moo

There is no shaking that telephone party-line feel to IRC, though. Simply the way it is structured, centering around the idea of channels, is a constant reminder of the fact that this is not a real place, that this is simply a medium through which people are communicating, which can be useful. This also does not mean that there is any less emotion or real human interaction involved.

But let us take this idea a step further. Bringing people together in a digital communication medium is great, but rather limiting. That is where the idea of a MUD comes into play. MUDs and MOOs are virtual worlds, literally. Upon entering these environments, one is presented not with a channel list and the ability to just jump into one of them as in IRC. Instead, the user is presented with a full environment, along with descriptions of the actual location in which the user has been dropped.

There are many things that come out of MOOs that one just does not get out of IRC. Being that this is now an actual environment that the user has entered, the users are able to have their own identities. They can be seen not only as their words, but also as how they'd like themselves to be presented to the rest of the inhabitants of this world, in the form of a self-created description.

Even more than in talking to somebody over IRC, looking at a description of an individual solidifies ones impression of that person if only because reading a description (regardless of the fact that it can be easily changed whenever the user wants) makes it that much more real, as it were.