America Online™ FAQ

How do I connect to Materia Magica through America Online?

To get started, you must have a telnet application installed on your computer as well as your AOL software. You may use any telnet client (like CRT) or mud client (like ZMUD). If you do not currently have telnet software installed on your computer, go to the keyword: TELNET on AOL. Under the Internet Files and Utilities or Windows Telecom Files you will find lots of programs to choose from (remember to "Add More Files" to see the complete list and read the descriptions included for download and installation information since more than just telnet and mud clients are listed there). Under keyword: FILE SEARCH you can search the downloadable files and resources for to help narrow your search. The "Basic Information About MUDs" section in the keyword: TELNET in AOL gives you some good information about choosing between telnet and mud clients as well as some other general information about using MUDs in general.

Once you have your telnet or mud client installed you are ready to get started. Be sure you are logged into AOL before attempting to connect to the Materia Magica site. Also, it is better if you DO NOT minimize AOL while connected to Materia Magica since the Activity Dialog boxes may not restore properly when you maximize them which will result in you being disconnected from AOL and Materia Magica after the timeout period (usually 10 minutes). Now all you need to do is open your telnet or mud client, and open a connection with Materia Magica using the hostname materiamagica.com or the IP address 66.219.44.166 (which one you need will depend on your software). If you have other basic questions, check out the FAQs page on this site for more general information for beginning adventurers.

So you have everything installed and tried to connect but can't connect to the site. The most common reason for this message is that you do not have AOL up at the same time you are trying to connect (this is also a common reason AOL users lose their link). If your AOL connection is active, it could be that you have the wrong hostname or IP address entered for connection. Otherwise, it may be that the server at Materia Magica is down or that AOL's Internet connections are down. The best course of action is to wait a bit (at least 10 minutes as a general rule) and try again. If you are still getting the "Connection Refused" message, go to keyword: HELP, select the "Internet and World Wide Web" help topic, and then click on "Ask Staff". This will get you to AOL's technical support people who can help your figure out what is happening.

Lag is the most common problem AOL users experience. The good news is, you are not alone! It's not just AOL, it is a function of the nature of the internet and how everything is connected. Lag is caused by a number of factors including number of users, where your connection is routed (remember that on the internet we're talking about thousands of miles of connections in some cases), and system resources at each step in that chain. So its not uncommon for one person to have lag and another person connected to the same site to have absolutely no lag. Some lag will be a function of your computer and set up (for example if you are using a modem it will be slower than a T1 connection) while other will be a result of AOL or other systems between you and Materia Magica. Additionally, as the number of users in Materia Magica increases it spreads the local resources a bit more too. Though Materia Magica is constantly upgrading the resources available to its users, just like the rest of the world wide web, there are a lot of people getting connected so its tough to keep up with the demand. What this ultimately means to you as a user, is that you should expect at least some lag during peak use times (when most people are using the internet). If you are getting consistent lag at all times of the day, contact AOL staff for help.

Any AOL related questions can best be answered by going to keyword: HELP, select the "Internet and World Wide Web" help topic, and then click on "Ask Staff". This will get you to AOL's technical support people who can help your figure out what is happening. They will need to know what type of system you are using (Windows 95/98, Mac, Unix, etc.) and what version of AOL you're working with. The version of AOL may be found by going under the "Help" tab on the main menu of AOL and choosing "About AOL".