MOO Resource Page
Table of contents
Introduction
Types of MOOs
What’s a MOO . . . do?
A Cautionary Note
Additional Resources
Introduction
What is a MOO? Other than the sound you make when you’re imitating cows for your two-year old niece, there are two halves to this answer. One half is the technical one, or the definition of the acronym: “MOO” is the short form of “Multi-user Domain/Dungeon Object Oriented.” Of course, it makes more sense if you flip it around: Object Oriented Multi-user Domain. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make such a snappy acronym, and it wouldn’t make your dignified colleagues suppress a giggle when you used the term in a sober conversation about pedagogy, theory, and application.
MUDs, the predecessors to MOOs, have been around for decades; they were and still are used primarily by the gaming community, especially with Dungeons and Dragons style role-play games. There are, of course, other types of MUDs, including educational ones, but perhaps the largest growth spurt has happened in the ‘next generation’ of MUDs—in the object-oriented MOOs.
The second half of the answer is simpler: a MOO is an online textual environment that allows users to create objects and then share them with other particpants. As in real life, it allows a user to design, build, and implement a space. Unlike real life and barring any course requirements, there are no physical restrictions to the space. In other words, if a student should choose to build a flying castle made out of invisible marshmallows and set it somewhere in the fourth dimension of medieval England, there’s no reason why it would be impossible. It would only require that the student research and think through the process: what would such a place be like? How would it portray itself? How would it function? What would be its purpose? How would other creatures, spaces, and people interact with it?
The MOO operates in real time. Like a chat program, you can carry on a synchronous conversation with other users, but you have the advantage of being able to operate in more than blank space—you create the space that will best support your goals and then put it to work for you. It’s an interactive environment that is incredibly flexible and open to possibilities; limitations and restrictions are usually imposed by the nature of the course and the abilities of the user rather than the environment itself. In very literal ways, MOOs allow an exploration of self, and a recreation of identity that other online mediums cannot.
Five years ago, when I began looking into MOOs, I stumbled over Dr. Jason Nolan and his newly-incarnated Project Achieve. I could not have asked for better mentors than Jason and Dr. Sally Fowler to introduce the peculiarities of MOOing and online teaching. Since then, Achieve has been home to each of my classes—face-to-face or distance. While I’m admittedly biased toward Achieve, it should be understood that not all MOOs are created equal: Achieve stands out in the field for its innovation, its creativity, and the contributions its founders and programmers have made to MOOing in general and enCore in particular.
I use Achieve for online office hours, conferences, workshopping, and class meetings. While I run a character under my own name and a wizard character for Achieve administration purposes, I represent both characters as the same persona. In short, and as Popeye would have approved, I am who I am.
Types of MOOs
There are basically three types of MOOs: pure text; web-based; and those that use the enCoreXpress interface.
Pure-Text MOOs
Pure-text MOOs are just what you would expect: they’re MOOs that operate purely via text, with no graphics to speak of. In order to access such a MOO, you’d need to use a telnet-type program. While you can use Telnet, there are other programs which operate in the environment without Telnet’s ugliness, such as WinMoose, MacMoose, zMUD, gMUD, and a number of others. The difficulty is that you’d need to download the software, install it, and acclimate yourself to both new software and a new environment.
Having said that, there are a number of arguments for using pure-text MOOs, and they necessarily depend upon the learning objectives and goals. If, for instance, the lack of any visual representation of self and environment—other than via the typed word—is conducive to a discussion about the performance and creation of self in the absence of any visual cues, then a text-based MOO may be an option. Proponents of text-based MOOs tend to feel that the graphics and visuals of a web-based environment pull the learner away from the pure exploration of language, rhetoric, and identity text-based MOOs can offer.
Text-based MOOs vary wildly—both in theme and functionality—largely because they depend so heavily on their owner’s ability to write the necessary code and programs upon which the MOO and its users will rest.
Web-based MOOs
Web-based MOOs are MOOs which have designed a web-based graphic user interface of some sort. Typically, once a user logs into the MOO, the window is divided into two halves: one for text (e.g., conversation, description, commands); and another for graphics (e.g., an icon for a welcome sign). Graphic user interfaces (GUIs) are designed to allow a user to gain a visual element that isn’t possible with pure-text MOOs. Information can, to some extent, be relayed with with graphics—such as that welcome message—and takes advantage of a user’s existing ability to negotiate web pages.
