Re: [stellation-res] An odd proposal

["Jonathan Gossage" <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark C. Chu-Carroll" <mcc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Stellation-res" <stellation-res@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 4:59 PM
Subject: [stellation-res] An odd proposal


> 
> While hacking away on the current release, I've been thinking about 
> future directions, and how to pursue some of the long term goals of
> Stellation, particularly in the area of collaboration.
> 
> One thing that I've become interested in is the use of MUD/MOO
> environments as collaborative spaces. It's definitely an odd
> idea, but MOOs have been successfully used as collaboration
> environments for distributing authoring of texts. 
> 
> For those who aren't familiar, a bit of background:
> 
> MUDs and MOOs started out as programmable environments for playing a
> kind of on-line role-playing game. If you're old enough, you might 
> remember Adventure or Zork: the first MUD was an attempt to create a
> multiplayer version of Zork. Since they expected lots of people, any
> fixed plot or fixed set of puzzles couldn't be expected to be enough to
> keep the game going. So they made it possible to write your own stuff
> and add it to the game. MOOs are a sort of second-generation MUD that
> make things easier to program by adding a sort of object-orientation.
> 
> So it's a space full of objects where there are three kinds of objects:
> characters (or avatars) which represent people interacting in the space;
> locations which are objects that can hold other objects; and simple
> objects. As a player in the space, you can create new locations and
> objects, or you can interact with the existing objects through the
> behaviors that they define.
> 
> I started looking at MOOs because I run on on-line play-by-email 
> role playing game, and the site that hosts me is using a MOO for some
> collaborative document writing for new games. I volunteered to help out
> with the programming. The MOO that they're using is called enCore
> (derived from the original LambdaMOO system), and it was designed for
> education use in collaborative writing.
> 
> Using it, it struck me just how interesting these things were as
> interfaces to collaborative spaces. The basic ideas of locations
> where you perform particular activities, and objects with behaviors
> that define how you interact with them is very natural; and the whole
> thing is programmable enough to let you define your own locations,
> behaviors, and processes. 
> 
> I'm interested in the notion of looking at a MOO-like environment as a
> possible basis for how to implement some of the future collaborative
> function of Stellation. I realize this is a wacky idea. But there might
> be something to it. For example: locks can be treated as notices posted
> on a bulletin board in a common room. Subprojects have annexes off of
> the main room. To break a lock, you add a note to the notice about the
> lock on the bulletin board. Since it's programmable, you can place
> requirements on what someone has to do to modify the lock notice.
> 
> My proposal is this: if people are willing, and their network access
> permits, I'd like to set up an enCore server on my personal server at
> home. Once it's set up, I'd like to try using it for writing the design
> docs for the parts of the fine-grained and collaborative support work
> that we'll be starting once we get past a solid, stable release of
> the core. The intention is not to force anyone to use it; but to allow
> anyone who wants to join me in exploring how this kind of thing works
> for technical collaboration.
> 
> enCore is accessed through a web-browser, but it uses port 7000. The
> environment requires a web-browser with both Java and Javascript. I'm
> not sure, but it *might* also be making a connection through port 7777.
> (I'm still experimenting with the server, so I'm not sure of exactly
> what's going on where... *Something* is talking to the MOO server
> through 7777, but I haven't had the time to poke around and see if
> that's happening in the server, or if it's being done by the Java
> applet that gets downloaded by the client.)
> 
> -Mark
> 
Sounds like it might have some promise. I'll join you in the barnyard :-)

Regards

Jonathan

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