Here are the instructions for starting a virtual munch using Mozilla Hubs.
Step 1 — Register
- Go to hubs.mozilla.com
- At the top right, click on “Sign In”
- Enter your email address and click “next”
- Check your email, and click on the link
- When the link opens, there’ll be a dialog confirming that you’re authorized — click the X to close it
- You’re now a registered user
Step 2 — Create a Room
- Click the big “Create a Room” button
- Enter the room, exactly as you did to go to the munch (click Enter Room, choose a name and an avatar for yourself, Enter on Screen, authorize your microphone access if you haven’t already, click Enter Now)
- Click on the “hamburger menu” (the three horizontal lines) at the top left of your screen and select Room Settings
- It’ll have a randomly-generated room name — just click on it and change it to whatever you like (e.g. Guelph Munch)
- Fill in the description however you like
- Set the room size (default is 24 people, which should be fine, and you can change it later)
- I recommend turning off all the room permissions to avoid having people cluttering the room with stuff
- Click Apply
Step 3 — Choose a Scene
A “scene” is the backdrop of your room — the visual appearance
- Click on the hamburger menu again, and select “Choose a Scene”
- You’ll be ahown a gallery of scenes, and you scroll up and down and use the buttons at the bottom to changes pages (the page number is always zero — that’s just a bug)
- Click on the one you want to use (I chose Morning Dew since it looks like a simple coffee shop, but choose whatever you like)
- Try to pick one that’s not too complex, since a complex scene will make everything run slower
- At this point, you may want to click the star at the lower left to mark this room as one of your favourites (so you can find it later)
Step 4 — Invite People In
- Click on the red “Share” button at the top center of the screen
- It will show you a link to the room, which you can copy to your clipboard with the Copy button
- You can then send that link out, post it, etc. Anyone who clicks on the link will join you in the room
- Rooms generally stay around even if you close your browser tab
Note that if you close a room (hamburger menu -> Close Room) then the link will no longer work and you’ll have to create a new room.
And that’s it! Well, sort of… you also have to be the moderator of the room while the munch is going.
As the person who created the room, you have certain abilities that regular attendees don’t have.
- When you hold down the spacebar (or hit tab to toggle), you’ll see a menu over each user when you hover your mouse over them
- Regular users can use that menu to hide others who are annoying them; as the room owner, you can also mute someone or kick them out of the room
- You can also change the room properties (including the scene!) whenever you want
- You also have the power to re-enter the room, even when it’s full
- You can also create objects, even if you turned off the check boxes that let other people do so
- You can also “promote” another user, which gives them the same powers you have along with a star above their name (note that they need to be a signed-in user (see above) before you can promote them)
There’s a lot more to say, especially about object creation, but this should get you started.