AlaMOO User's Guide					Introduction
MOO Interface	Character Options	Getting Around	Communicating	Working with Objects	Objects Help
Creating Objects and Rooms	Xpress Options	Getting Help	Command Summary	Beginner's Guide	QuickStart

Communicating in the MOO

Communicating--talking with others--is the most common thing you will do in the MOO. MOOs are excellent vehicles for this "chatting," but MOOs also offer additional features that most web-based chat clients don't possess. The following will detail the basics and the extras of communicating in the MOO. Learning some of these commands (or as many new-mooers do, keeping a cheat sheet with commands handy as you moo) will help you be more expressive and unique in the MOO.

Communicating Inside the Same "Room"

Speaking

Three options exist for "speaking" inside a MOO. You can type two different commands that tell the MOO to make the text after the command into a message (either 'Say' or quotation marks ' " '), or you can select the discussion "mode" where you type in your text. In each case, you simply hit enter after you have typed in your text to send it.

Option	You type (example):	Others in the room see:
Say <text>	Say Hello! How are you?	Joe says, "Hello! How are you?"
" <text>	" Say Hello How are you?	Joe says, "Hello! How are you?"
SAY "mode"		**Note: If you select the "say" mode, you have to click back to the "normal" mode before you will be able to interact with objects with commands like 'look <object>' or 'help <object>'.

Addressing

You can also "address" a message specifically "to" someone while you converse in a MOO room. This "to" feature is especially useful when more than two people are talking in the same room. Although everyone in the room can see the message you send, it is tagged as a message addressed to a specific person. Often it is used to designate a reply to someone in the room. Addressing your message helps the person you are talking to see your message among the other messages.

	You type (example):	Others in the room see:
to <name> <text>	to Joe What's up?	Lennie [to Joe] What's up?
Note that when you type in the <text> it does not have to be in quotation marks.

Emoting

You can also express actions and emotions inside the MOO--virtually. These text messages, though a bit silly, enable many of the visual cues that we take for granted in conversation and face-to-face interaction. By "emoting" you can smile or wave to someone arriving or leaving, or nod in agreement during a conversation. You can emote by using two different commands (either typing "emote <text>" or simply by putting a colon in front of you text.

Option	You type (example):	Others in the room see:	You see:
emote <action/emotion text>	emote waves	Joe waves	You wave
: <action/emotion text>	: grins	Joe grins	You grin

You can get fairly elaborate with your emoting if you wish. Just remember to write it in the third person so that your subject agrees with your verb.

Feelings

Feelings are really emote messages that have been automated to send a particular text on a single word command. You can tap into quite a few feelings and expressions by using what are called the MOO's social verbs. For example, if you typed in the word 'sync' here would be the message that appeared to others in the MOO: "In a sudden flash of insight Joe reads the minds of everyone in the room." Try some! You can access the list of feeling commands by typing in 'feelings'. Below is the complete list:

Current Social Verbs
comfort	poke	laugh	brb
wink	shrug	sigh	grin
yawn	blush	chuckle	clap
wave	cringe	hug	cheer
cackle	smirk	kiss	pine
giggle	nod	bow	froll
cry	smile	vnod

Current Weird Social Verbs
bounce	snuggle	claugh	pout
cuddle	tackle	purr	gasp
curtsey	tickle	brow	thwap
hkiss	wiggle	booga	groan
highf	cgrin	xgrin	mgroan
ruffle	salute	wait	moan
shiver	boot	tap	amoan

Current Truly Useful Social Verbs
note	manner	phone	afk
pnote	dictionary	visitor	ok
hmm	list	sync	lag
Also check out Juli Burk's Aloha/Lei verbs: lei, lei-c, lei-g, lei-a, lei-t, and lei-l.

Whispering

If you remember, when you "address" a message to someone else in the room, the MOO prefaces your message with the tag [to<person>]. Everyone still sees this message. However, whispering allows you to send a private message to another person in the room, and no one else can read it.

	You type (example):	Only <person> will see:
whisper "<text>" to <person>	whisper "Hello! Isn't this talk boring?" to Joe	Frank whispers "Hello! Isn't this talk boring?" to you

Keep in mind that the text of your message has to be in quotation marks and that if the discussion you are having is being recorded that your private conversation will show up in the transcript (even though your conversation is invisible to the others in the room while the discussion is going on).

Thinking

Remember how comics represent characters thinking to themselves with a few dots that grow larger until they get to the encircled caption with the text of the character's thoughts inside? The MOO can represent this expression of pensive, speculative internal thought too. Thinking, similar to emoting, is another way the MOO has of getting expressiveness into the chat medium.

	You type (example):	Others in the room see:
think <text>	think Is that true?	Joe .oO (Is that true?)
	think Wonders if it will rain.	Joe .oO (Wonders if it will rain.)

Sharing a Web Page

While conversing in the MOO, a web site may come up that you want to show others. By using this @url command, you display a web page to everyone else in the room. The web page will show up in the right Xpress side of the MOO.

	You type (example):	Others in the room will see:
@url <webaddress>	@url http://www.cnn.com	CNN site on the right

Communicating Across the MOO (to others beyond the room you are in)

Paging

You can say something to someone who is not in the same virtual space as you by using the page command.

	You type (example):	Only person paged will see:
page <person> <text>	page Bill Can I join you?	Joe pages "Can I join you?"

Emoting long distance

You can also emote to another person across the MOO who is not in the same room as you.

	You type (example):	Only person emoted to sees:
+<person> <text>	+Bill grins at you.	Joe grins at you.

Seeing WHO is in the MOO

MOOs are online communities. Anytime you are logged in to the MOO, you can see who else is logged in as well and where they are inside the MOO.

@who

If you type in the @who command, you will see a listing of who is connected in the left hand textual side of the MOO. To join someone you could either type '@join <person>' or '@go <roomname>'. Generally, it is good manners to page the person first and ask if it is OK to join them.

Xpress WHO button

Clicking the WHO button will open a separate window with a listing of who is connected. To join someone, you can simply click on the link to their location. Also, if you want to see the description of an individual, you can click the link by their name.

Privacy and Safety

An occasional problem in MOOs is harassment from anonymous guests or other users. To deal with this problem there are certain commands that you can use.

@gag person - This will effectively filter out anything the person says or pages until you type @ungag person.

@eject! person - Use this command to expell someone from a room you own.

@lock here with me - Will lock your room so nobody can come in. @unlock here will unlock your room.