The Mud Companion - Submission Guidelines

The MUD Companion Magazine (MCM) caters to the diverse and unique world of MUDs. We strive to be the player's journal and reference guide, as well as the administrator's library. As such, MCM covers a wide range of topics, all of which are geared toward improving the MUD community. All articles are submitted to: submissions@mudcompanion.com

When submitting your articles to MCM, please include the following:

Your Real name

Your Alias, if any

Your Email address for our records

The means you wish readers to contact you, if different

Summary of article (no more than 175 words)

References (if applicable, including URLs)

In 75 words or less describing the author and his/her experience as it pertains to the article and MUD community.

What department your article falls under. (see Article Types)

The articles submitted should be in MSWord or ASCII text. Following the body of the article should be any references, URLs and graphic captions. URLs should not appear in the body of the article. Graphic files should accompany the article when sent. The graphics should be named sequentially and correspond with placement in the article.

Types of Articles

Newbie [Newbie Zone]
Articles that are geared toward the beginning players are covered by this category.

Role-playing and Grouping [In Character]
Articles that are written in role-playing fashion (story telling) or that center around role-playing in general fall under this category.

Tips & Tricks
Articles that are written for more advanced players and share information and methods of game play fall under this category.

Building [Architect's Advice]
Articles that describe how to create an area or discuss on-line creation ideas are categorized under this heading.

Coding [Coder's Compendium]
Those topics that discuss the programming of the MUD itself are categorized under this heading.

Administration [Mire Consequences]
Articles that center around the management of the MUD, administrators and players are categorized under this heading.

Snippets
Articles that include pieces of code and the installation of the code fall under this category.

Reviews

The Game Review

Game reviews are conducted by MCM staff but we will occasionally accept outside reviews. If you are interested in having your game reviewed by MCM, Email the following information to: submissions@mudcompanion.com

Name of the MUD
Code base
Address and Port information
Administration Contact (MUD Alias and Email address)
In 100 words or less describe the MUD and state why the MUD
community would benefit from knowing it.

The Media Review

Media reviews are conducted by staff and article submission. These reviews are usually based on books, but can include movies, plays or magazines that may benefit the MUD community with ideas or story concepts.

News Releases

Game expansions, code releases, snippet information and technology advances that may benefit the MUD community are categorized under this heading.

Previously printed articles are handled on a case by case basis and should be submitted along with the previous publication information. (Where and when it was printed) This includes those articles that have appeared on personal web pages or any other public forum. Submissions should include a statement that the article has not appeared elsewhere, if the above category does not apply to the article.

Work that is accepted for publication by MCM may not be published elsewhere for six months. After six months, the work may be published elsewhere, along with an author's note that it was originally published in The MUD Companion Magazine. A link back to the MCM site should also be included.

Articles that have been purchased by MCM become the property of MCM and as such may not be published elsewhere without MCM consent.

Unless purchased by MCM, the author of the article retains copyright, but agrees to give MCM the right of first publication and a six month exclusivity.

The article should contain, in order, the following sections. Sections may be separated by a row of hyphens:

Title page, containing the article's title, name(s) of the author(s), their institutions (if any) and email addresses for each author.

A summary of no more than 150 words, briefly outlining the content and conclusions of the article. Summaries are not necessary for Reviews.

The body of the article, formatted as discussed below.

Endnotes, if any
References, if any, including URLs
Appendices, if any
Figure captions, if any

Margins and paragraphs

Articles should be submitted in MSWord or ASCII text format. Paragraphs should not be indented, but should be separated by blank lines.

Emphasis

Words to be emphasized may be written between *asterisks* or /slashes/.

Tables, captions and examples

ASCII tables, captions, and examples of MUD output should be formatted with each line indented 5 spaces. They should generally be embedded directly into the article; long logs or examples, however, may be made into an appendix instead.

Figures

Figures should be sent with the article as (file types). Figures should be explained in the body of the article, and readers should be able to understand the results without the figures. Figure captions should be sent as the last section of the article.

Endnotes

Endnotes are used in preference to footnotes. Endnotes should be numbered from 1. Endnote markers should be written as ^1^. Endnotes are not used for references, which appear in the text itself (see below).

References

References include all URLs as well as book or article references. References in the text are of the form (Jones & Bar, 1995). Complete references appear in a section near the end of the article. Examples:

Book:

Author(s) (Date Published). /Title of Book/. City and State of Publication: Publishing Co.

Article:

Author(s) (Date Published). Name of Article. /Name of Magazine Published in and Month published/ Pages of the Magazine Article Appears on.

Electronic media:

Author(s) (Date Published). Name of Site or News Group. Available: URL (Date)