| comms |
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- noun Communications. The (usually phone-based) connection
between the player's PC and the host. There are many
comms
problems that can intrude on a player's enjoyment of the game,
most notably carrier loss and line-noise.
The player runs comms
software, which communicates through an RS232 port with a
modem; the modem is attached to a telephone, and this is linked
across super-flaky networks through specially-modified static-generating lines to a comatose exchange out of which a battery
of further "best by June 23rd, 1943" lines wend their
circuitous way to the modems attached to the host. These are
arranged with a special trip switch such that if for any reason
one of them becomes unusable, so do the rest. NB: modems
attached to BT's network will not work if they have no large
green circle on them. Or, necessarily, if they do.
The term comms does not apply to direct or Internet connections not involving the use of a modem, except in the compound form comms network. However, many of the problems associated with comms can still be experienced by users of such systems... See client, server, lag, link dead.
Copyright © Multi-User Entertainment Ltd. (muse@mud.co.uk)
23rd September 1999: comms.htm