Don't be Cowed by the MOO

What it is

As a whole other world, MOO must be experienced to be comprehended. MOO = Multi-User /Dungeon/Dimension/Domain (I have seen all three) with a data base written in Object Oriented programming code. MOO = a virtual reality space, but don't expect what you have seen in the movies. This `space' is textual. Users from all over the internet can connect simultaneously to a MOO site and communicate in real time while relaxing in the `rooms' they have built on the MOO. People use the MOOs for work, school, and play. But play is almost always part of the equation as noted by Becky Rickly and Eric Crump in It's Fun to Have Fun But You Have to Know How! or, How Cavorting on the Net Will Save the Academy For a short history on early MUDs, precursors to MOOs, see Lauren Burka's A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions which provides a quick and easy context of where all this stuff came from.

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Webbed MOOs (WOOs)

Not everything is textual on MOOs. Some MOOs are webbed. In this way, the MOO acts as a web server, and the web interface lets you peek into the MOO itself. You might run across some cool graphics of objects in the MOO such as art galleries, maps, rooms or even the characters themselves. Many people learn to build their first web pages in the MOO, and what better place, when your html file gets published automatically for you, and the help files in the MOO are only a few keystrokes away?

Some Webbed Moos

The following links will connect you directly to the web side of the MOOs. While you are on the web side of sprawl, take a look at the homepages, or click on the following to see some cool MOOpages built by a few of my friendly (but clearly certifiable) MOOchums.

MOO Web Pages

And well...you should get the picture by now.

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Clients

If you tried any of the above MOOs, you might have noticed that they provide a telnet link on their webbed pages for you to telnet directly into the MOO...to get inside. "Raw telnet," visiting a MOO through a telnet link only, without a "mud client" can be, well, a bit rough. You may not be able to scroll back to look at conversation you missed; the lines you type may get scrambled by the lines of others on your screen; or your lines might not wrap correctly. To make for a more pleasant MOO experience some people download Mud Clients, nifty little programs which provide a better interface for MOOing.
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Help Files

Learning to MOO, to speak, move around, build and program can be difficult at first if you don't know where to go for help. Some MOOs send a list of basic commands when you request a character. All MOOs contain help files in the MOO program, available for your use while you are online. Some MOOs provide a quiet room, such as MOOtiny's "Welcome room" where guests and new players can learn basic commands without text interruption from other players (a major source of irritation and confusion for new people). Finally, some MOOs provide inMOO tutorials such as the walk through at AussieMOO.

Wrestling With Wor(l)ds is one web site among many that one can consult as questions inevitably arise. MOO-Central is a good place to go for Moo-Faqs Quite often, the best help you can get is from the many people online who are more than happy to share their expertise. Try not to bother them too much unless you have RTFM. As a last resort, check out LambdaMOO Programmer's Manual a source that has caused many to pull out their hair in total frustration.

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An incomplete, but I hope, useful list of MOOs:


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Some decent tutorials:

For more information on educational research:

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The MOO Resource Center

is another good place to go for papers such as:

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Other Resources

Additional Resources for Online Education, online writing labs (OWLS), Distance Education Centers, Faculty syllabwebs, and student hypertext/papers. Please be patient as this list evolves. If you have a site you would like to add, email me below with the particulars: URL and a short description.

NetRats: Also sometimes known as Techno-Rhetoricians

If you think students do some wild things, the "Techno-rhetoricians" who get together once a week for Netoric's Tuesday Cafe are a bunch of loonies. I met these folks online when I saw a post on ACW-L for the weekly meeting at Tuesday Cafe on MediaMOO. These clowns take their fun and rhetoric seriously though, especially when it comes to promoting Computers and Writing. The Alliance for Computers & Writing is first stop shopping. Enjoy the links and drop by The Tuesday Cafe some Tuesday evening. If you can't drop by, the session logs are readily available at Netoric Homepages Oh, and as long as I am on the subject, I found all these wonderful places through Internet Resources for Research and Teaching.

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Online Journals

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OWLS


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Distance Education Pages

Please add your own link.
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Faculty Pages and "Syllawebs"


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Student Pages


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Actually, if you have any site you would like to add, please send it/them along with Questions, Comments, Quandaries, Cusswords to Janet Cross