Teleporting into Toon Town
Starting up Comic Chat
Before you start Comic Chat you should connect to the Internet
(dial-up with your modem or make sure your Internet connection
is active). If you can get to web pages with your web browser,
you are probably on-line. Once you are on-line, you can start
Comic Chat by double clicking on a shortcut or by selecting it
from your Start menu under Programs and Microsoft Comic Chat.
Figure
1: Use the Connect Dialogue to open a new connection to Comic
Chat
When Comic Chat first starts up, it presents you with the Connect dialogue box (see Figure above). The first time in, you should leave everything as Microsoft has set it. For your reference, these are what the options mean:
- Favorites: this options allows you to jump directly to a chat room which you have marked as 'a favorite'. See the description of favorites later in this chapter.
- Server: this is the address of the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server
- Port: is the port number of the IRC server (for Microsoft, the default is 6667)
- Go to chat room: this is the channel name of chat rooms within a given IRC server. Channel names always start with the '#' sign.
- Show all available chat rooms: this option requests a list of all servers and channels available to Comic Chat, allowing you to select a room from a wider menu.
[Make this a sidebar..
Connecting to other IRC Chat rooms
If you want to connect to another IRC chat server somewhere on
the Internet, just enter the server address, port number, and
channel name into the Connect dialog box. Microsoft's basic Comic
Chat IRC channel is: Comicsrv1.Microsoft.Com, 6667, #Comic_Chat.
Microsoft is supporting the following channels for their server.
Comic Chat can be used to put a really expressive face on dusty
old IRC! For a definition of the terms server address, port number
and channel name, please see our extensive Glossary section.
| Server Address | Port Number | Channel Name | What Goes On? |
| Comicsrv1.microsoft.com | 6667 | #Comic_Chat | Basic Comic Chat town square |
| comicsrv1.microsoft.com | 6667 | #Comic_Help | For help on Comic Chat |
| comicsrv1.microsoft.com | 6667 | #Newbies | Discussions for new users |
| comicsrv1.microsoft.com | 6667 | #Pet_Chat | Talk about your pet! |
| Comicsrv1.microsoft.com | 6667 | #Sports_Chat | Sports addicts! |
| Comicsrv2.microsoft.com | 6667 | #Family_Chat | Family matters |
| comicsrv2.microsoft.com | 6667 | #Internet_Chat | About the net |
| comicsrv2.microsoft.com | 6667 | #Politics_Chat | Pundits on the political scene |
| comicsrv2.microsoft.com | 6667 | #Singles_Chat | Singles mixer |
Table 1: the Microsoft Comic Chat basic chat areas
[??? Verify Port numbers with Microsoft closer to final manuscript ???]
…end of sidebar]
You are In!
You can tell that Comic Chat is trying to connect by watching
for the messages at the bottom of the application window. If the
server is unavailable or too busy, you will be told so and given
the option to try again. I can get on most of the time, but sometimes
have to come back later when the Internet (and Comic Chat) is
not so busy. If Comic Chat tells you "Now chatting in room
#…" with the name of the room you selected… you
are in!
Practicing on your own
If you would like to practice on your own or if you are not able
to connect yet, you can try Comic Chat in Single User Mode, where
you are the only character around. Practicing in single user mode
is also fun and will give you a chance to learn how to express
yourself through text chat and emotional body moves. To run in
single user mode, just start Comic Chat without your Internet
connection being active and Comic Chat will let you play all by
yourself.
Figure 2: The Playbill helps you to see who will be in your comic drama
Curtains Up on the Show
Get set for the show! In the upper left corner of the preceding
figure, you can see the cast of characters or "playbill",
of which you are one player. Comic Chat has chosen the name "Rancid
Love" for this session (meaning that it will it be a tragic-comic
drama?). What is happening is that you have joined an ongoing
conversation. Each of the people in this conversation have chosen
their avatar, called a character in Comic Chat. This is
a rotating cast, the next time you are in, chances are there will
be a completely different set of people playing a different set
of characters. Sometimes there are regulars who visit Comic
Chat all the time, and may informally become hosts. Each
player has their own nickname, chosen when they first entered
Comic Chat, followed by the name of their character (in UPPERCASE).
You are automatically given a default character (sometimes called
a dummy or dummytar), which you can easily change later. Go to
the following section called Fine Tuning Your World to
learn how to change your character.
The Cast Members
Running down the list, the other characters include a player called
studmuffn (with a name like that, perhaps one to watch
out for) who has chosen the ARMANDO avatar. There are two other
people (with nicknames saxix and Kepler) playing
TIKIs, speed playing a fairly neutral looking DAN and,
possibly a humorous type named eggman playing as a JORDAN.
I am playing as an ANNA, using my virtual world name DigiGrdr...
short for Digital Gardener, ever the digital naturalist, turning
over the fertilizer in the virtual worlds social scene. Many people
choose different names and personas in each world, which hopefully
would not give them a multiple personality disorder! I choose
to remain consistent, as DigiGardener, in all the virtual
worlds. This helps people recognize me and I establish more of
a distinguished presence.
The Stage is Set
Remember, this is real life, well, bits of life. The drama that
unfolds is never predictable, there is no plot and rarely any
conclusion. You might think: how boring! But wait…
you must keep the play going, as the audience can be just your
cartoon compatriots or one of the characters of the plot may grow
to become your long awaited soul mate, either virtually or actually.
The digital drama is yours to deliver!
The member list, cast of characters, in this room is listed on
the upper right of the preceding figure. You can choose a character
from this list to find out about that person. You can also use
the member list to talk directly to or ignore someone (more about
this later). Below the member list is your character, in its current
body and emotional posture. Below this you will find the Emotion
Wheel a delightful feature of Comic Chat.
Figure 3: Using the Emotion Wheel: don't worry,
be happy!