw command first issues a draw offer. If the same draw command is given by the other player, the draw is agreed and the game is completed as a draw. So for example, if in the previous game between adamoell and bobjones, adamoell said:
draw adamoell bobjones
and bobjones then said:
draw adamoell bobjones
the game would be drawn. Note that every time a player moves, the draw offer is cancelled.