Long Live Uru!
Here are some excerpts from a conversation I had a few weeks ago reguarding the close of Uru Live:
Well, it’s sad seeing something that I’ve seen grown and develop through beta and prologue. I was so excited. Uru Live really challenged everything. Just as MYST introduced CDROM, I thought Uru would be the final push to make Broadband widespread.
I’m glad that more people will be able to play. But I’m worried that the expansion packs won’t be able to give me my favourite parts of Uru Live. I *talked* to Douglas Sharper. That was awesome. I talked to a character from Myst and he talked to me.
I liked that it was modern day. Instead of mystic places, there were cones and laptops too.
I loved it when one of the DRC ResEngs talked about “all these stupid cryptic messages.” It’s like MYST became real instead of puzzles.
It’s kind of hard to explain, I think, but I liked the DRC more than Yeesha in the sense that they made Uru more “real.” I couldn’t see myself wandering around worlds looking for puzzles in real life. But with the “common folk” type approach, it made it much more exciting. I think it will be hard to capture that in the expansion packs.
*starts looking in fridge for ice cream*
It was such an awesome experience watching Uru grow and develop. It’s unfortunate that the world just wasn’t ready for Uru. I know many people who didn’t buy Uru since the tech specs were too high or they didn’t have broadband.
I think the MYST community will be able to prosper. We’re so cloesly knit that the story will continue. I was looking forward to working with everyone on telling stories of the interactions and adventures on my D’ni Explorers Guild web site. It’s unfortunate it will have to be shifted away from journals of multiplayer exploration to more of journals of discovery. The community is so close because Cyan and Ubi listen to us. Where else can you find a level of such close interaction between makers and players? It’s a wonderful thing… and it’s been sad to see some people take that for granted.
You can dive even further into my thoughts of Uru in an interview posted on the D’LA web site.
