Virtual Worlds

Learning tools located in virtual worlds.

MOO resources

MOO stands for Multi-user domain Object Oriented. A MOO is one of several types of multi-user domains. They are virtual environments accessed via the Internet that originated as multi-player role-playing games. They function similarly to chat rooms in that they provide synchronous communication between many users. However, in a MOO users can build all sorts of spaces and objects.

"Object oriented" means that the virtual space is populated with places, people, and things that exhibit their own characteristics and behaviors and that can be created and manipulated by users. For example, you can create, examine, take, and drop an object such as a flower. Some objects may have additional verbs associated with them, different things that users can "do" to that object. For example, one may be able to "smell" the flower. The help documents available in our MOOs will explain these capabilities in greater detail.

In the CWRL, Mappa Mundi (2004- ) is the successor to Silver Sea MOO (2000-2004). Both MOOs use the enCore Xpress client, which works through your web browser and allows you to enhance virtual spaces with images, audio, video, and animations. Prior to 2000, we used Cheshire MOOn, a text-based MOO.

Help guides and tutorials can be found in the MOO itself. For ideas on how to use Mappa Mundi in your pedagogy, see the resources and links below. Many of these resources were designed for Silver Sea MOO, but all of the principles and most of the details apply to Mappa Mundi as well.

Spotlight:

  • MOOing in the CWRL This page discusses MOO projects designed by several former CWRL instructors

Instructor Tutorial:

  • Setting Up MOO Chat Sessions This tutorial explains how to obtain MOO accounts, change your password, and use the MOO for group discussions.

Exercises and Advice:

  • Group MOO Activity: Rebuttals This activity is designed to accompany the tutorial "Setting Up MOO Chat Sessions." It seeks to answer the question, what should we chat about?
  • MOO Scavenger Hunt (Word .doc 26.5KB) and Key (Word .doc 24KB) This activity is designed to familiarize students with moving through the MOO and communicating in synchronous time.
  • Building a MOOspace (Word .doc 21KB) This activity is designed to familiarize students with building objects and rooms in the MOO.
  • Building on Silver Sea MOO This six-step process takes the instructor from the planning stage through building and on to the trial run.

General Resources:

CWRL Articles:

Miscellaneous Articles:

MOOing in the CWRL

Several CWRL instructors have designed writing projects in which the MOO played a substantial role.

The MOO in Sophomore Literature

The Wasteland Project

In his 1998 E314L Poesis course, David Barndollar's students built MOO spaces based on T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland in the CWRL's "Cheshire MOOn," a text-based MOO (now defunct). Barndollar's students populated their spaces from the poem, such as "London Bridge," with "puppets," or bots that they programmed to imitate personalities mentioned or alluded to by Eliot. These puppets delivered contextual information to student who visited the spaces, effectively annotating the text of the poem. To find out more about this project, read Barndollar's 2004 Currents article "The Wasteland in, not of, the MOO."

The MOO in RHE309K

Virtual Wellness Center

For her 2001-2002 RHE309K course, "Illness and Testimony," Lee Rumbarger created a Wellness Center in the Silver Sea MOO. To find out more about this project, read Rumbarger's 2002 Currents article "Playing Doctors, Playing Patients: Multi-user Domains and the 'Teaching' of Illness."

Bob Bullock Texas State History MOOseum

John Pedro Schwartz won the 2003 MEME award for this group project. Students in his Fall 2002 RHE 309K "Rhetoric of Confidence Game" course either recreated or redesigned in the Silver Sea MOO two exhibits from the Bob Bullock Texas State History museum. Students then defended on paper what they created in the MOO. Those that recreated exhibits wrote an evaluative essay arguing that the Museum exhibits offer a fair and accurate representation of their subject matter. Those that redesigned exhibits wrote a proposal essay arguing that the Museum should redesign the exhibits in order to give a fairer and more accurate representation of their subject matter.

"The goal of the project was twofold," Schwartz said, "to examine issues from multiple perspectives by adopting the position of devil’s advocate, and to gain awareness of how museum layout and design make meaning. Adopting the position of devil's advocate, students produced good essays attentive to possible rebuttals. Some students mistakenly stored their images in the http volume, so their images were lost at the end of the semester. Otherwise, student MOOseum exhibits were an impressive lot, connected together through a MOO architecture designed by a student 'Head Curator.'"

