GrassRoots: Basic MOO Commands

The following is revised from the original text written for GrassRoots by Dawn Martin.

Listed here are many commands, including explanations and syntax, which are used on MOOs, including GrassRoots. This list is not all-inclusive, but includes the most frequently used commands. To get a feel for the way MOO objects work it is suggested that you read the first few paragraphs of Building and Programming on GrassRoots, which can be accessed via the following link:

Table of Contents

Following are 8 onpage links:

• Logging In and Out
• Setting Up and Customizing Your Persona
• Communication
• Movement in GrassRoots
• Channel and Grapevine Communication
• Manipulating the Environment
• GrassRoots Online Help
• Screen Customization

Logging In and Out

To log into GrassRoots MOO (if you are a regular persona and have a password) at the login screen prompt enter:

connect your_user_id your_password

e.g. connect Toadstool U7toPx

If you are not a regular persona on GrassRoots at the login screen prompt enter:

co guest

If you log on as a guest, to find out who you are when inside GrassRoots enter:

whoami

To get some quick on-screen help when inside GrassRoots enter:

help-newbie

To get some real-time help from a real person, enter:

@need-help

To log out of GrassRoots MOO enter:

@quit

If you telneted in and the screen is split in half and you don't like it enter:

/visual off

To page down and see more text when you are stuck at "--more--":

Press the TAB key.

Setting up and Customizing your Persona

Warning: Do not place personal, private information on your personae or anything you own on GR, or give such information out to anyone you meet here. No one can vouch for the intentions of other people on the internet or anywhere, so it's important to be very careful with such information and protect yourself.

We at GrassRoots require that an info file be filled out by you as soon as you can, after you receive your persona. This file is used to help others in the community know who you really are. This is a safety precaution. You can not build a home or do any programming without setting the text in this file. The file should contain the following: real first name, (last name is optional), your city, your country, if you are a student and who your teacher is, and your interests.

To enter information about yourself so others on GrassRoots can see something about your personae and yourself:

First check out what others have written about themselves by entering:

whois person

e.g. whois Dr.Z

To set your own info enter:

@info text

e.g. @info My name is Ann. I live in Rochester, NY. I am a tutor for high school students AFK. My interests include: reading, writing and computers.

A description is what the player sees when the look command is executed.

To see the description of the room you are in enter:

look

To see the description of an object, including yourself or another person, enter:

look object

e.g. look book or look DW

To look at anything, you must be in the same room with the object or know and use its object number [more on that later!].

To set the description for yourself enter:

@describe me as text

e.g. @describe me as A tall gray-haired math professor looking for a formula!!

To set the description for an object you own enter:

@describe object as text

e.g. @describe book as a magic book with page after page of magic spells!

To set your gender which is neutral by default enter:

@gender whatever

e.g. @gender male or @gender female

It's important to change your password when you first login, and once every couple weeks by entering:

@password old-password new-password

e.g. @password Ut8Huk Xv5wbR

To change your registered email address enter:

@registerme as new_email_address

e.g. @registerme as me@this.com

Your home room is the room you will enter every time you log on to GR and the room you go to when you enter the command home. It should be a room you own. Sometimes, it can be a room owned by someone else, e.g. a teacher. You must be in the room you want to make your home room.

To set or reset your home room enter:

@sethome

Messages are what can be seen when certain commands.

You can see the messages on your own persona or on an object by entering:

@messages me

or

@messages object

Some messages are not functional (or rarely used) and won't be referred to in this help guide. Look at the messages which are already there before you change them to get an idea of how they work. Test them out by paging yourself, for example. It is most helpful to include your name in your messages, if you are going to change them. %N is a variable for the name of the player who typed the command that is causing this message to be displayed; %d means name of other person involved; %l means location; %T means name of object that this message is on (in this case, you).

To change the message the other person sees when you page them enter:

@page_origin me is "message"

To change the message the other person sees when they page you and you are online enter:

@page_echo me is "message"

To set the message the person paging you sees when you are not online in GrassRoots enter:

@page_absent me is "message"

To change the message shown when you enter a room enter:

@self_arrive me is "message"

To change the message shown when you teleport out of a room enter:

@oself_port me is "message"

To change the message the other person sees when you are not accepting pages enter:

@page_refused me is "message"

To set the message another sees when you do not wish to accept their whispers (%N will substitute your name) enter:

@whisper_refused me is "message"

Communication

To get a list of everyone who's logged in, if they are idle, etc. and what room they are in enter:

@who

To see background info on a person enter:

whois person

There are two ways to talk to people who are in the same room as you.

One way is to enter:

say text

e.g. say how are you doing today?

The other way is to enter:

"text

e.g. "how are you doing today?

To send text privately to person wherever s/he is if s/he is online enter:

page person text

e.g. page Dr.Z How are you today?

Or:

'person text

e.g. 'Dr.Z How are you today?

To 'emote' a nonverbal message to the entire room, such as "Name waves at the chair." enter:

emote nonverbal-message

e.g. emote smiles

would show others: PlayerName smiles

Or:

:nonverbal-message

e.g. :stomps around the room

would show others: PlayerName stomps around the room

To whisper text that only the designated person in your current room will hear enter:

wh text to person

e.g. wh how are you doing today to Dr.Z

To address a statement directly to someone, but have everyone see it enter:

to person text

e.g. to Dr.Z and how are you today?

