terraMOO NEWBIE Guide
Finding your way around MOO Space

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The terraMOO interface is divided in to 3 main areas: the option buttons, the chat window and the web window.

When using the MOO we use a combination of all three to control and manage our session.

The Chat window is actually a TELNET session (text-only remote login to our MOO server).

In the early days of MOOs, the chat window was all you had to work with - MOO space was all text. Little wonder that MOOs did not catch on - apart from the silly name, a text-only MOO is not very human-friendly.

In terraMOO we use the chat window to talk and emote to people and things as well as to issue NORMAL commands.

The chat window also shows you what you have done and where you have gone - it is a stream of your activity.

Most point-and-click actions can be completed using the appropriate command as well. There are many common commands but they must be entered in english (as they are part of the telnet session).

You will learn more about communicating in the MOO in the next secion of this guide.

The web pane of the MOO looks like a web page because it is one. Nearly anything that is legal on a web page can be displayed in this window.

MOOs like terraMOO can display rich media (anything that is web-friendly) so long as appropriate plugins are installed in your browser.

Creating these pages can be achieved without knowing any HTML at all (or can be tweaked and customised if you do) using point and click menu systems and some smart encoding. The web pane can display any language that can be encoded for the WWW including Japanese and French

The web pane displays the web view of the current ROOM. Rooms can contain textual decriptions and multi media content.

In a MOO, rooms can also contain exits to other rooms and SMART objects for you to program and play with. Objects are important educational additions to this environment. Simple investigation of objects involves clicking on them.

Mooving around in the MOO can be as simple as clicking on the name of the exit that leads to where you go. Open doors and locked doors look different as you can see in this picture. Builders and Wizards periodically lock doors to areas they do not want you to access.

You can move more rapidly around the moo using teleportation.

You can enter the NORMAL command:
@go IPT Lab
to jump straight to the named room. This works so long as there is only ONE room with that name.

If you know the Room Number, you can go there directly by entering the normal command:
@go #306
which in terraMOO will take you directly to the Assessment Centre (room 306)

Users fall into one of 5 classes:

1. Guests
   can wander around but not use anything.
2. Players
   can access all areas and use all provided objects.
3. Builders
   can do all a player can and can make new areas and populate them from the list of existing objects.
4. Programmers
   can do all a builder can and can edit existing objects and make brand new types of things
5. Wizards
   can do anything they want (they administer the MOO)

Although you need a Wizard to change your class, you can change lots about your character including your name, password, avatar, description, environment theme and so on. You are encouraged to customise your view of the MOO to suit you.

The MOO is a vast space and sometimes it is easy to get lost or disoriented.

You will find Bookmarks in your XPRESS options.

When you find a place you want to remember, you can choose to Bookmark the Current Location and the MOO adds a pointer to the location on to the bottom of your hotlist of favourites for use inside the MOO.

Maintaining this list is easy - click to remove. The list orders them based on the order you enter them.