This section offers an introduction to MOO, defining the term, providing a brief history of MOO and outlining its essential features.

WHAT IS A MOO?

MOO stands for "Multi-User Domain - Object Oriented".

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF MOO

MOO is a type of  MUD [Multi User Domain (or Multi User Dungeon)].   MUDs were originally developed in 1979 to allow for role-playing games to be engaged in across computer networks.  By the early 1990s, an adaptation of MUD, the MOO, had been created at Xerox PARC and the technology which began as a game was further investigated at MIT Media Lab to see whether it could be used employed for serious purposes by professional communities.  Since then, MOOs have increasingly been used for educational purposes.

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ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF MOO:

• Users communicate with each other solely in text.  This is why technologies like MUD are sometimes referred to as "text-based virtual reality" or TBVR.

• MOOs are extensible from within.  Users dynamically shape and extend the MOO themselves by making, programming and describing new text-based objects.

• Many users can be connected to a MOO simultaneously.  This means that learners can interact both with the text-based MOO environment and with other users who are logged on simultaneously.

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Last updated 30th January 1999
Authors: Lesley Shield and Markus J.Weininger