PLAYING THE GAME
CHANNEL FUNCTIONS
LILMONKEY COMMANDS
PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS
MISCELLANEOUS
How do you play this game?
Simply type your answer to the question in the #Trivia_House channel screen. You don't have to privately message the trivia bot or precede your answer with any special commands. Just type it and then press enter. You do not have to join a team as you play for yourself only.
What are the channel rules?
- No idling.
- No cussing.
- No disrespectful behavior.
- No /msg ppl without asking them first.
- Please limit your popups to 6 lines or less
This message appears when you enter or re-enter the channel as a reminder for appropriate behaviour. You must participate if you wish to be in this channel as this is a trivia room / chat room. Use language that is appropriate for minors as we have a few that play trivia. Please ask if you wish to message other players in channel as they may not wish to be taken away from the trivia game.
How does the scoring work?
Every time you answer a question first and correctly, you receive one point. This point is added to your month score and wins all time score. On the first day of a new month, the month score is reset, while the wins all time score continues to record your overall score. Therefore, you will end up with two scores.
The trivia bot also records your 'wins in a row score' too until someone else wins a question, thus breaking your streak of wins.
What can I win?
A new car!!! Well no not really, but it's nice to dream. You get a place to showcase your intelligence or lack of, a safe environment to be in if you are an insomniac, and somewhere great to meet people from all over the world and to make new friendships. You also get a lot of laughs and have great fun.
Who / what is LilMonkey?
LilMonkey is a trivia bot, created by Cyclone` aka Tim88, that runs our 24/7 trivia game. LilMonkey is not a real person or player, so there's really no point in trying to talk to him or privately message him. He responds to your answers, certain words and the commands below, but these are automated and programmed responses built into his script. However, like all monkeys, he does like bananas!
LilMonkey
What does the + before or after my nickname mean?
This means that you are voiced (see above). Your nick will appear with a +, either before or after it depending on your chat browser, in the channel list.
What are the ops roles?
If you have any trouble in channel, whether technical or human in nature, /msg an op and they will help you. The ops are there to make sure that everything runs smoothly and that a fun and safe time can be had by all. The list of op names is accessible here , as well as guidelines about their roles and responsibilities.
What does the @ mean?
This indicates who the ops are. If you have a problem as discussed above, find players who have a @ next to their name and privately message them with your concerns. If you have any feedback about how to make our channel better, you can also message them to the ops, who will then pass them on to the channel managers.
How do I get a hint?
Wait for 10 seconds and LilMonkey will automatically begin the hints, one letter at a time until someone gets the answer correct or the time runs out (70 seconds is alloted for each question). You no longer need to type the !hint command.
What other commands does the bot respond to?
Type these words in the public channel to get the required response -
!server - to see what server the trivia bot is currently on. The best idea is to get on a fast server or the server that the bot resides on at that time so your answers won't lag.
!repeat or repeat - repeats the question
!top 10 or !top 20 - LilMonkey will privately message you with a list of the all-time, overall top 10 or top 20 winners. This command will lag the bot slightly.
!monthtop10 or !monthtop20 - LilMonkey will privately message you with a list of the month top 10 or top 20 winners. Another 'lag the bot' feature!
!wins nick or !won nick
Example - !wins Ash - to find out how many wins they have overall and this month.
!wph nick - type this to find out the wins per hour rating for players.
!spot #
Example - !spot 1 - type this to see who is currently in spot 1 and how many wins they have this month. Relevant for spots 1-50.
!seen nick
Example - !seen Ash - will tell you when Ash last played in days, hours, mins. The player must have played some time in the last month otherwise the trivia bot will not register it.
!page - brings up the official webpage URL of #Trivia_House in channel. If you have an appropriate chat client, you can click directly on the address to be taken there, otherwise cut and paste into your web browser.
!addquestion - this command allows you to add questions that you make into the trivia bot's database.
The correct format for adding a question is this -
!addquestion Question here*Answer here
Example - !addquestion What color is the grass*Green
You do not have to use a question mark (?) after your question and please make sure there aren't any spaces between the end of your question, the * and the answer. While your question will possibly undergo editing, to make our jobs easier ensure that correct spelling and grammar is used, and punctuation is correct (capital letters on names, places). Start the question and the answer with a capital letter. If it is possible to have more than one answer for your question (such as spelling deriviations or different names it can be known as) please provide extra answers.
Example - !addquestion Which singer was known as 'The King'*Elvis*Elvis Presley
You can have up to 4 possible answers for your question. Make sure there aren't any spaces between the *'s.
!correction - type this if you find a spelling or grammar error in any of the questions asked in channel or the answer is incorrect or you wish to add alternative answers or spellings (LilMonkey is written to provide you with possible alternate answers. Check to see if the answer has alternatives). When using the !correction function, provide the number at the start of the question for reference, as well as your comments and corrections.
Example - !correction 12. What color is the skie? [type your comments after that part such as:] The answer said green but it should be blue. Also skie is spelt sky.
Your responses will be looked at shortly and the problems corrected.
!submitted nick - type this to see how many questions a player has submitted within the month. The top 10 question submitters are listed at the end of each month on the webpage.
!quote - to read a funny quote that has been said in channel
!addquote [words] - type this to add a funny quote or group of players words into the database. The easiest way is to cut and paste directly from their words. Quotes are edited by vamp2 for suitability before being stored in the database.
