Oh. Duh.

[avevale_intelligencer]

All last week, there was a signboard up on a T-junction between Westbury and Trowbridge, saying "BINGO FRIDAY 7:30 HERE."

I was admiring the hardihood of our local bingo players, especially in this weather, for days before I realised it probably meant the church hall a hundred yards down and on the other side of the road.

Well, all right, not really for days, but it sounds funnier that way.

Comments

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

That all sounds really interesting (if potentially very time-consuming). It's probably just as well I've never got involved in such things. I'd never talk to anybody ever again, I think!

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Well, I've made some wonderful friends through online correspondence about the Myst games and their backstory, including jahura whom I believe you know. :) It can be time-consuming if you're not careful, but fortunately (?) I have enough responsibilities in RL to keep me from spending too long having fun. Erm, not sure that sentence came out right.

Anyway, on with the story.

At the end of 2006 the news broke that Uru Live had been picked up by Gametap, the game publishing arm of Turner Communications, and jubilation reigned. Untíl Uru had to be shut down, of course, for copyright reasons, but that hardly mattered to most fans: Cyan Worlds were back in business, and we were finally going to get the Myst-based MMOG we had been promised. Nothing could stop us now.

Well, it became clear within the first few months that there were problems, over and above the usual fan bickering. Most of the content in Uru Live was the same stuff we had all been playing since 2003. New Ages and areas were opened up, but many players weren't satisfied with either the quality or the quantity, and said so, loudly, at length, and over and over again. A storyline was introduced, but it wasn't one in which players could really take part, and the characteristic depth that we'd grown used to wasn't there. Conversely, the puzzles that were introduced in the new content added nothing to the storyline, and seemed simply to be there to keep us busy.

As the first "season" drew to a close, we all hoped for better in the coming year. Cyan apparently had big plans which they didn't want to talk about. One of the major developments that had been in the works since the first incarnation of Uru Live was the ability for players to make their own Ages, and this was hinted at for release in 2008.

Well, you know from my LJ what happened on February 4th. Gametap weren't happy with Uru Live's performance, and voted with their corporate wallet. The Cavern's still there till April 4th, and then it all shuts down. What happens after that is anybody's guess...but we didn't want to let go of Uru the first time, and we don't want to let go of it now. So, people on the forums are discussing ways and means, while Cyan and Gametap conduct their own negotiations.

It's not all bad. Cyan that was dead is now living and getting other work. Another friend has suggested in her own blog that this version of Uru Live was never anything more to them than a means of getting themselves back on their feet, which it's done. This suggested to me that maybe the disappointing first "season" was deliberate on their part, because they didn't want to be shackled year after year to a five-year-old concept that they've grown out of...but that may be overthinking the whole thing.

But the cancellation has also galvanised the fan community into renewed activity. New, fan-made Ages are actually being Written for the stand-alone game, and some of them are quite impressive. I'm learning how to do it myself. I think we're more cohesive as a fandom now than we ever have been, and while there's hope that Cyan might, just might, be able and willing to release online Uru in some form to us again, there really has never been a better time to be an Uru fan. Which is a surprising thing to find myself typing, after my despair of only a few days ago.

Also, it looks as though the rumours that have been going around for years about a Myst-based film might actually be starting to come true (http://www.mystmovie.com)...

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

Thanks for telling me all that - it really is fascinating how the internet has created/fostered all sorts of communities. I think I'd better wait until the children are a little older before I get involved, though!