PuzzleboxMUCK

July 27, 2024

PuzzleboxMUCK (or just Puzzlebox) was a MUCK based on postfurry themes such as shapeshifting, genre-mixing, and surrealism. It ceased operations some time between 2005 and 2010.

History
As of late October/early November 2005, the Functions and their duties are in the process of being updated. OR and XOR, being titles rather than regular characters, now have new players.

The Rules
The "Puzzlebox" referred to in the title is a psychedelic space habitat of unknown and possibly multi-galactic-cluster size that appears to bend the laws of reality. It essentially codifies the common rules of a MUCK into a New Reality:


 * Food and other physical concerns are unimportant unless you want them to be.
 * Space and capability are conceptual: play with people's internal concepts.
 * Be what you want! Anything you can think of, you can be.
 * Injury and even death are mostly just inconvenient; you'll always come back if you want to.

The Locations
Most of the MUCK's action takes place in a city called "the Mess," which is divided into six themed districts named for varieties of quarks:


 * Upwarp: rationalist, utopian social order
 * Downwarp: mystical, individualistic urban decay
 * Topwarp: aristocracy, elegance and self-discipline
 * Bottomwarp: revelry and self-indulgence
 * Charmwarp: childlike joy and bright psychedelia
 * Strangewarp: psychological horror and dark psychedelia

Puzzlebox was a closed-registration MUCK, with membership applications approved by a council of player volunteers, until early 2007. From then on, anyone could freely make a character that's restricted to only certain areas of the MUCK for one month. After that month is up, the wizards of the MUCK review player-given comments on the trial character to judge whether or not to make them full-fledged members or not.

The MUCK is administered under a philosophy of community participation, with an emphasis on finding solutions and serving player needs rather than making "by the book" legalistic rulings. Note: As of March 2006, work is underway to adjust admittance methods and requirements.

PuzzleboxMUCK may be considered a spinoff of the Dionysian Scream from Tapestries MUCK, which, while no longer supported by its original creators, still has a number of regular visitors.

PuzzleboxMUCK