!commands - by typing this, you will be directed to this FAQ page for detailed explanations of each of LilMonkey's commands.
If you think of any more commands that are missing and would be great, please message an op with your ideas.
I got that first, but the trivia bot gave it to someone else -- what can I do?
Check your lag time by typing !ping to see how many seconds (or minutes on a really bad day) you are behind. Type !server to see what server the trivia bot is currently on and try to get on that same server as this will cut down your response time to the bot. Make sure that you aren't running too many programs at once, like mp3s or downloading other things, because this will lag you too. Try and find a Starchat server that is located closer to your country. And if that fails to help, come back later to see if it's faster or talk with your ISP about it.
Why does my screen seem to freeze? Why does my screen seem to go so fast?
This is due to either the lag factor (see above) or the Starchat servers are having problems. This does happen from time to time and the problems are usually fixed within hours, or possibly days.
What is a server-split? Or everyone just quit the room at the same time and then rejoined together -- what does that mean?
Think of the servers like a hand with fingers. You have a main portion, or 'hub'. Then you have the 'fingers' or other servers that are each connected to the main 'hub'. A server-split happens when one or more of the 'fingers' lose their connection to the main hub. Everyone who is not on the same server (finger) that you are on will appear to have 'quit'. To them, it will appear as if you have 'quit' when in reality nobody at all really quit. Then as soon as the connections are all re-connected, it will show up as everyone joining back in with you again. Sometimes this won't happen for weeks or it could happen 10 times in one chat session.
What can I do if I can't read the questions because the colors don't work well on my computer screen?
Change your background colors and text colors for your chat client until you are able to read the questions easier. We recommend mIRC for optimal performance. You can download it at the mIRC website.
I got kicked for flooding -- why?
If you get kicked by Starchat, it is either due to lag or you had a popup that was too large so you flooded off.
If you are kicked by Lilmonkey, the trivia bot, it means that you have typed more lines in the alloted time than he allows (possibly due to lag). This mechanism is set up so that the game is never affected by repeaters and flooders.
You need to wait until the ban is lifted (10 minutes) and then come back into the channel. And if you are doing it repeatedly and on purpose, you will be banned for good.
Is it ok to /msg people or whisper to them?
If you do not know them, you should ask in channel before messaging or whispering to them. See Rule #4 of the channel rules.
Other people use these weird letters. What do they mean? Example: wd, gj, foms etc
Since trivia moves so fast, we need to use acronyms for words and sentences. If you don't know the basics of chat language, such as lol, rofl or brb, make sure you check out a newbie guide or list first.
Other abbreviations we use in here include :
- wd - well done
- wtg - way to go
- gj - good job
- gg - good going
- ty - thank you
- thx -thanks
- foms - first on my screen
- noms - not on my screen
We like to congratulate people on winning a question, so nearly everyone will reply with a 'wd', 'wtg' or 'gj'. The winner will usually reply with 'ty'. It's just a nice way to show courtesy and to congratulate a player.
Someone called me a feef. What does that mean?
Feef is our way of calling you a thief for supposedly stealing our answer. This might happen due to bad spelling on someone's part or from differening lag times. It's not meant as an accusation or to hurt you, just a way to release our frustrations because we tried hard on our answer.
Why does the bot keep on answering me when I say 'don't know' or 'foms'?
The bot is programmed to respond to these particular words :
- don't know
- dunno
- stupid bot
- dumb bot
- I knew that
- FOMS / foms
- I'm dumb
It will respond with random phrases and witty remarks that have been written by Tim88 and others. This appears as if the bot is talking directly to you.
The bot will also kick and ban you if you say the 'f' word or the 'c' word. These words are not appropriate for this channel and our varying audience.
Why do people tell me to use text mode on my comic chat?
The bot doesn't recognise comic chat so your answers will not be registered. Below is an example of how a comic chatter appears in other chat clients, and you'll have to agree it's rather annoying.
[Jess] # Appears as ANNA
[Jess] (#G88:E686RM1TLilMonkey) Hello
Please turn off comic chat while in our channel.
How smart do you have to be to play here?
A MENSA graduate!! Kidding! The questions are on a range of topics, including the sciences, technology, literature and arts, food, geography, history, entertainment, kids stuff, music and other leisure activites. So there are plenty of questions that you will be able to answer. And if you think they are too hard, why don't you add some of your own. We welcome all questions, except Pokemon because frankly that is so OVER! Also, if you were the one that added all of the Gilligan's Island questions, be prepared to be strung up, drawn and quartered. =)
How can I contribute to trivia?
By submitting questions, by correcting questions, by adding quotes and by making sure that your behaviour is appropriate for the room, in order to create a safe and happy environment.
Who owns the trivia bot and how can I contact them?
LilMonkey, the trivia bot, was made by Cyclone` aka Tim88 (and all his other Tim aliases). The LilMonkey script / bot will not be passed out for free by people wanting their own trivia game. Tim88 has put a lot of his personal time and effort into creating a fabulous bot so please don't ask in channel or in private if you can have a copy of it. However if you'd like to message him and tell him what a great job he has done (or to add more questions to the database), you can use the following email address : indyknight@hotmail.com
Are you a bunch of insane loonies?
Pretty much yes! Or wanna-be Jeopardy players! We are like a big extended family with members all over the world, and we hope that you will stay and join our family too.
If you have any more questions that have not been covered in this FAQ, please /msg an op for help while in the channel. We will all be happy to help you.
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