Web-based MOOs are written in a variety of html, java, and other code languages, and as with text MOOs, their design and function is dependent upon their owner/creator, which means that their appearance varies even more wildly than pure text MOOs. Users access web-based MOOs with a browser, usually Netscape or Internet Explorer, although recent versions of Opera will work nicely on those that are not Java-intensive.
enCore and enCoreXpress MOOs
In 1997, Cynthia Haynes of the University of Texas at Dallas, and Jan Rune Holmevik and Sindre Sorensen of the University of Bergen in Norway released the beta version of a software that was to radically change the face of MOOs—literally. The package came in two parts, and included a core (the database upon which the MOO is built) and a grapic user interface. The package did several things. It provided the software for almost anyone to create and run their own MOO, it created the possibility for some form of conformity (and consistency) in the world of web-based MOOs, and most importantly, it offered a very solid and innovative GUI to those who wanted one but lacked the resources to build their own.
As with web-based MOOs, the user’s screen is divided into two windows: a text side where conversations, commands, and events appear; and a web side where icons, images, room descriptions, and graphics are displayed in a clickable format, just as with any web page. Users can move from room to room via clickable exits, click on another user’s icon to see a character description and information, read texts and messages by clicking on the relevant icon, even access external web pages by clicking on a relevant link, and so on.
Many MOO-builders opt to use enCore’s core as well as the enCoreXpress interface, but many do not. Those who have the skills and resources and prefer to use their own core have the opportunity to apply the GUI to their own foundation. That difference in cores means that while what you see on the screen may be the enCoreXpress interface, the MOO itself may not be an enCore MOO; it may simply be using the enCoreXpress interface. Normally, that won’t mean anything to the average user since what she’ll be seeing in both cases is more or less the same, but it is an important point of distinction that needs to be remembered when one defines the different types of MOOs. In other words, not all MOOs that use the enCoreXpress graphic user interface are indeed enCore MOOs.
Regardless of the core, enCoreXpress-using MOOs may differ in appearance from each other, depending upon the MOO’s programming resources and the owner’s ability to modify or tailor the package to meet that MOO’s specific needs. They do, however, offer a level of access that many MOOs cannot, and regardless of the MOO’s customization, they operate in a generally uniform manner so that a user can go from one MOO to another without having to learn an entirely new system of commands and functions. The interface makes the learning curve for new users much easier; they can take advantage of their existing skills for surfing the Web and need only learn the basic communication commands in order to begin to be functional.
In June of 2006, the released the beta of version 5. The new version has incorporated a world of changes, and stands head and shoulders above the previous versions.
What’s a MOO . . . do?
One of the first questions that comes up when someone mentions using a MOO is what exactly the thing is good for. In other words, what’s a MOO do? Well, simply put, it can do almost anything you want it to do. Literally, MOOs are being used for online virtual offices for a business’s or agency’s customer support functions, a contact point for distance and geographically scattered staffs, any variety of worlds of online role-play games, and almost any aspect of education one can think of. MOOs are used for online math labs where students can go for help, for running science simulations, for demonstrating literature, recreating history, for writing. They’re excellent places for discussions of online pedagogy and learning techniques, examinations of rhetoric, gender, and identity theory.
Because the MOO allows a user to physically—or virtually, if you prefer—create a space, its contents, and its characteristics, the only limits are those of her own imagination and her ability to use the system. One needn’t think that the sole purpose is to build things, however. While that is indeed one of the unique advantages to MOOing, it is not the only one. Because MOOs operate in a real-time environment and allow the incorporation of a number of other elements—such as video and sound, web pages, text in a variety of forms—MOOs are wonderful places for workshops, conference group meetings, small classes, discussion groups, student conferences, training sessions.