Schwartz wrote an article describing this and another MOO project in the Spring 2004 issue of the CWRL News (volume 11 number 2), "The Poetics and Politics of the MOOseum: Collaborative Writing Projects in the MOO."

Project Description (Word .doc 45kb)

Example Screenshots:

Setting Up MOO Chat Sessions

What is the MOO?

The MOO can best be thought of as a virtual space that can be used for a variety of different online interactions, from basic chat (like with Instant Messenger or DIWE) to building complex virtual rooms in which users can interact with virtual objects. This basic tutorial will, however, focus only on getting you and your class set up with user accounts, and how to use the basic chat features.

Setting Up Accounts

You must request to have accounts set up for you and your students. Email auden@mail.utexas.edu with information in the following format:

Username emailaddress full name
(e.g., John john@mail.utexas.edu John Smith)

As an instructor, you also must request to have your students registered. In order to make the registration process as easy as possible, please send an email to wizard@syverson.cwrl.utexas.edu listing all of your students in the above format. After your students are registered, you will be provided with a list of passwords. Make sure they do not lose the password.

Logging in to the MOO and Changing Passwords

The Mappa Mundi MOO is located at the following URL: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu:7000. On the MOO home page, you will be asked to enter your User ID and Password (they are both case sensitive). Press Login.You will be brought to a screen that has two distinct sides--the left is the text side, the right is the web side. On the left is where you will be typing your text and conducting your chat session. On the right, you can use different navigation icons to move through the different rooms in the MOO, as well as view and post web pages (you can also navigate by typing in certain commands on the left, but that is for another day).

screen shot of the moo on a PC

Click on the Options button on the top menu bar.

screen shot of the moo menu bar

From the pull down menu, select Change Password.

change password selection on a pull down menu

Enter in the old and new password and press Save. You have just changed your password; please write it down and remember it.

Starting your Chat

Take a few minutes to read through the contents on the right side of the screen on the Silver Sea MOO page, and then click on The Fount of Knowledge. You will see a real cool fountain (created using a program called Bryce, which is installed on the multimedia station), and several other links. Click on General Use Classrooms.

General Use Classrooms are here for use by any instructor who does not want to build their own classroom (something which is explained in an advanced tutorial). Here you can have online discussions with your students and record their discussions.

Focus your attention to the bottom left side of the screen. You will notice a large blank space below a lot of text. If you read through the text, you will see that it describes your movement from the Silver Sea MOO home page to the General Use Classrooms. This is also where the text of your chat will appear.

screen shot of the text area of the moo with a question on whether or not to start the recorder

Make sure the button next to "Normal" is checked. In the area, type the following (including the opening quotation mark): "Hi, How are you? Press return. You will see the following appear in the text area:

You say, "Hi, How are you?"

You are now chatting. The two other radio button options--say and emote--make chatting easier and more interesting. Select the Say radio button. You will immediately see "say" appear in the text box. Do not delete it. Type, without quotation marks, how are you? Press return. You will see the following appear in the text area:

You say, "how are you?"

Select the Emote radio button. You will immediately see "emote" appear in the text box. Do not delete it. When you Emote in the MOO, you are attempting to express emotions and actions, and as a result, you use verbs right after the word "emote." Type, without quotation marks, says how are you? You will see the following in the text area:

yourusername says how are you?

screen shot of the moo text area with text in it

That's it. That is all you need to know to have a basic chat in a room. Just make sure all of the participants are in the same place (here, in General Use Classrooms) and you will be able to chat away.

Recording Your Chat Sessions

One (of many) nice features of the MOO is that you can record your chat sessions, and then have them available for use after the chat is over. In order to record the chat, you first must set up the recorder--a very easy thing to do.

From the menu bar, select Objects. You will be brought to a pop-up window called "Xpress Object Editor." Select the Create New Object button. Click Educational Objects from the list on the right. Click Generic Recorder and Player.

You can name your recorder anything you would like, but have it be something that you will be able to identify when you return to the room to use it again. For example, "Bill's Recorder." Click Create. You will be brought to a screen that has lots of information, most of which you do not need that this point. Select Close.

