Posts made by Jim Nanban

This is how I started writing my how-to on AWS:

So you want to run a MU*, for free, for a year?
OK, first things first:
KNOW UP FRONT THAT YOU WILL PAY OUT YOUR BUTTHOLE IF YOU GO OVER, AND NOBODY CARES THAT YOU DID NOT INTEND TO!!!!!
You are entering your credit card info in this process, so if you have any doubt whatsoever in the slightest that you might not remember to cancel services in the 11th month, or that if something about that goes wrong that you can't afford the hosting, don't do this. And for God's sake, do NOT do this for someone else.
I feel like I need to say this again in another way: DO NOT go over your 750 hours!! AWS pricing is stupid expensive (because it's not intended for things that 1.) take up as few resources as a MU*, and 2.) don't make you money).
So you've read all that and you think you're responsible/financially masochistic enough to ride this dragon.

And that's where I stopped. I started thinking of all the people I know from MUdom. I started thinking about me in my twenties. I started thinking about how I'd feel finding out someone had followed my AWS How-To with the very best of intentions, for some reason overran the 750 free-tier hours and were financially ruined by it (and let's be honest, a lot of us got into MUs because free was all we could afford, balancing on a razor's edge financially).

I can't mentally or emotionally handle that. Thinking about it makes me physically ill.
Even moreso, one of the very few demands my God puts on me is to love others. It's not my problem if you get yourself into trouble... but it's not very loving if I give you instructions I know have a real chance of causing you ruin.

Yeah, I recall @Cheesegrater mentioned it's not that expensive... That's awesome, but with the byzantine options provided at this point to me I can't see how he gets the price he pays, and so I can't in good conscience at all help people get embroiled into something I can't get them out of and can't be sure they won't get themselves into trouble with.

So my how-to is simple: If you want to use AWS for hosting a MU*, it's possible. The licensing is byzantine, but the Free Tier stuff is marked pretty well. You want a Red Hat LINUX distro, you'll need to set up a certificate in PuTTY (they have instructions), SSH in and sudo-yum a developer package, and you're on your way.

If you have the wherewithal to figure it out from there, you'll have the wherewithal to figure out how not to get yourself in trouble.

Sorry guys, I know I essentially promised a few of you a guide. It just gives me the willies thinking about how badly this could turn out, and I figured I could at least give that explanation.

In summary, AWS is a valid option for running a MU in test/dev/pilot-program... if you can figure it out yourself. IMO you're better off running TinyMUX on Windows, or signing up for some of the low cost options like Linode or DigitalOcean.

The instability is still there, albeit far less pronounced. I THINK I've found a way to "exercise" it out, slowly but surely. One positive benefit I've found is that a full @dump takes about 1-2 seconds. So dumps need not be hourly things (though there are pros and cons to doing them more often).

If the game's not up, just check again later.

@Seamus That's sufficient interest for me! I'll probably write it up next week.

OK, so the upside is it's free for a year.

The down side is it's free for a year, and you provide credit card info (to Amazon, it's safe as any) so after that year they will bill you.

Given the state of MU*s last time I was gaming, a year should be overkill for 90% of them. A year of free development and pilot time. Sounds awesome to me. After that you figure out if it's worth the five, ten bucks at Linode (thanks @ixokai !).

@EUBanana is right, I should write a how-to. AWS's options are a bit intimidating and arcane. Like a bugbear shaman.

@EUBanana gave me some help today, and the latest DBU--just "fluff changes" as he put it, but less likely to have been corrupted over the years on my PC (given that the file has been on at least 7 hard drives, which on 3 occasions were mounted when lightning fried various parts).

He also helped identify the TinyMUSH version expected, and between those two changes (version and fresh DB) it seems like I've got the stability ironed out. Was probably just the MUSH version.

All you old-timers I've invited, your old passwords should work. If you need an @newpassword, just lemme know. Time to restore my handful of changes and do some planning!

@Seraphim73 I've seen the code...

@ThatGuyThere Understood, you bring up good points. The idea of a plot-economy is quite interesting to me, still. Y'all are right, though, there are some real hurdles to overcome.

