YOUR OCCUPATION
There are four possible occupations in S.P.I.T.E.: Detective (the most popular), Spy, Lawyer, and Reporter. Each serves a necessary function, and has special advantages and ways of making money. One important thing to remember for all occupations: your money bonus is NOT "banked" until you enter the answer to your current assignment. You may re-enter the assignment answer each time you log in to the game (for $500 a pop), but if you collect a bonus and then do not answer the assignment question before you log out, your bonus will not be added to your account. Each occupation also has its own private chat area, accessible through the computer diskette in your various boss' offices.
Detective: You catch crooks. Almost all detectives are presumed to work for Joe Terror. There are a few players who choose to be street cops, work for one of the other agencies which has sprung up, or strike out on their own. Each time you log in to RC, you should check the Police Blotter. This is found in the drawer under the television in your hotel room. This will tell you what convicts are currently behind bars, and tell you if there are any "open" cases to pursue. If there are any crimes listed without an attached photo of the convict, go to Joe Terror's office and click on his business card. This will bring up the Detective Sketchpad. Each open case will provide you with a physical description of the suspect, along with none, any, or all of the following information: the suspect's occupation, what floor of the hotel they live on, and their current (more or less) bank account balance. Click on the various features/buttons on the sketchpad to search for the suspect. Once you have found someone who fits the description, enter their name and room # in the appropriate fields. USE ALL LOWER CASE LETTERS!!!!! Then click the "arrest" button. Suspects thus arrested are considered under "house arrest" or "out on bail" until they are convicted (see Lawyer). They are free to roam and chat as they like. Once convicted, convicts are required to confine their "chat" to the Cloud County Jail site (see Getting Started) for the duration of their sentence, which generally lasts no more than one week. Every time an arrested suspect is convicted ALL detectives receive a $250 bonus. To collect your bonus, click on JT's business card to"activate" the bonus, then go to his computer diskette (or the one on your bed) and answer your assignment to "bank" it.
Lawyer: Perhaps the most important job in RC. While many suspects may get arrested for a particular crime, only ONE of them is actually guilty. It is up to lawyers to see that the innocent are freed and the guilty get punished. Most lawyers work for Gastrique, Howler, & Bragg. A few work with private eyes on their own. And there are three district attorneys (Baby C, Beachgal, and Cuthbert Allgood) who prosecute offenders rather than defend them. Click on the gavel in the GH&B offices to go to the courthouse. There you will see a list of all current cases. If there is a photo of a convict with the case, then it has been "closed," with the criminal currently behind bars. Open cases will have text naming the crime and providing a physical description of the suspect, along with information about their occupation, bank account, and/or what floor of the hotel they live on. Click the "View Arrests" button to see who has been arrested for a particular crime. To defend someone you believe to wrongfully accused, fill in their name and room # in ALL LOWER-CASE LETTERS in the appropriate fields and click "Present Defense." If the suspect is, indeed, innocent, you will be awarded $250. IMPORTANT: You may only collect ONE defense bonus per visit to RC. After being awarded your bonus, go to the computer diskette and answer your assignment question to "bank" the bonus. You MUST leave the game and come back to earn successive bonuses. Although you may actually successfully defend a dozen suspects in one trip to the courthouse, you will still only earn one $250 bonus. The down side of being a lawyer is that Rain City's detectives are pretty good at their jobs, and usually they WILL have arrested the actual culprit along with the other suspects who got arrested becaue they were "close" to matching the description of the offender. If a lawyer attempts to defend a suspect who actually is the guilty party, then that suspect is immediately convicted and the lawyer loses $1500. Other suspects who have been arrested for that crime then have their names cleared. Since lawyers do not have access to the Detective Sketchpad to see if any given arrested suspect actually matches the physical description of the offender, it is to their benefit to work closely with detectives, who can help them identify which arrestees are likely to be innocent or guilty.
Spy: The fly in the ointment and the monkey in the wrench. All spies work for the Vulgarian Secret Service (VSS), though they need not necessarily be of Vulgarian descent. Neither are all Vulgarians spies. The top VSS agent in Rain City is Number Two. Sacred Rose is also very high in the VSS heirarchy. (See A Brief History: Player Characters.) The main purpose of a spy is to gain information about other characters and use it to foil those players' agendas. Most crimes are committed by spies (see Getting Started). To aid them in their subterfuge, spies have several special abilities. Primary amongst them is their disguise ability. Despite whatever physical profile you create for your character, when others view your profile (by accessing the Dampmore guest register), they will see a photo that does not look like you. Additionally, the viewed profile will claim that the spy is some other "cover" occupation. This ability allows spies to access the computer systems of other occupations. For instance, if a spy's current cover is that of a detective, they may access the diskette in Joe Terror's office. A spy may change their cover and appearance by clicking on their own profile in the drawer under the television in their hotel room. This disguise ability makes spies particularly proficient at committing crimes, as the physical description that the police get WILL NOT match their actual physical attributes. Committing a crime generally nets one $800. Finally, spies have the ability to access Table 13 in the Swizzle Stick. Do this in the same manner as committing a crime. Accessing Table 13 allows two players to exchange money and/or to chat privately.
Reporter: It is no coincidence that this game is named for the newspaper S.P.I.T.E. Reporters are really the plot drivers of Rain City. By publishing articles, they toss out leads or plot elements for others to follow. The fact that something a reporter prints isn't necessarily TRUE when he says it doesn't mean that it won't eventually become a part of the "official" history of Rain City--if they can interest enough other players into acting upon their story. NOTHING could actually "happen" in Rain City without the impetus of the reporter. To publish an article, click on the copy of S.P.I.T.E. on the bed of your hotel room or in the S.P.I.T.E. office. Submit your article to your publisher, Fred Crassman, by clicking on the Features page. At the bottom is a form for reporters to submit their own stories. The form suggests that articles be under 100 words, but literacy and interest is more important than brevity. Reporters should know that articles submitted for S.P.I.T.E. have certain limitations. Paragraph breaks are not allowed. Neither will quotation marks be printed--try using the single apostrophe. New articles are published in S.P.I.T.E. monthly, more or less. Once a reporter's article is published, they receive a bonus (which varies, depending on the demand for good articles). To collect your bonus, first read your own article in S.P.I.T.E. Then answer your assignment question.
Rain City commuters make the best of things while awaiting completion of the Monorail project.