[iM SundeR]

I've set up an Australian eSports IRC server!

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, a communication tool that was very popular in the past in our area of the world. The most popular server was AusIRC, which shut down about five or six years ago.

Why did I set this up? At present, for communication between people we have Skype, Twitter, and a forum. While all this might be sufficient, Skype ends up being segregated into small group chats of teams and clans, leading to a community that is heavily divided into cliques.

This goes even further when you start to think about SC2SEA.com as a giant divide between other Australian eSports. How people do you truly know from League of Legends, Call of Duty or Counter-Strike and other scenes?

IRC is a great way to feel as though you are truly part of a "COMMUNITY". The Australian eSports IRC can serve as a public home for you and your team/clan, to a large extent unmoderated and free of rules that you might otherwise feel imposed upon you.

You can create your own channels, admin them yourselves and all that jazz. The only thing that this idea relies on is involvement from everyone! I've gone and set this up on a whim that maybe the StarCraft II scene might be interested in enough in coming together in another, more inclusive form - where DISCUSSION (and maybe drama) can take place more freely and openly, and be used as another tool of communication, just like SC2SEA.com is currently used.

I've put together a guide below on how to get started with IRC and how to connect to irc.auesports.net.

1. Download mIRC from www.mirc.com
Fairly straight-forward, simply download & install!

2. No need to register mIRC, you can use well past the 30-day evaluation period.
Click continue through the introduction screen.




3. Under 'Category - Connect', choose the name you which to use.

This can later be registered to the server, with a password, so others may not pretend to be you! You can also choose an Alternative nickname if the name you want is taken for whatever reason.



4. Under Connect - Servers, click the Add button.

Here, add these details:
Description: AU eSports IRC
IRC Server: irc.auesports.net
Ports: 6667



5. You're ready to connect!

The window that will be open and blank is a 'status' or 'server' window. Simply type /server irc.auesports.net to connect to the AU eSports IRC server. You will be greeted with a Message of the Day and a default list of chatroom options. You can go ahead DEselect 'Pop up favourites on connect' as they are not related to eSports, and even don't exist. Click OK.



6. You're almost set up! Register your nickname.
In the status window, type /msg nickserv register *YOUR PASSWORD*. This will register your nickname with the server to protect your identity.

7. We're going to add some final options to make everything easier for you.
Go to Tools -> Connect -> Options and select the Perform button. Tick the 'Enable perform on connect' checkbox and have 'All Networks' selected from the drop-down menu. These commands will execute every time you connect to our network.

Enter these in the 'Perform commands:' box.
/msg nickserv identify *YOUR PASSWORD*
/join #SC2
/join #ESPORTS



You're all set up and ready to go! In the status window, you can type /join #SC2 and /join #ESPORTS to get connected to the most popular rooms currently. You can also type /list to get a full list of rooms on the server - there are currently five! You are free to add rooms of your own, register them to your name and set up your own rooms for your clans and teams. I am always online, so if you have any problems I'm there to help.

I've added some additional screenshots below on how to adjust the colours, fonts and background to make it easier on the eyes.


Choosing a new Font, Colours and Background:

In the View menu, you can select menus for Fonts and Colours. You can choose one of their presets, or choose colours to suit you. The best thing to do is to select a background image. You can do this by right-clicking on a channel you are in on the right hand side menu, selecting Background and then Select. You can select your background here.

After this is set, to make things easier, right-click on the channel you just added a background to, hover over Background and make sure 'Set as Default' is checked. This will add the background to all channels from now on!





I implore you to please give this a chance. If you log-in and enter a chatroom where there's only three people, this is because the server is literally eight hours old. A huge part of IRC usage is 'idling', leaving the VERY small and resource-light program open while you go about your internetting, much like how you might idle in the SC2SEA chatbox. Only this is all inclusive of every eSport in Australia! It's fun, I swear, ahaha. Growth might be slow over the next month, but if more and more people are keen to just leave it open and connected, chat when they are there, and have fun in an open forum space, then it might be something that will make this and any other community better.