What is an alt

[opiemonster7]

everyone has been talking about alts,alt this alt that,and alt sounds like some kind of cheat?
but what i would like to know is it?
what is an alt? thanks for your time.

[ImAwesome]

alternate account or character. key alts would be another account used to unlock a door, a farming alt would be on your same account but have full nature while your mining alt would have full industry...

[CinderHeart]

everyone has been talking about alts,alt this alt that,and alt sounds like some kind of cheat?
but what i would like to know is it?
what is an alt? thanks for your time.

It's an abbreviation for alternate or alternative, also short for Alternative character hence the massive use of said word (e.g. 1000 people avg active in a minute a day)

EDIT: Mr. Awesome has First Blood

[opiemonster7]

thankyou for replying so fast,so you have all these characters you switch inbetween?

[VileThings]

thankyou for replying so fast,so you have all these characters you switch inbetween?

Yes. It's a) more efficient if you have characters dedicated to certain tasks, b) less painful if one of your characters die and c) more secure, as you can store stuff on an alt to protect it from griefers/raiders (can't steal it if the character is not online). As mentioned above, a key-alt is a must have and should be on a different account, so you can have them logged in simultaneously with the character you want to move outside.

Training these alts is easy with the curio system, as you don't really have to play them. Just let them stand idle somewhere secure when you are afk so you can move their belief-sliders.

[ImAwesome]

if you're part of a village 1 character is fine since you'll have that character specified to what your village needs. on the other hand if you're doing things on your own(the safe way) you'll need atleast 4, 1 full industry to mine and craft, 1 full nature to farm and plant trees, 1 key alt you log in before you get your village claim to let you in/out(very briefly online and quickly off once you have a village claim you build a crossroads with a sign out then use your hf or village idol to get back in), and 1 warrior to fend for what you have(not sure if warriors are best as nature or industry, or even if most people bother with that slider for them). if you're doing it solo and have the warrior farmer and miner you can put them all on 1 account. the key alt is the only character thats definitely on another account.

[sabinati]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_character