GoodChatting.com -- NaNoWriMo BattleJesus Tutorial

So, you're probably new to the NaNoWriMo chatrooms at GoodChatting.com if you're reading a guide about using BattleJesus, also called BJ. BJ was coded by the awesome Jude and, thus, BJ himself is awesome.

Please note that Jude has spent years working on BattleJesus for us and pays for the hosting of BattleJesus out of his own pocket, to make sure he's available to us year-round, not just for November. If you think BJ has helped you out, even just a bit, please consider making a small donation. I'll be collecting the funds in my own GoodChatting.com PayPal account to maintain Jude's privacy and then will give him every last penny earmarked for him. By using the button below, your donation will be marked with "Thanks for BattleJesus!" and all the money from those transactions will be sent to Jude.

Okay, now that you've hopefully donated, the first thing you need to know is that all of BJ's commands can be found here:

http://jesus.thewrigro.com/ (opens in a new window)

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk a little bit about how to use BJ efficiently.

The first command you want to learn is the REGISTER command. Please ensure that you're already using a nickname that no one else uses.

If you're unsure how to change your nickname, type:

/nick NEWNICK

Where NEWNICK is your new nickname. If I wanted to change my nickname from juliebug to Julie, I would do:

/nick Julie

The nickname you register should always be your nickname when you're planning on using BattleJesus.

Once you've got your nickname taken care of, do either:

/msg BattleJesus !register password

or double click on him and, in his window, type:

!register password

Please note that password is your own password and shouldn't be shared. Please do not use the word password as your password. :P

If you forget your password, please ask an op (those people with the funny @ in front of their names) in the #nanowrimo channel and they can reset it for you.

Once registered with BJ, you can log in. Logging in to BJ lasts one hour and you can login again immediately if you've been logged out. To do so:

/msg BattleJesus !login password

or double click on him and, in his window, type:

!login password

Again, please use your own password for this.

Once you're logged in, you can start adding to your BJ-tracked word count. This is NOT linked to the NaNoWriMo site, so you can use it to keep your whole total or just those you've written in word wars.

So once a word war is done, you can do the following in a public channel where BattleJesus is hanging out:

!count number of words

So like:

!count 363

And 363 words will be added to your total.

You can also type !count at any time to get your total word count.

If you screw up your count or you were here in a previous year and your count is not wiped, please contact an op in #nanowrimo and we'll reset your count.

Due to overuse, misuse and flat-out abuse, the following commands will ONLY work in private messages with BJ and NOT in #nanowrimo (regional rooms are unaffected and may still use them in public.):

!pick
!twist
!prompt

You just open a chat with BJ and type any of those commands. !pick will require a choice, separated by commas, to work properly, like this:

!pick have my main character fall madly in love, have my main character adopt a ferret, have a rabid ferret bite a secondary character

!twist and !prompt will give you a random plot twist or a random writing prompt.

Examples:

!twist
RANDOM TWIST: Someone close to your main character commits suicide. At least, that's what people are saying ... (#71)

!prompt
RANDOM PROMPT: What happens when two friends visit an old house that one of them inherited from a distant relative? In the house, there is a 100-year old mirror that has never been broken. (#145)

Obviously, these can be great tools, and it's sad that we had to restrict their usage in the main #NaNoWriMo channel due to flagrant abuse. Again, though, these tools are still able to be used in a private chat with BJ or within a regional chatroom that has BattleJesus assigned to it.

And finally, the original reason for BattleJesus' creation: Word Wars.

A Word War is a period of time in which you write frantically for the duration. It's meant to be a a period of time in which you get a burst of writing done.

To start a war that begins IN two minutes that LASTS ten minutes, you would do:

!startwar 2 10

The maximum length of a word war is 60 minutes and the maximum time in which it can begin is 15 minutes.

Then, you can join the war to have BJ privately inform you when the war's about to start (1 minute warning), when it starts, when half the length of the war has elapsed, when three-quarters of the war is over and finally, when the war itself is done.

Right after starting the war in a channel, BJ will make an announcement:

<BattleJesus> WORD WAR (ozayuzi) WILL BEGIN IN 2 MINUTES, LASTING 10 MINUTES.

ozayuzi is a random collection of letters that is the "name" of the war, so you can join the war by name:

!joinwar ozayuzi

would join you to that war.

Or, you can join the last-announced war:

!joinwar-last

Then BJ's 60-second warning will come up 1 minute before the scheduled start time:

<BattleJesus> WORD WAR (ozayuzi, 10 minutes long): You have sixty seconds until the start of the word war.

You see it mentions the name again and the length.

Then, to begin, you'll see this:

<BattleJesus> WORD WAR START: YOU HAVE 10 MINUTES. (ozayuzi)

Multiple wars can happen at once, for different durations, which is why each war announcement has the war name associated with it.

Halfway through:

<BattleJesus> WORD WAR: HALF WAY THROUGH WORD WAR. (ozayuzi, 5 minutes left)

Three-quarters through:

<BattleJesus> WORD WAR: THREE QUARTERS THROUGH WORD WAR. (ozayuzi, 2.5 minutes left)

End:

<BattleJesus> WORD WAR (ozayuzi) IS OVER.

Again, if you (or someone) starts a war in a channel, these announcements will be seen in the channel. If you join the war, you will get these announcements in the channel AND via private message from BattleJesus.

And that's about it! Remember, if you find that BattleJesus has been at all useful to you, please do consider donating a little something in thanks. It'll help Jude keep BJ running in the future!

Julie :)