Now we need to drop the record in the room so you can use it. Click on the My Stuff icon in the menu bar. You will see a list of all your stuff--which should be more than you actually expect. Find the name of your recorder in the list and click the red down arrow. A message will pop up informing you that the recorder can been dropped in the room. You will now see the recorder in the room on the right side of the screen with the name of the recorder hyperlinked. You will also see your actions described in the text side of the screen.

If you want the recorder to stay in that room so it will be there the next time you are in the room, click on the link, and then on the green icon (it looks somewhat like an open pad lock). A message will pop up informing you that the recorder has been locked. In the text area, with the Normal radio button checked, type: start nameofrecorder. You will see the following message appear in the text area:

Type a label for this log or `@abort' to abort the command.

This message is asking you to name this recording session. You can name it whatever you would like. Press enter. You will then see the following type of message in the text area:

Loading log Bill 1. Done.
A red light on the Bill's Recorder flashes to indicate that it has been turned on and is now recording everything that is being said in General Use Classrooms.

Now everything that is typed or appears in the text area will be recorded by the system. When you are finished recording, simply type: stop nameofrecorder. You will see something like the following message appear:

PS! You can get an HTML formatted version of 'Bill 1' by pointing your web browser to http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu:9000/3281 and saving it as HTML source to your machine.
Would you like me to send the log 'Bill 1' to your registered email address? [Enter `yes' or `no']

If you would like to have a copy of the log emailed to you, type Yes. If not, type No. Press enter.

Group MOO Activity: Rebuttals

This activity is designed to accompany the tutorial setting up MOO chat sessions by Bill Wolff. It seeks to answer the question, what should we chat about?

Whether or not you are using Toulmin and his notion of a "condition of rebuttal," it is often helpful to give your students practice playing devil's advocate. Writers should try to anticipate counter-arguments in advance and/or deal with them in later drafts. In this group MOO activity, students generate counter-arguments in response to thesis paragraphs. The activity should take about ten minutes per thesis paragraph, and is viable for any argument type. It can be used at either the topic proposal or the rough draft stage. For the topic proposal stage, you should probably approve the topic proposals beforehand. For the rough draft stage, this activity can augment or even replace the peer review. If used as a replacement for the peer review, the entire paper should probably be used (rather than just the thesis paragraph).

Why use the MOO? Using their MOO characters, students may be more comfortable discussing and critiquing each other's work (to this end, I would recommend requiring your students to use alternate identities for their MOO characters). Furthermore, a transcript of each discussion can be generated using MOO recorders.

The following assumes that your students are builders (see "Setting up Accounts" in setting up MOO chat sessions) and that they have access to their thesis paragraphs in electronic text form. Otherwise, you may want to use paper copies of the thesis paragraphs. Students should paste their thesis paragraphs into a note. A note is an object, like everything else in the MOO. The Xpress Objects Editor can be opened by selecting "objects" from the MOO menu bar.

MOO menu bar

In the Xpress Object Editor, students should select Create New Object > Basic Objects > generic note. They should name their object with the title of their paper and then hit create.

Xpress Object Editor

Students should select "Edit Note Text" and then paste their thesis paragraph into the text editing box. They should then hit the "Save Changes" button.

Xpress Object Editor

Now each student's MOO character will be carrying a note that contains the text of their thesis paragraph.

Divide the MOO characters into groups of three or four. Assign each group to a different room. For info on rooms, see "Starting your Chat" in setting up MOO chat sessions. These rooms should be equipped with a recorder. For info on using recorders, see "Recording your Chat Sessions" in setting up MOO chat sessions.

Students should drop their notes in their assigned room using the Xpress Inventory Manager, which is activated by selecting "my stuff" from the MOO menu bar. When their characters are in their assigned rooms, students should click on the symbol of the red down arrow to drop their note object.

Xpress Inventory Manager

Now all the students should click "look" in the MOO menu bar to refresh the web area. They should see icons corresponding to the characters as well as to the dropped notes and the recorder.

Students should begin with the topmost note icon. Clicking on it, they will see the note text. When they are done reading the text, they should start the recorder and then begin entering and reading rebuttal arguments (see setting up MOO chat sessions). The author of the thesis paragraph should attempt to rebut these rebuttals. When the group is finished with all the notes, they should email a copy of the log to themselves. The Instructor should look at the logs and judge each group's performance based on the quantity and quality of their rebuttals. Authors will be expected to deal with these rebuttals in their papers, if they have not already done so.

