I found it in a typical way any college student finds anything they are unfamiliar with; by using Google. It took me awhile to find a page that wasn't simply describing MOOs (Which according to Wikipedia is "a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users (players) are connected at the same time.") but finally I stumbled on a blog that introduced me to Lambda MOO.
I logged on through my terminal and instantly began exploring. My first impression was that an MOO was going to be unlike any digital entertainment I have previously experienced. MOOs are simply text based and that reminds me of doing reading for a class rather than playing a game. The walls are a basic white and the text is small and black and it aesthetically it seems very bland, but I will try to ignore that for right now and get into the meat of Lambda MOO.
LambdaMOO wants to make it as easy as possible for you to play it. It gives me a tutorial option that explains how to calibrate the text on the MOO to fit my screen and how to communicate with other players. Not far into the tutorial I am told that I "will learn more about gender in MOO a little later in this tutorial." I learn that there are three genders in the game: Male, Female and Spivak which is an indeterminate gender. The tutorial goes on to explain that you can change your gender at any time in the game, allowing the player to morph whenever they like.
Later, I learned that if you send strangers "pages" (or private messages) it is seen as an annoyance. I thought this was interesting because the tutorial was introducing culture to the "newbies", making me see for the first time that this MOO is a community.
The tutorial explained how to communicate with other players and how to interact with my world. The end of the tutorial claimed that the most important command was to reach out to other players and say, "Hi, I'm new. Do you have a minute for a question?"
This told me that LambdaMoo is a community and this community culture is what I am eager to further explore.
It sounds like this was quite difficult at first! Good for you for sticking with it and really taking the time to learn more about the rules and regulations of this interesting online world. Looking forward to seeing where your project goes from here.
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