Just the FAQs: MadLib

"Keep the men in white coats away! I'm playing MadLib!" This short document will introduce you to the basics of MadLib, especially on DALnet, where your local games administrator is Eingang.

A Brief Description of the Game

MadLib on DALnet is a Cahaya and Eingang game, based on Cahaya's original ideas for an mIRC multi-player game for Undernet. Players are presented with a MadLib sentence containing a blank. Players then have up to 10 words to complete the sentence in the funniest/most original way possible. Like Eingang's other games, MadLib can be played day or night on #MadLib with people from all around the world through the magic of the Internet Relay Chat. If you do not know about the IRC and how to use it, you can consult the primer which will explain how to connect, obtain clients, and navigate around the IRC.

MadLib is simple in concept and simple in play. MadBot randomly picks a MadLib sentence from a database of possible sentences and presents it to the players. Players then have 60 seconds to think of a way to fill in the blank in the MadLib sentence and message their answer to MadBot using /msg MadBot <Answer>. Provided that you have submitted an original answer with 10 or fewer words, MadBot will acknowledge your answer. Answers longer than 10 words will not be accepted and MadBot will warn you.

Before the voting round takes place, MadBot issues a 15-second warning to tell everyone that time is almost up for answer submission. At the conclusion of the 60-second answer submission period, MadBot will randomise the answers and display them for voting. Each player is allowed to select an answer submitted by another player. This is done by messagingMadBot with the number of your choice using /msg MadBot <Number>.

At the end of the voting period, MadBot will tally the votes and display the answers and the votes for each answer. Scoring is variable and calculated by adding the number of votes an answer received. If two or more players receive the highest number of votes in the round, they each receive 1 bonus point. A player receiving the highest number of votes in a round alone receives an extra 2 bonus points. Finally, if a player receives all the possible votes (number of total answers - 1), the player sweeps the round and receives double voting points for the round as a bonus.

The following abbreviated example demonstrates a typical MadLib round.

 <MadBot> Round 1.  The phrase for this round is:
 <MadBot> Ein and Cahaya's MadLib is the coolest game because 
  + ______.
 <MadBot> Everyone /MSG MadBot your answer of 10 or fewer words.
 <MadBot> You have 60 seconds!  Go!!!
 -> *MadBot* it's crazy, creative, & chaotic!
 *MadBot* Answer of: 'it's crazy, creative, & chaotic!' has been registered.
 <MadBot>   Answer 1 received! (20 seconds)
 <MadBot>   Answer 2 received! (33 seconds)
 <MadBot>    *** Fifteen Seconds Left ***     
 <MadBot>   Answer 3 received! (59 seconds)
 <MadBot> Round 1: Voting
 <MadBot> Choose from the following:
 <MadBot> 1) ... I never have anything else better to do.
 <MadBot> 2) ... it's crazy, creative, & chaotic!
 <MadBot> 3) ... Acro is already full.  (:
 -> *MadBot* 3
 *MadBot* Your vote of 3 has been registered.
 <MadBot> All players with answers have voted. Cutting voting short!
 <MadBot> The votes were as follows for "Ein and Cahaya's MadLib is 
  + the coolest game because ______."
 <MadBot> sker's answer of "Acro is already full.  (:" received 0 votes.
 <MadBot> Cahaya's answer of "I never have anything else better to do." 
  + received 0 votes.
 <MadBot> Eingang's answer of "it's crazy, creative, & chaotic!" received
  + 2 votes (Cahaya & sker).
 <MadBot> Eingang sweeps the round, earning double MadLib votes.
  + That gives Eingang 4 votes!

The game is over when one or more players score 20 or more points total. New players can join by submittin an answer during the answer submission period. Players will lose points for submitting an answer but not voting. Players using multiple accounts or signons to cheat are not appreciated. /msging your friends to vote for you is also discouraged.

Additional MadLib Features

Answers may contain non-alphabetic characters. That is, "to save money & pain" is a valid answer or even "this *or* that". Colour, underline, inverse, and bold codes are removed from answers.
Answers are case-insensitive. So, if you submit !MadLib rULeS big time, the answer will be displayed as !MadLib rULeS big time.
You can change your nickname on the fly without any adverse effects. MadBot will follow your nickname changes. In theory this means you can come back and resume your score if you get cut off. (If your nickname is still on the channel, this won't work!)
Duplicate answers are rejected by the 'bot, but only if the spelling of alphabetical characters in the answer is the same. So, "Eingang! Loves MadLib!" would be rejected if "Eingang LoVeS MADLIB" had already been accepted as a valid acronym. The check for duplicate answers is also case- insensitive.
If you don't vote, you don't receive any voting or bonus points.
The bot does not allow people to play who are not on the channel. Occasionally the bot may ignore people who are on the channel. This usually can be fixed by saying something on the channel.
MadBot will auto-kick and ban people who submit inappropriate answers. This includes answers with profanity as well as answers containing inappropriate sexual references. MadLib is a PG-13 family channel.
If all the players who submitted answers have voted, the voting period will be cut short.

Where Can I Play?

Eingang runs the games on StarLink and on DALnet. The following table gives you the channel names and server names for the various trivia games.

  Network     Server                       Game                 Channel
  DALnet      viking.dal.net               MadLib               Not running
                                           
  StarLink    denver.co.us.starlink.org    MadLib               Not running

  UnderNet    us.undernet.org              MadLib               Not running

MadBot Commands/Game Commands

A number of commands can be issued by players to MadBot. The following list of commands should be sent via a private message to MadBot. This can be done by typing /msg MadBot cmd, where cmd is one of the following:

* show phrase
    Messages you the current MadLib sentence in play.


    
* show scores
    Displays the current points accumulated by the players for the current
    game.


    
* show hall of fame (or show hof)
    Shows the top ten all-time MadLib winners, compiled from monthly
    winners.


          
* show top wins
    Will send you the list of the 10 players with the greatest number of
    wins during the current month.


    
* show top scores
    Will send you the list of the 10 players with the greatest number of
    points in a single game during the current month.

Channel Operators

Channel operators are users entrusted to maintain order on the channel as well as correct errors and notify the administration in the event of errors or mishaps. If you are not on the bot op list and think that you qualify, contact the appropriate game administrator.

We cannot stress the importance of operators behaving appropriately. With so many games running, it is impossible for the game administrators to monitor all the channels all the time. As such, we rely on the operators to enforce the rules, particularly the rules regarding language and conduct on the channel. The games are designed to be family-friendly. If you are an operator or would like to be an operator, please be sure that you are also committed to this.

If you think someone is abusing their operator privileges or perhaps using them to cheat, please feel free to contact the appropriate game administrator with details of the problem.

For more information on becoming an operator, consult the How To Become a Channel Operator guide.

Channel Rules (For Everyone)

Thousands of people have played our games, from countries all around the world, at many different times of the day and the night. In order to make sure that everyone has a good time, we have formulated the following rules which lay out guidelines for proper behaviour from all the users of our game channels. With so many games running, it is impossible to monitor all the channels all the time. Therefore, we rely on the operators to enforce the rules, particularly the rules regarding language and conduct on the channel. The games are designed to be family-friendly, which means we do have restrictions on language and content, for the comfort and enjoyment of all.

Channel operators are users entrusted to maintain order on the channel as well as to correct errors and notify the administration in the event of errors or mishaps. If you think someone is abusing their operator privileges or perhaps using them to cheat, please feel free to contact Eingang with details of the problem.

Treat everyone, including the bot, with respect. Be polite, obey the rules and contribute in a positive way to the atmosphere of the channel.
No profanity/no vulgarity. We recognize that, at times, the game can be extremely frustrating. We would like to suggest that you make use of the following fun and clean expletives to express your displeasure: Krunk! Aaaargh! Ack! Wok?! Eep! Krunkola!
The official language of all the game channels is English. Unless the game category calls for something in a foreign language (in trivia or Chaos), all conversation on the channel and answers submitted to the bot should be English.
The game bots are programs, albeit programs with some degree of sophistication. The game bots have no idea of what is really right and what is really wrong. All they can go by is what was programmed into them by the category writer. Therefore, when the bot claims that the answer is "Aplpe" instead of "Apple," there is not much point in abusing the bot about it. Use the /note command to report the error instead of complaining.
Do not idle for more than a half hour or so on the game channels.
Use of scripts with answers in them and/or using multiple logons or accounts to play the games is considered cheating. Players caught cheating will be permently banned from the games.
Nuking, spamming, or auto-dccing files to players upon join is strictly prohibited. Users engaging in these activities will be banned.

For a complete list of rules, please check our Acceptable Use Policy

About the Authors

MadLib for DALnet was developed by the team of Cahaya and Eingang, based on an idea by Cahaya, in 1997. Cahaya has a real job in Malaysia and spends scads of time running the Undernet MadLib channel. Eingang is a Ph.D. student in computer science at the University of Sussex, in Brighton, England.

Eingang's e-mail address is eingang@eingang.org.

Michelle A. Hoyle
Just the FAQs: MadLib, Last modified: November 25, 2002