DiZaRkY’s Guide to the Essentials of IRC
In this guide we will be discussing IRC and how to use it using the program mirc. Also, this guide is based around the IRC network GameSurge. For those of you who don’t know, IRC stands for internet relay chat, and is used to make chat rooms on an irc server, such as GameSurge, where people can, you guessed it, chat. This is similar to the shout box we have, but with IRC, there is more control, zero spam, and it is generally easier to get in touch with server admins or site staff. For ease of use I’ve included linked images to help you further your understanding.
Register at GameSurge
Go to GameSurge and register your nickname. Use a valid e-mail so you can get your access. Keep in mind you do NEED to register, but if you want power in the channel, you need to.
Obtain mIRC
First off, you need to download mIRC. This is the first and most simple step. From here, your adventure starts!
Setting up mIRC
First, when you start up mIRC, you will get a registration box. Ignore it. It is without a doubt the most pointless thing ever. You’ll never need to register. After you close it, the Options Dialogue box will pop up.
Now put it your real name, your e-mail address, and your nickname. Alternate nick is if someone else has your nickname, it just switches to it.
Next, click the server link and look for and choose GameSurge.
Congrats! You’re ready! Or are you? Let’s make things easier on you. Click on options.
From here you can fiddle with some options. Now click on the “Perform” button. Perform just automates commands like joining a channel.
What you see here is what you want. The command “/join #tf2fort” will automatically join our channel on connect, the authserv command is what you receive in your e-mail once you register to GameSurge.
Now you can either click ok and press the lightning button to connect, or go back to the “Connect” link and do it from there. When it connects it’ll pop up a channel dialogue box.
Addendum
If you’re interested in knowing more advanced things for IRC like scripts, which are used to add more function, like away messages, mp3 players, and so on, or server commands, or even bots, just ask, and I’ll make an add-on guide including it.