Beginner's Guide to MOOing

Here is some basic information on how to do the most basic actions in a MOO. Note that there are lots of other commands, that are best learnt through practice.
[Note: these commands were checked to be usable by guest characters specifically on Diversity University MOO].

You can always type 'help' to get an index of help topics. To get specific help communication, for example, you can type 'help communication'. To know how the room you're in looks, just type 'look'. To get information on the objects around you, you can:

look <object>
you get the description of the object

examine <object>
you get the description, and additional information, like the owner of the object, and some commands to use it.
In the following examples, your character name is 'John'.
To communicate with people in the same room you're in, you can talk, emote, whisper or think:
say Hello, there.
"Hello, there
equivalent methods for speaking. Visible to everyone in the same room.
You see: You say, "Hello, there."

emote smiles.
:smiles
equivalent methods for 'emoting': expressing non-verbal actions. visible to everyone in the same room.
You see: John smiles.

whisper "Hello, Jane darling" to Jane
This is only visible to Jane, if she's in the same room as you.
You see: You whisper, "Hello, Jane darling" to Jane.

think I think therefore I am.
Thinking mode is visible to everyone in the same room.
You see: John . o O ( I think therefore I am )

Often when several people are in the same room, you may want to address a particular person:

`Jane I agree with you.
You see: 'John [to Jane]: I agree with you.
To know who else is connected at the time, type '@who'. You get also information on where they are, for how long they have been connected, and when they were active last. To communicate with people not in your room, you can 'page' them:
page Jane Do you have some free time?
-Jane Do you have some free time?
equivalent methods to communicate with Jane alone if she's not in the same room.
You get a success message.
You can also page-emote:
+Jane waves to you.
Emoting to Jane if she's not in the same room.
You get a success message.
To change your password: @password <old password> <new password> If you have trouble with text running off your screen, or if you receive only the beginning of the lines, you might try the following commands: @wrap on -- to make the MOO wrap the text you read @linelength XX -- to set the length of your lines, in letters, to XX @pagelength XX -- to set the length of your page, in lines, to XX @more rest/flush -- to read/flush suspended output It is advisable to get a MOO client though.

Finally, to logoff:

@quit -- or (in some computers): Ctrl-]
ms [based on orig. guide by Gustavo Glusman]

This page is part of the GNA C++ Course