When you enter the world things might seem very unfamiliar to you. Gaming in text-only is so old it might just seem new! Though the game itself will teach you many of the basic commands in the pre-creation tutorial sequence, here is a list of the most useful ones, as well as a small guide on how to use the game client to make playing a bit easier. However, remember that text games require a little more effort from the user than graphical games usually do, but that is also something that makes playing text games very rewarding once you succeed with a task.

Most moderns MMORPGs have been greatly inspired by their predecessors - the early online text games known as multi-user dungeons or MUDs.
BASIC GAME COMMANDS

[north east west south up down] [n e w s u d]
These are the six basic directions for moving around the game. If you wish to go north, type "north" or "n" to move that way. Diagonal movements like [northwest or nw] also exist.

[look] [l] [look at] [examine] [exa]
By typing "look" or "l" you look around in your present location. If you "look at apple" you will take a closer look at an apple and receive a longer description of that item. "examine" or "exa" work the same way. These are your primary commands for exploring the content in the game. Use them often!

[get] [drop] [get all] [drop all]
These commands allow you to pick up things that you find. You can naturally drop the things you carry with you as well. Typing "get all red items" will get all red items from the ground, for example.

[inventory] [i]
Allows you to see what you are carrying. If you carry a bag, you will have to type "look in bag" (or "exa bag") to see what is in it.

[wear] [remove]
If you have some sort of armor or clothing and wish to use it you will have to wear it first. If you wish to change armor you must remove your old one. ("remove leather armor"), ("wear platemail").

[wield] [kill]
Combat is a large part of what makes the game fun for most people. You can fight by wielding a weapon ("wield sword") and attacking something ("kill lion"). If you are not wielding a weapon you will automatically fight with your bare hands instead.

[say] [shout]
This is very useful if you wish to talk to someone. Just type "say Hello, who are you?" when there is someone to talk to. If you shout you will be heard in the next room as well.

[introduce myself to]
When you meet someone in the game you do not instinctively know his or her name. Naturally you have to introduce yourself. "Introduce myself to all" will let everyone in the same room know your name.

[remember] [forget]
When someone introduces to you, you can decide to remember his or her name. If you do, you will immediately recognize them the next time you meet. Type ("remember") to see the people currently in your memory and ("remember <name>") to remember a specific player. Your brain can only handle a limited amount of names, so you also have the option to ("forget <name>") if you do not wish to remember someone anymore.

[ntell] [nrules]
Genesis is a role playing game and there are generally no chat lines here, however as a new player you have access to the newbie line where you can ask questions to experienced players who have signed up as "newbie helpers". Feel free to use it whenever you want if you have questions on how to play the game. This is the fastest way for new players to get help as most helpers are usually quick to reply. Just remember to check "nrules" first so you do not accidentally break any rules for usage of the newbie line.

[commune] [commune wizard_name]
Sometimes you might need to ask the wizards who run the game for help if you notice a bug or feel something is not working like it should. However, remember that the wizards are a volunteer workforce so only use the "commune" command for real emergencies only. "commune all Help! I am suddenly unable to see anything, and none of my commands are working anymore!" is an example of the right time to use the command. If you wish to contact the wizards with non-emergency questions simply head to the nearest post office and "mail aop". Aop is an alias for the Arch of Players Team, who are the wizards handling most communication with the players.


BASIC CLIENT USAGE

Genesis is a text MUD (Multi User Dungeon), and all text MUDs are played using a MUD client that handles text output and input. There are several freeware and commercial options out there, but there is also the official Genesis web and Facebook client, which contains some nifty functions especially made for Genesis, and all examples on this page are written for the official client. It's recommended for all new players to learn the game using our official client, which can be found by hitting "Play Now" on this page or as a Facebook app.

When playing a text game you need to read and write a lot of text but, luckily the client can also help you with both text visibility and many of the commands. There are four basic client functions that are very useful when playing Genesis, these are known as "aliases", "triggers", "coloring" and "paths". Playing a text game will be much easier and probably more fun when you learn how to use these helpful client functions.

Aliases
Instead of repeatedly typing in long commands you can create an unlimited number of aliases to shorten the commands and make typing them quicker. For example, instead of writing "buy ticket" to buy a ticket to board ship, you can create and alias and name it "bt" so every time you type "bt" you will send the "buy ticket" command to the game. To make an alias using the official client:

Click the "Settings" button, then hit the "Aliases" tab. Now click "Add new alias".

