OT: buffyMOO

[HD.Genscher@xxxxxx]

Q: What is buffyMOO?

A: buffyMOO is a chat'n'slay text-based virtual reality. MOO is short for
"multi-user dungeon, object-oriented".

For those who never tried anything like this: It's like a chat, but beyond
that you have a character with certain attributes, objects, weapons and
spells; you can also walk around in a world created by text, and interact
with other players. It's more like a role-playing game.

buffyMOO is set at the beginning of the 3rd season: Buffy is gone. She
sent Angel to hell, and no one has heard from her since. Now it's up to
you and your fellow Slayerettes to save Sunnydale and the world from
vampires and demons until the Slayer returns.


Q: What do you want from me?

A: Well, you are supposed to inhabit this virtual Sunnydale once it's
finished, either with a character of your own creation or by embodying
one of the permanent or recurring characters of the show.

I dedicate this virtual world to you, the talented writers and generous
readers of my favorite lists. And I dedicate buffyMOO to B/W.


Q: What can I do to help you finish it?

A: First, I need help on the locations.

I set up a Sunnydale of my own imagination consisting of 80 locations so
far (cemetaries, the Bronze, shops, homes, Sunnydale High, ...) and
wrote very simple descriptions for these locations. I would propose to
take this as a starting point and to transform and extend it into a real
virtual world. If you want to participate in building this Buffyverse, just
drop me a line.

And it would be nice if you would test buffyMOO. Don't resist to criticize
any mistakes I made, make suggestions for enhancements and post bug
reports. Tell me what you think.

Running around alone, however, is not really entertaining and can be very
deadly since the vampire bots are quite starved... So maybe we can
arrange to meet online at a certain date and patrol together.


Q: How can I connect?

A: buffyMOO's current home is avalon.cc86.org, port 4711. You may use a
Telnet client to enter buffyMOO (I do not recommend that, however,
since incoming text and what you type is interspersed on the screen), or
any MU* client of your choice (e.g. GMud
[ftp://papa.indstate.edu/winsock-l/mud/gmd3219b.zip]).

You can also try the Java client I wrote for testing purposes. It's rather
simple, but it works (and it has separate input and output areas). You
need to have a Java Runtime Environment 1.3 or higher or the Java SDK
1.3 or higher. If the runtime environment is set up correctly, just
double-click on the jar file to start the client.


Q: Where can I find more information?

A: buffyMOO's web site is http://www.u34.de/moo/. Go there if you need
further information on how to connect and the rules. Or just mail me.


Q: What engine is used for buffyMOO?

A: I have written my own server. The server engine, called u34moo, was
implemented during the past months. It's written in Java and it's
open-source (you may download the source code at the above web site).
The world database is XML-based, whereas the player data is stored in
good old ini-files.

Please remember that u34moo is far from being feature-complete. There's no
building from within the MOO at the moment, and only a very
simple scripting language has been implemented yet. But the engine is
at a development stage where it can be used. You can run around, chat,
slay, exchange weapons, scrolls and other stuff, and so on.


There's a whole new world out there to explore, and it's waiting for you.
Have fun!

Bye,

HD Genscher


--
GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet.
http://www.gmx.net