You will need to get a MUSH client. There are many out there, and they're pretty interchangeable. The one exception is Tinyfugue (tf), but that can only be run on shell accounts. If you've never heard of a shell account, don't worry; just get a web-based client. Even if you have access to a shell account you may want to use a web-based client, as they're more user-friendly. At some point we may come up with a guide to Tinyfugue, but that is necessarily low on our list of priorities.
Once the client is set up, point it to whitestar.spundreams.net on port 4201.
MUSHes are completely text-based -- no graphics. Because of that they're accessible to almost anyone. Blind people can use voice software to interact, and people on the oldest computers with even the slowest dialup connections can still play. However, because they're text-based you can't point and click; you will need to tell the MUSH what you want to do. Here are some of the commands which you will probably use often. It is common on MUSHes to not type single quotes (') when a command is shown. Thus, if something says to read 'news theme', what you will actually type is just:
news theme
On the other hand with brackets (< and >), you would not type the thing within the brackets, but a substitution. For instance, if it says <color>, you might type:
purple
- 'help' or 'help <option>'
Gives you the built-in help for MUSHes. Typing just 'help' gives several options. '<help option>' allows you to check out the option.
- 'news' or 'news <topic>'
Allows you to read up on things the MUSH admins consider important. Just typing 'news' will give you a list of topics. To read about an individual topic, you would type 'news <topic>
- 'say <text>'
Has your character say something. For instance, 'say Testing.' will show up to you as:
You say "Testing."
If your character's name is Bob, others will see:
Bob says "Testing."
Note that you do not need to use quotes; the MUSH puts them in for you.
'"' by itself is an alias for say. Thus, if you type '"Testing', it will act as if you had typed 'say Testing'.
- 'pose <text>'
Has your character show what s/he is doing. For instance, if you type 'pose tests.' and your character's name is Mary, everyone will see:
Mary tests.
';' or ':' are aliases for pose. A semi-colon does not automatically put a space between the semi-colon and the first letter, while the colon does. So, you might type '; tests.' or ':tests.' to get the same effect.
- 'look' or 'look <object>'
This allows you to "see" what someone wants you to imagine. If you look at a person, it will probably give you a textual description that the other person has set. Generally looking at a character will tell you what color their hair and eyes are, how tall they are, how they're built, perhaps what they're wearing. The alias for look is 'l', which means that instead of 'look bob' you could type 'l bob'.
- '<exit name>'
Allows you to move between rooms. Typically in a room if you type 'l' you'll see the description, a list of contents (Other players, puppets, and objects), and one or more obvious exits. Well-built exits will always work if you type the capital letters, thus for an exit named 'Exit Here', you could leave by typing 'exit here' or by typing 'eh'. 'Exit is Here' would work by typing 'exit is here' or 'eh'; since the "i" is not capitalized, it doesn't need to be in the truncated version. Exits may also contain the one exception to the bracket rule; some will have names like '<n>-North'. In that case, typing the letters between the brackets will take you through the exit.
There are tons of shortcuts which you will pick up as you get more used to the MUSH. The six above, however, are what you need to learn, to see, and to intereact with others.