To knock politely on the door of the room a person is in and ask to join them -- required in private spaces of GrassRoots -- enter:

@knock person

e.g. @knock Dr.Z

To invite someone to join you enter:

@invite person

e.g. @invite Dr.Z

If you wish to be added to the Helper list when you have time, to help newer folks enter:

@helper on

If you wish to be taken off the Helper list enter:

@helper off

Movement in the MOO

To see the exits available from your current location enter:

@ways

To move through an exit enter:

exit-name

To teleport yourself to the current location of the named player -- unless the room is locked [Be sure to @knock person first unless you are invited.], enter:

@join person

e.g. @join DW

To teleport yourself to a particular room number enter:

@go room-number

e.g. @go #739

To see your personal directory of "bookmarked" rooms to which you can teleport directly enter:

@rooms

To add a room personal room directory, and allow you to teleport back there with @go room-name you must be in the room, then enter:

@addroom

To remove a room from your personal room directory enter:

@rmr room-number

To teleport yourself instantly to your "home" room enter:

home

Channel And Grapevine Communication

GrassRoots gives you the ability to use two types of MOO-wide communication: the Channel System and the GrapeVine feature. It's like a MOO-wide intercom or CB with channels, and you communicate with anyone else who is on your channel or vine. [Note: You must be at least a builder to use The Vine.]

Matt Campbell's Channel System

The Channel FO [feature object] allows you to communicate on one or more channels. When you join more than one channel, you can hear all your channels at the same time. You can indicate which channel you wish to broadcast to and still hear the others.

To add the Channel FO to your feature list, enter:

@addfeature #1621

To see the channels available to you enter:

channels

To join a channel enter:

joinch channel

e.g. joinch soc

Your current channel is the channel on which you are currently speaking. You may listen to many channels at the same time, but you may only speak on one at a time.

To leave your current channel enter:

leavech

To leave a specific channel enter:

leavech channel

e.g. leavech help

To find out your current channel enter:

current-channel

To see a list of connected users on your current channel enter:

channel

To see a list of connected users on any channel you're on enter:

channel channel

e.g. channel soc

To speak on your current channel enter:

>text

e.g. >Hello.

Or:

.text

e.g. .Hello.

Or:

$ text

e.g. $ Hello.

To emote on your current channel enter:

>>text

e.g. >>smiles.

Or:

..text

e.g. ..smiles.

Or:

$ :text

e.g. $ :smiles.

To speak on a different channel enter:

$channel text

e.g. $soc Hello.

To emote on a different channel enter:

$channel :text

e.g. $soc :smiles.

John Leone's GrapeVine

This feature is also a MOO-wide channel system, but doesn't give you the ability to talk on more than one channel at a time. Long-time residents of GR are accustomed to using this system, and we encourage its continued use. Below please find a list of the pertinent commands.

To add the GrapeVine to your feature list, enter:

@addfeature #1672

To pick a vine to join from a list enter:

joinv

To join a vine [if you already know its name] enter:

joinv vine_name

e.g. joinv social

To leave your vine enter:

leavev

To see who is currently on your vine enter:

vine

To broadcast text to everyone on your vine enter:

>text

e.g. >Hi Bill, good to see you log on!

To broadcast a nonverbal message to all on your vine, similar to the emote command enter:

>>nonverbal-message

e.g. >>jumps for joy because Bill logged on!

Manipulating the Environment

Everything created in the MOO database has a unique object number. It is helpful -- and often critical -- to know these numbers when working on your creations.

To list the objects that you own enter:

@audit

To see a description of the room you are in enter:

look

To see a description of an object [or detail] or another persona in the room you are in enter:

look object

To see a description of your own persona enter:

look me

To read written material which is numbered, such as a post on a board enter:

read number on board-name

e.g. read 2 on bulletin

If you can't figure out how to use some object or device, or to get more info about an object, including verbs defined in it, enter:

@examine object

e.g. @examine ball

To see your inventory [what objects you are carrying] enter:

inv

To drop an object in the current room, thereby removing it from your inventory, enter:

drop object

e.g. drop ball

To pick an object up, thereby adding it to your inventory, enter:

get object

e.g. get ball

Or:

take object

e.g. take ball

Please don't take things that don't belong to you without permission, and be sure to take any of your objects that you drop in other people's rooms, unless they say it's OK.

To give or transfer an object from you to a person in the same room enter:

give object to person

e.g. give ball to Dr.Z

To display the contents of a container enter:

@contents container

e.g. @contents jar

To get an object from a container, thereby adding it to your inventory, enter:

get object from container

e.g. get cookie from jar

Or:

remove object from container

e.g. remove cookie from jar

Or:

take object from container

e.g. take cookie from jar

To put an object into a container, thereby removing it from your inventory, enter:

put object in container

e.g. put cookie in jar

Or:

insert object in container

e.g. insert cookie in jar

Or:

drop object in container

e.g. drop cookie in jar

GrassRoots Online Help

To see a list of help indices enter:

help

To list more specific topics from the list of help indices on which help may be available enter:

help index-name

To get help on an object, if it's available enter:

help object

e.g. help ball

Some users who are willing to help others are listed in the @need-help command, so just page someone on the list if you are in need of assistance. If there is not a quick response, try paging another person. Sometimes folks walk away from their keyboards for a while, or are in another window.

Screen Customization

Note: Commands starting with a slash (/) can be used only if you are telnetting in, because they are not part of the MOO itself.

If the screen is split in half and you don't like it enter:

//visual off

To only show a page of text at a time, when a lot of text comes in at once, so it won't scroll off your screen, enter:

/more on

To page down and see more text when you are stuck at "--more--":

Press the TAB key.

To turn off screen paging enter:

/more off

To toggle room descriptions off enter:

@mode brief

To toggle room descriptions on enter:

@mode verbose

To set your pagelength to a certain number of lines enter:

@pagelength number

e.g. @pagelength 23

To set your linelength to a certain number of characters enter:

@linelength number

e.g. @linelength 70

To turn word wrap off enter:

@wrap off

To turn word wrap on enter:

@wrap on