1st MOOing Tutorial SheetPreparations: Getting Ready to Do the Tutorial 1) You first should have filled out the Course Information form and received a User ID and Password. If you don’t have your ID and password yet, you can still log in as a Guest. 2) Next, let's gather all the materials you will need to do the tutorial:
3) With your User ID and Password in hand, go to the AlaMOO Portal page: http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/lirvin/AlaMOO/index.htm You can also look at and/or print the Beginner’s Guide, AlaMOOniversity Lite page. 4) Before you venture into the MOO, take a quick look at the MOO Policies page, particularly the material on MOO manners. You should see the Policies link on the left side of the AlaMOO Portal page. 5) Now we are ready to actually venture into the MOO! From the AlaMOO Portal home page, click the big red LOGIN link in the center of the page. (The URL for direct MOO access is http://ranger.accd.edu:7000 .) Type in your User ID and your password and then click Login. Note: The login is case sensitive so if you have any problems getting in that may be the problem. Guest Log in: 5) Once the MOO is open you will arrive in AlaMOO Plaza! You have arrived! You will see a chat area to the left and a web-graphical area on the right. (User Guide see MOO Interface for more info) First talking: Let’s try our hand at communicating first. MOOs enable chatting just like other internet chat forums, but you have to type in a “command” before the message you want to send. Look at your QuickStart cheat sheet, and try saying something: In the text input area on the bottom left type in say Hello <enter> or “ Hello <enter> You did it! You should see: You say, "Hello."
Just remember that you need to type a “command” (in this case, either say or “ ) before the message you want to send. The MOO needs the “command” to make it do the particular function of sending a message. Look at your QUICKSTART page for more ways to communicate in the MOO
and try some of them. Go ahead and play and try "talking"
some. First examing of an object: OK, so now we know how to "chat" in the MOO. Now let's learn how to explore our virutal environment. Currently, we are in a “room” inside the MOO called AlaMOO Plaza. When you are inside this "room" you can communicate with other people online who are in this same room (even if they are in Australia!). Inside this room are also various "objects" that you can examine and interact with. Try taking a look at the Greetings message: Click on the Greetings link on the web side of the MOO (notice it has a note icon next to it). You should see that you have “opened” this note and are now reading it on the right hand side of the screen. Take a look at what the note says! How do I go BACK? Another way to examine an object and then go back viewing a room: In the previous example, you used your mouse and pointed and clicked to do what you wanted. You can also use text commands in the left side of the screen. Try this: Type: look Greetings <enter> Now to return to the room, type: look <enter> You can “look” at any object that you see in the MOO—including people—and see a description or text associated with it. First interacting with an object: In addition to having text, graphics, and even multi-media associated with an object, objects can also do things and you can interact with them. Let’s meet George, the talking Parrot (you should still be in AlaMOO Plaza). Type: Look George <enter> You should see the description of dear old George, and some instructions for how to interact with him. You can either poke him or pet him. Type: poke George or pet George Keep poking or petting to get different responses from George. Isn't that fun! All objects also have little computer programs associated with them to enable them to do different things. In the MOO there are many neat objects—there are recorders that can make a transcript of a conversation, web projectors that enable you to show web pages on the right half of the MOO, clocks that can tell time, notes that you can create, and many others. Just remember that each object (and everything is an object in the MOO) operates by a command (such as say Hello or poke George). These commands are called “verbs”—they make an object do something. When you “look” at an object, you may also be curious about what you can do with that object. In order to see the “verb” commands that will operate any object type: @examine <objectname> Try typing @examine George <enter> You should see a list of the verbs that will work on this object. (For more on interacting with objects see UserGuide Working with Objects.) First moving around: MOOs have a sense of geography, which means that there are other “rooms” you can explore. If you think of moving from room to room like following hyperlinks in the web, you should have no problem finding your way in the MOO. Let’s try some moving around. As in most everything you will find in the MOO, there is a “text command” way to do things and a “mouse point-and-click” way. Let’s first move around using our mouse. If you look on the right side of MOO in the graphical side, you will see two headings below the picture and description of the room: You see: Links: Below the You see: heading will be the objects in the room; below the Links: heading will be exits to other places in the MOO. You should see quite a few exits from AlaMOO Plaza. Let’s go visit our classroom. Click on the link for Classroom Building You have now walked across campus and entered the classroom building. Our classroom is on the first floor, so go ahead and click the link for the 1st Floor. You should see that there are four or so classrooms on this floor. Mr. Irvin's 1301 classroom is The Write Place; his 0301 classroom is The Loft. Click the link to enter your classroom. You did it! Take a look around at some things if you wish (remember to type <look> to return your screen to looking at the room). So with your mouse you have virtually “walked” into your classroom, just as you might actually walk onto the SAC campus and enter your English classroom in Gonzales Hall. Try clicking your way back to AlaMOO Plaza. Now that you are back at AlaMOO Plaza, let’s try getting around with text commands. It’s easy. The MOO has a neat command for “teleporting” quickly to another place in the MOO (I wish I was able to teleport in real life...). Type: @go The Loft <enter> or @go The Write Place <enter> Zap! You should have been transported straight to our classroom. Try going back: @go AlaMOO Plaza (To find our more about moving around in the MOO, see UserGuide Getting Around .) Becoming a MOO citizen: The last part of this first tutorial in MOOing will be for you to describe your self and set your own preferences. Although you can do all this via text commands, we are going to keep it simple and use our mouse. At the top of the MOO there is a button for Options. Click it. In the first General Options section, type in a description for yourself in the Description box. Whenever anyone <looks> at you they will see this description. If you feel tongue-tied right now and can’t think of anything, just write something—you can always go back and change it. When you have entered your description, scroll down and click on the button SAVE GENERAL OPTIONS. Keep scrolling down, and set what options you want to. You can change your password, set your gender (this affects your use of pronouns when you communicate in the moo), and even set some of the screen layout and format options. Be sure after each change you make to click the right button to save your changes. When you are done, click the X in the upper upper right of the window to close the Options window. If anyone else is in the MOO, try clicking on a person’s icon to see their description. (For more information on setting your own preferences, see UserGuide Character Options.) Who is in the MOO? You can also check who is currently logged into the MOO and where they are by clicking the WHO button on the top of the screen. MOOs are about community, so look for other people who are online. Bravo!
Good work. Now you know the basics of MOOing. You can communicate in the MOO, you can look at and operate objects in the MOO, and you can travel around. You are awesome!
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You have just
earned your 1st MOOing Certificate!