See Student version of this document

Group MOO Activity: Rebuttals (Student Version)

NOTE: This assignment assumes that you are somewhat familiar with navigating around and communicating in the MOO. If you are not, ask your instructor for a copy of the document "Basic MOO Commands."

1. Create a note with the Xpress Objects Editor. A note is an object, like everything else in the MOO. The Xpress Objects Editor can be opened by selecting "objects" from the MOO menu bar.

MOO menu bar

2. Select Create New Object->Basic Objects->generic note. Name your object with the title of your paper and then hit create.

Xpress Object Editor

3. Select "Edit Note Text" and then paste your thesis paragraph into the text editing box. Click the "Save Changes" button.

Xpress Object Editor

Now your MOO character will be carrying a note that contains the text of your thesis paragraph.

4. Go to the assigned room for your group. These rooms should be equipped with a recorder. Type 'help $recorder' for operating instructions.

5. Drop your note in the assigned room using the Xpress Inventory Manager, which is activated by selecting "my stuff" from the MOO menu bar. When your character's icon appears in the assigned room, click on the symbol of the red down arrow to drop your note object.

Xpress Inventory Manager

6. Now click "look" in the MOO menu bar to refresh the web area. You should see icons corresponding to the characters in your group as well as to the dropped notes and the recorder.

7. Begin with the topmost note icon. Clicking on it, you will see the note text. When you have finished reading the text, use the talk area to say that you are done. When the last character in the group is finished, that character should start the recorder. A message like the following should appear in the talk area:

>> A red light on the Recorder flashes to indicate that it has been turned on and is now recording everything that is being said in General Use Classrooms.<<

8. Begin entering and reading rebuttal arguments. The author of the thesis paragraph should attempt to rebut these rebuttals.

9. When you are finished discussing the note, move on to the next note. Do not stop the recorder.

10. When your group is finished with all the notes, stop the recorder. A message like the following should appear in the text area.

>> The red light on the Recorder goes out. The recorder in General Use Classrooms has been turned off. <<

The character who started the recorder and named the log now owns a note containing that log. That character will receive a prompt like the following:

PS! You can get an HTML formatted version of Olin's Log by pointing your web browser to http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu:9000/8277 and saving it as HTML source
to your machine. Would you like me to send the log 'Olin's Log' to your registered email address? [Enter `yes' or `no']

That character should enter yes. The other characters should navigate to the note text and then use the mailme command to have a copy sent to them. For example, if the object number of the note is 8277, type: mailme #8277. Alternatively, they can copy and paste the text into a word document or save the page as HTML.

Xpress Troubleshooting Guide

This guide assumes that you are using the latest version of each browser mentioned; enCore Xpress version 4.0.1 is not compatible with older browsers. Silver Sea MOO and Mappa Mundi work best with Mozilla (Netscape) browsers such as Firefox.

When I try to log in, I get a message reading "Permission denied. Your access code for this session has expired. Please reconnect."

Go to your browser preferences and remove the MOO's cookie or all cookies. Then try to log in again.

When I try to log in, the browser asks if it should remember my username and password. When I enter "no," it returns me to the login window again.

Your browser is interfering with the login process. Next time it asks to remember your information, select "never for this site" or "yes" and if the browser returns you to the login window, try to log in again.

I can log in but the text applet does not load.

Select the look button in the Xpress toolbar to refresh. If that doesn't work and you are using Internet Explorer or Safari, try using a Mozilla (Netscape) browser instead.

The text applet loads but it is too small to use.

If you are using Internet Explorer or Safari, try using a Mozilla (Netscape) browser instead.

I can't switch between the "normal," "say" and "emote" buttons.

Decrease the size of the text frame so that the applet rises to the top. If that does not work, use the equivalent symbols in the text entry field (" for say, : for emote)

My cursor won't show up in the text entry field.

Never re-size the Xpress window until after you have made sure that your cursor is in the text entry field. If you forget, try to re-size the text frame so that the applet rises to the top and then click or tab into the text entry field. If all else fails, quit and log in again.