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'mIRC'ing about in Chat Rooms! Part One

© Chris Cruickshank

This week's article takes a look some of the commands that can be done inside an IRC chat room. The commands here are for mIRC. If you use a different IRC client program, you may find some differences, but many of these commands will work. Certainly, the features mentioned can be reproduced in most IRC client programs such as Pirch, VIRC and IRCLE.

Within IRC chat rooms, there are six types of command that can be issued. These are:

Messages — straightforward text that you type to other people in a room.

Action commands — used to denote an action carried out by someone in a chat room.

Play sounds — either analogue or digital bringing an extra dimension to a chat room.

Aliases — abbreviated commands that you can create. These are always shortcuts.

Popups — commands available from a menu and usually targeted at an individual.

DCC (Direct Chat Connection) — used to connect with another person to chat or send and receive files.

This week, we look at the first three types of these commands. Be sure to come back next week to see the concluding part of this series in using IRC when the last three commands will be discussed.

Messages

These cover the vast majority of the commands issued in a chat room. They are not commands as such, simply the messages you wish to type. At the bottom of the screen will be the message area and this is where you type the messages you want everyone in the room to read. In these examples, it is assumed that your nickname is chatter.

If you type Hello everyone! and press the RETURN key, the following will be displayed.

[chatter] Hello everyone!

In the main screen area where everyone's messages appear. It really is as simple as that to start chatting in an IRC room!

Everyone in the room will see your message and they will (usually) respond. This is the way conversations can start and you will soon find yourself talking to those in the room.

Action Commands

Action commands appear slightly differently to messages. They are used to convey a response, usually to another person's comment. An action command appears like this.

* chatter jumps up in the air and shouts "Yehaw!"

Well, you get the idea!

To use an action command, start the message with /me followed by the action. The previous example would appear like this:

/me jumps up in the air and shouts "Yehaw!"

Watch out for action commands in the IRC chat rooms — they are widely used!

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