A Cautionary Note
Over the years I’ve watched and worked with online teachers and students in a MOO environment, I’ve seen two typical mistakes that have led to a less than successful event. The first is that teachers—primarily those who are relatively new to the environment—all too often neglect to coordinate their activities with the hosting MOO. While some MOOs are very limited in what support they can give, others are not only willing to do more, but prefer to provide active support. At a minimum, instructors need to follow the MOO’s established procedures for planning, preparation, and notification before they ever bring their first student online. The process is no different than teaching in a face-to-face environment; instructors are expected to coordinate the necessary permissions and activities (or simple notification) just as they would for in order to teach a face-to-face class in a space owned by another Department. Just because the space is a virtual one does not mean that it requires any lesser level of professional courtesy.
There are, of course, a host of practical reasons for that coordination process. The first is that all MOOs are communities. Their level of integration varies, but one class (or even one individual) can—however unintentionally—impact the rest of the MOOs population, users do not operate in a vacuum. The second reason is a more practical one. Unless the teacher also happens to be a wizard on that MOO, it’s always a good idea to be sure the MOO’s staff are included in the planning process. The unexpected will always happen, and having a staff member with administrative abilities online at the time of the class can provide a safety net that would make the difference between success and failure. The other primary reason is equally pragmatic. Unless the instructor is an experienced and skilled MOOer, there will be questions along the way, and things she’ll need to do but won’t know how or, equally problematic, will do in such a way that it makes the task more difficult for both herself and her students.
As an aside, I would strongly encourage instructors to spend time in a structured training and orientation program before they bring their first classes or students into a MOO. At a minimum, they should understand and be able to execute without error every task they would ask of their students. The blunt fact of the matter is that the more experience and understanding they have of the environment they’re using, the more valuable they’re going to be able to make their students’ experiences, and therefore the more effective both the experience and the lesson.
The second typical error is no less problematic: students are improperly prepared for both the environment and the experience. Far too many instructors assume that all they have to do is get their students online and make sure they know how to talk, and that’s an error of judgement that can sabotage a class—and a student—faster than anything else. If students are not properly prepared for the nature of the environment, they tend to experience the equivalent of a culture shock. They don’t quite understand what the place is, how it operates, and have absolutely no sense of community. At a minimum, students should understand those things, in addition to the basic operating expectations of that particular MOO (traditionally, manners), and have a sense of how the MOO is physically laid out and thematically organized. Only after those issues have been explored should students be taught the basic commands and given activity guidelines and teacher expectations. That last item is equally critical. Just as with any other assignment, students must know what’s expected of them, what performance is considered acceptable and what is not, and what the goals and objectives for the exercise are.
Once they’re properly prepared, students generally acclimatize to the basic functions within the first fifteen minutes of their online time. If that groundwork is not laid, however, they tend to experience higher levels of anxiety and frustration, and leave the MOO at the end of the class feeling as if they’ve just wasted an hour’s worth of time in a pointless and confusing activity.
Both of those failings are recipes for disaster and are the fastest ways I know of to ensure that a MOO session fails. If you’re considering using a MOO, take the time to prepare yourself, meet the hosting MOO’s requirements, and fully prepare your students.
Additional Resources
. As of 2005, management and development of enCore was directed by the newly-created enCore Consortium.
MOOs
. High Five is the demo version of enCore’s beta version 5.
. Hosted by the University of Texas, Lingua MOO is enCore’s home site. Lingua is very much an enCore MOO, and looks very much like what you’d see were you to set up your own enCore MOO.
. TAPPED IN (Teacher Professional Development Institute) is a web-based MOO using a graphic user interface of its own design, and is one of the smoothest and most coherent web-based MOOs I’ve found. I’ve been more than moderately impressed with their staff’s willingness to help new users and provide class support.
Online Reading Material
. Much of what I’ve said in this page is repeated in Achieve’s Teacher Guidelines, and while that text is specific to Achieve, much of what it contains would be useful for any beginning online instructor considering using a MOO. The names and conditions may change, but the general concepts and ideas remain the same.
. The Lost Library of MOO is one of the best online resources containing information about MOOs available. It is, as the name suggests, something that was once lost in a typical ‘net upheaval, but which has been largely reconstructed. While some of the links are broken or outdated, there’s still enough valuable information coordinated through that one page to make it more than worthwhile.
. Written by Sarah Burke well before the advent of enCore, this document helps provide some of the background for MOOs and MUDs. (Thanks to Dr. Jason Nolan for finding this one.)
Online Teacher’s Guide Table of Contents: