**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 92.08.09 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> THE FREE WEEKEND Once again, we've been able to organise a weekend where you can play Fed for free. This promotion has two purposes: it's a special treat for our regular players, but more importantly, it gives people who have never played Fed before a chance to have a look at the game and see if they like it. So, welcome to all the new players who have started this weekend. When the game was reset this morning, 260 new personas had been created, and there were about 1000 player-hours on the clock, since the freeness started on Friday. The game was completely full for much of Saturday night. Apologies to people who haven't been able to get in at all, but there's a limit of 42 players on at one time. People do seem to pop in and out quite a bit, though, so if you keep trying you should get in eventually. New players should have a look at the QuickStart Guide, in the instructions menu. It takes less than 10 seconds to display, and it gives you some very basic information about getting started. Once you are in the game, you can ask for help from the other players. **>> SO WHAT'S THIS NEWS STUFF, THEN? Every Sunday, we write and upload a News Bulletin about Federation. The weekly news will tell you about any new features and commands in the game, explain if anything has changed and talk about things coming up in the future. Since new features are implemented frequently - sometimes more than once a week - it's important that players read the news each week to keep up-to-date with changes to the game. The news also covers what the players have been doing - and to whom! In other words, scandal and gossip. Well it would be quite boring if we just printed the official stuff from the Galactic Administration, wouldn't it? If you have any gossip, or information about other players, that you think would make a good news story, please send it to us. If we print it, we will pay groats. We will guarantee to protect our sources - you can remain anonymous, or if you'd rather we will put your name in lights! **>> WHO ARE WE? The Federation team is made up of the following people: Alan Lenton is the creator, designer and programmer of Fed. In the game, he plays Bella, a Rigellian woman with green skin and a rather large bottom. Clem Chambers is Alan's partner - the business and marketing side of things. In the game, he prefers to be anonymous, skulking under a number of pseudonyms. Fi Craig is responsible for the documentation, the weekly news, and general customer liaison. In the game, she is the delectable Hazed, demi-goddess, leather queen, and the sexiest player ever. She also has an enormous ego. We should also mention The Vile Cryptosporidium, a large bacterium which oozed out of some primeval swamp and attached itself to the Fed team. Try as we might, we cannot get rid of The Vile One: it even insists on helping to write the documentation! **>> WHERE TO GET INFORMATION The main source of information about the game is The Idiot's Guide to Federation, the official manual. This can be downloaded from the instructions menu. It tells you absolutely everything you need to know about Fed, from your first tentative steps as a GroundHog onwards. A printed version of this magnificent tome is also available, containing things that you never even realised you needed to know! Edition 2 is on sale at the moment for $12.95, and a new edition is currently in preparation. As we have already mentioned, this news bulletin will keep you up-to-date each week on changes and new features to the game. The Multi-player Games area on page 1045 has many areas devoted to Fed. In the BBS, categories 13 and 14 contain vital information about the game, as well as giving you the chance to post information about yourself. Here you will find information about the later stages of the game - things that don't appear in the manual. In the MPGames Libraries, Lib 5 is for Fed and it contains transcripts of conferences, macro files, pictures... all kinds of interesting stuff! Lib 18 holds all the old news bulletins, so you can look back and see what you have missed. The MPGames Conference area is used to hold regular conferences about Fed. Currently, they are held twice a month, on Sunday afternoons. The next one is scheduled for Sunday August 16th at 3.00 eastern time, and will be for players who have reached the rank of Explorer. They will be able to find out all about building and running planets. Two weeks later, on Sunday August 30th, the conference will be for beginners to the game, so all you new players should make a note in your diaries, because you'll be able to get all your questions answered! **>> A SLIGHT GLITCH There was a problem this morning, when the game was accidentally taken out of Basic*Services a day early! As soon as this was noticed, the billing clock was turned off again, and it will remain off until Monday morning at 8.00 eastern time. Nobody will be billed for time spent in the game during this weekend; GEnie Billing will ensure that all your accounts are credited for any charges. **>> EXTRA SOLAR WORLDS A few changes have been made to the game specially for the free weekend. In order to accommodate the greatest number of new players, the planets owned by players have been removed from the game (normally there are about 25 of them). Instead, two planets have been put in outside the Solar System for you to explore. Scratchwood, in Route66 is owned by Hazed; it was put into the game when player-owned planets were first implemented, but taken out again later to make room for those owned by players. It's been brought back by popular demand just for the weekend. Vitro has been written specially by Freya. The planet contains the offices of a well-known communications network, so it's a chance for a virtual trip around the HQ. Neither of these planets have any dangerous locations on them, so you can explore in safety. Normally, only players who have reached the rank of Adventurer, or who have played 100 games, can use the Interstellar Link to leave the Solar System, but for this weekend only any players can to Route66 or Vitro. **>> FUN AND GAMES Some of the regular players have been making sure newbods participate fully in the fun and games that normally goes on in Fed. Several people have played hide'n'seek - they've hidden themselves on various planets, and promised money to the first new player to find them. Mojo has been making sure every new player feels wanted by asking them to marry him. So far, they have all turned him down - even the women. Actually, we'd love to know what Mojo would do if someone actually said yes! Ashley and Silversteel held a beauty contest, to find the best man and woman in the game. The winning male was Spongybugman (who presumably looks better than his name sounds), with Penn and Tether taking 2nd and 3rd place. Gloria topped the female chart, with Christianna 2nd and no-one in 3rd place. But what did they get for a prize? There was the usual Saturday night orgy in Chez Diesel (Social Centre of the Solar System). A very well-known woman demonstrated just how much fun inter- species sex can be, and an equally well-known man decided that droids were much more fun that living beings. **>> BACK TO NORMAL... Next week's news will return to its usual format, including all the scandal and gossip we didn't put in this issue for fear of frightening new players away. **>>CONTACTS The following information will appear at the end of every News Bulletin, so you don't have to read it if you already know it. In the event of a problem or question, you can: * talk to Hazed or Bella in the game * leave a message in the game log * a message to Hazed or Bella * send GEnie mail with the Federation Feedback option from the main menu You can order a copy of the unexpurgated printed Idiot's Guide to Federation by typing ORDER at any GEnie menu. Cost - a mere $12.95. (New edition will be available shortly!) Federation has several categories in the new MPGames RT. To get there, type M1045,1 from any menu prompt and SET category 13 (for information, instructions, questions and answers) or 14 (for general chat and discussions). The Federation Leader in the bulletin board is Krell (Mail ID: K.HILLYER). There are also private categories for Explorers, run by Krell, and for the Conclave run by Oddball (Mail ID: D.STALZLE). The MPGames RT also has a Federation library in the files area, Library 5. Library 18 holds the Federation News Archives. **>> BULLETIN ENDS