In the text box for pattern write:

bt

In the script field write:

buy ticket

Click "Save" and then "Close".

You can also create an alias for several commands in a row to make things even easier. For example you could create an alias to buy a ticket and board the ship immediately after. Hit "Settings", then "Aliases" again, this time select the "bt" alias you just created in the list on the left and click "edit". On the second line in the script field write:

board ship

Click "Save". Keep adding new commands on new lines to create longer and more advanced aliases.

Triggers
Triggers are commands that automatically fire depending on what happens in the game, without you having type anything at all. For example, you could create a trigger that automatically picks up all coins from a corpse after you have killed something. To do this:

Click the "Settings" button, then hit the "Triggers" tab. Now click "Add new trigger".

In the text box for pattern write:

You killed

In the script field write:

get coins from corpse

Click "Save".

Just like you did with aliases, you can make triggers fire several commands after each other. If you want to also pick up all gems from something you slay, you could on the second line write "get gems from corpse", and now you will automatically grab all coins and gems from anything you kill.

Coloring
Lots of text in the same color can be hard to read, but luckily you can set up different colors for things you want to highlight. For example it's always useful to have room exits show up in another color so they're easy to spot. To do this:

Click the "Settings" button, then hit the "Triggers" tab. Now click "Add new trigger". This time select trigger type "Regexp".

In the text box for pattern write:

obvious exits

In the script field write:

gwc.output.color("green");

Finally, before you hit "Save", select "Javascript" instead of raw commands.

Now the line containing the phrase "obvious exits" will be colored green. But hold on, what if there is just one exit in a room? Then the phrase would be "obvious exit", and it will NOT be colored green. No problem! Go back to your alias settings and change the line in the text box for pattern to:

obvious (?:exit|exits)

Now when you hit save the client will recognize both obvious "exit" and "exits" so now all obvious exits will be colored green no matter if it's a room with one or more exits. To use other colors simply change "green" to another common color name, for example "red". You can also use HTML color code values, for example "#FFFFFF" for white.

Paths
Tired of manually walking the back and forth over long distances? That's why there are paths that do the work for you. For example you might want to quickly move back and forth between the orc fortress where you're hunting orcs and the Sparkle shop to sell your loot. This requires a little more work than the previous examples, but once it's setup you'll never have to do it again and can easily add new paths.

First you need to create two aliases, one for your path, and one for your path reversed. Hit "Settings", "Aliases" tab and then "Add new alias".

In the text box for pattern write:

shop_to_orcs

In the script field write:

var p = gwc.userdata.paths;
p.go(p.shop_to_orcs);


Select javascript and save. Then create a new alias which will be the same as the first path but reversed, so you need to add different name for it. Click "Add new alias".

In the text box for pattern write:

orcs_to_shop

In the script field write:

var p = gwc.userdata.paths;
p.go_back(p.shop_to_orcs);


Select javascript and save. Now it's time to set up a third and final alias that contains your actual paths and some javascript code to make it all work. Hit "Add new alias" again.

In the text box for pattern write:

update_paths

In the script field write:

gwc.userdata.paths = {
shop_to_orcs:[
'n','w','w','w','n','n','w','w','w',
'w','w','w','w','w','w','w','w','w',
'n','w','w','n','n','n','n','n'
],

reverse : {
'n':'s', 's':'n', 'e':'w', 'w':'e',
'nw':'se', 'ne':'sw', 'sw':'ne', 'se':'nw',
'u':'d', 'd':'u', 'in':'out', 'out':'in'
},
go:function(path) {
path.forEach(function(step) {
gwc.connection.send(step);
});
},

go_back:function(path) {
path.reverse();
path.forEach(function(step) {
step = gwc.userdata.paths.reverse[step];
gwc.connection.send(step);
});
path.reverse();
}
};
gwc.output.append("Your paths have been updated!");


Select "Javascript", "Save" and finally "Close". Now before you do anything else you need to type "update_paths" in the command window to update your newly created path. You need to run this command each time you update or add new paths to let the client know you have made changes to your paths.

Now, assuming you're standing in the Sparkle shop all you have to do is type "shop_to_orcs" to quickly run to the orc fortress, and then "orcs_to_shop" to run back. You can easily add as many paths as you like by repeating the first two steps and then adding more paths below the "shop_to_orcs" path in the "MyPaths" alias. "MyPaths" can contain hundreds of paths if you like, and you only have to type in the direction one way. The script automatically handles reversing it.