====== Discussion 7: Textual Worlds ======


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===== Goal =====

The goal with this preparation is to gain familiarity with one of the oldest, and most influential, forms of persistent online virtual worlds: The MUDs and MOOs! These worlds still exist if you know where to look. Some of them are in fact still thriving quite well.

===== Task =====

Make sure you have a program on your computer to open an interactive [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telnet|telnet]] session with a remote host. On OSX and Linux, the program "telnet" should already be included, which you can then run from a terminal window just like this: <code>telnet <hostname> <portnumber></code> On windows you can download a very simple telnet client called [[http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/x86/puttytel.exe|PuTTYtel (direct download link!)]], run it and supply the host name and port number into a dialog box before connecting. 

After you have found or installed your telnet client, connect to these two virtual worlds:
  * Asylum MUD - Fantasy RPG (create a character and start questing)
    * HOST: asylum-mud.org 
    * PORT: 6715
  * Lamda MOO - Social Space (type "co guest" to start as an anonymous guest)
    * HOST: lambda.moo.mud.org
    * PORT: 8888

By Monday class, be ready to discuss the pros and cons of this interactive textual medium. For example, are you able gain a sense of space even though no visual cues are provided?