MOO: revival or extinction?

Abstract

A MOO is a text-based, multi-participant, user-extensible, object-oriented virtual environment in which users can interact with each other via the Internet polysynchronously (in synchronous and asynchronous time) and build meaningful artifacts. MOO technology provides us a single, low-cost, highly supportive venue for online activities. However, it is one of, the forgotten, virtual community border technologies. This paper gives an introduction to MOOs, presents the advantages and disadvantages of MOOs, and discusses the future potentialities of the MOO platform. Will MOOs experience a rebirth, or will they continue to stagnate as a legacy technology?