As far as inviting new folks goes, I'm not going to do it myself, but I'm not going to throw a shitfit if you just have to show your breastest friend in the world.

I think later this week or next, I'll make a sufficient disclaimer about just being an exhibition MUSH* (and will have given the old hats some private time to make love to it again) to publicly share the server info.

*= No, not exhibition like Shang, I mean the other kind.

Sooooo stability is a "thing." For example, sometimes when someone logs in for the first time, the whole game crashes. Or just when you finger someone. I probably just need to use an older version of TinyMUSH, not sure.

Anyone who's gotten an invite, feel free to send an invite to other old-timers. Their old passwords SHOULD still work. I should set up a cronjob in LINUX to ensure the game gets restarted when it fails.

@Seraphim73 Sure thing, man! Got to sort out my free time, but you're on the if-list.

@HorrorHound said in What do RPGs *never* handle in mu*'s? What *should* they handle?:

@Thenomain @Ide @Duntada

I share Theno's and Dun's perspectives. Using Mage as a continuing example, what I see on MU*'ing is a need for ST-only Antagonists, and a need for something to counter your White Knights With Fireballs: Paradox.

But not Paradox you can channel, counter, absorb or anything like that. I mean, you nuke a street gang, and you as a player +submit Paradox, and you get...say, five dots to fill. An entire gang? This fills all five.

The STs are now required to run a scene.

Turns out, that gang, was on the payroll of not just the Camarilla, but also had ties to the Giovanni, Setites and now the Euthanatos and Technocracy are coming after you for rocking too many boats.

Good luck.

Just reading through this topic and wow... I'm using this if I ever start a MU again. Mage or not!

Ehhhh I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, beyond showing it to some friends.
Partly depends on what kind of free time I have for it. MU*ing night after night is no longer an option for me.

I used to be a weeaboo, and I made this name as a way to distance myself from the negative parts of that obsession. My name is a bad Japanese pun that means "Foreigner." I've tried it on some Japanese people, apparently it checks out.

So now about 10 years later, it's pretty much my identity online!

(PS if you don't want thread necromancy, then demand threads timeout and get deleted.)

Looking for players/staff from TGG (The Greatest/Lost Generation).
I've fired up the database again, 5+ years after my last attempt.
Not sure I'll do a public game with it, but I figure some people wouldn't mind logging in to the old girl again.

@ixokai HEH. It's what the DB runs on, and the differences aren't enough for me to care about 7 years out from my last time doing any real coding. I'd really want to try RHOST, but... the softcode in the DB I've got is way too tightly coded to change platforms.

@Cupcake Well, to be fair I certainly can't take sole credit for it. The more I think about it, the more I realize why I drank so much back then.

I drove some games into the ground.

• KittyMUX and its successors BSSM/Neo-SilverMoon
• Ravenswood Academy and the followon Academy City MUX

I apologize to the people who put love and hard work into these, and to the people who were disappointed at the failure to do anything. As explanation, I had some anxiety issues and depression of various levels. That doesn't excuse strangling things that people loved.

I should have made something happen or stepped aside to let others do so

I've been a total dickbag.
It was often hilarious, deserved, or both, but it was still dickbaggery. To those who didn't deserve it, I'm sorry. To those who did deserve it, I'm also sorry: I should have been a better person, especially given my faith.

I'm in a better place now, and for those I've burned one way or another, I merely ask you allow me to show you the difference the years have made.

Thank you.

Well I did it: I fired it up on AWS. TinyMUSH 3.2. Took 4, 5 hours just from being so out of practice in LINUX (and multitasking), but now I'm logged into a beloved game's database and realizing I'm incredibly rusty at MU*s.

But it's awesome. The game is up, on the interwebs. And it was pretty easy!!

Just found my alt list in the TGG DB!

@surreality said in What RPG SYSTEM do you want to play on a Mu*?:

@Thenomain That's how I feel about HERO, pretty much.

Yeah but in the case of HERO, that's intentional.