Hollow Earth

Look at the date of the post...

2009-08-10T22:30:53.735-04:00

Look at the date of the post...

I'm so excited for this! I recently downloaded the...

2009-07-05T03:33:14.092-04:00

I'm so excited for this! I recently downloaded the old Cyan games, Manhole, Cosmic Osmo, & Spelunx. It's like reliving my childhood again!

This sounds so exciting, I like the idea of a MMO game that is for all players, where URU was for people who could figure out the puzzles, which I really couldn't.

The line "Their souls will not be spared unless they choose a color!" was funny. I bet you can't guess what color I'd choose from my screename. :P

Great work.

2008-11-11T05:29:00.000-05:00

Great work.

I am so unaware of discussions like this outside o...

2008-08-09T00:16:00.000-04:00

I am so unaware of discussions like this outside of the MOUL forum. It's very interesting. I also was unaware of this first conflict with Alahmnat. Could have been the 5 months I was with out ISP service during my move after MOUL opened? It seems to me MORE things just fester in the background when people 1. Won't tell you they have a problem with you. 2. Aren't allowed to express themselves with out fear of being censored. 3. Really don't care to resolve/admit wrongs/or just avoid the sittuation.
I will say this about Slackers. Cyan has not supported them like they have other groups. Cyan has laughed with us, but not stood up for us. The people who dislike anyone associated with Slackers is usually misinformed by bias, or has never bothered to talk to us personally. Alhmnat is a prime example of someone I have never talked to, but seems to know me so well and what I am like in person. And I just found out about his blog when someone brought up the blanketed comments and attack he made against us.
The fact is he is representing Cyan along with some of the so called celebs around the cavern. This gives the appearance anything he says is approved of. Yet if any at all action is taken against him. We will never hear an apology, or see Cyan back us up.
So there you have it. The haves and the have nots. And Slackers definatly only have each other to lean on in this kind of sittuation.
And frankly Whilyam. Until I saw this blog. I had no idea you came to Slackers to Moderate a truce. I honestly thought you were just someone new who seemed a bit too interested in making people see things your way. And yes it got to be anoying from my view point.
I learn something new about this comunity every day. I'm not a real social whore like some who know everyones business. Allot is said and done with out my awareness. But usually every thing I do hear since UU started is negative concerning Slackers. It's easy to get along with everyone when Cyan seems to be using your group and keeps pushing us further into the background. And it's infuriating to see the members of these groups beat their chest when they have gotten their Lollypop, and we get a rock. I've had some shitty things done to me since day one in UU, and heard nothing good from special groups/guilds about Slackers. It seems to have just become a way of Life in the cavern. And gives everyone something to gripe about until Uru goes back online once MORE. I know I'm rough when it comes to writing wrongs, and pointing out publicly what I think about some people. But the truth is it's already like we don't exisit so who cares? I have waited for 3 years for someone to prove me wrong about this. The consensus seems to be just throw the baby out with the bath water and be done with us. There is lots of talent, humor, sincerity, and devotion in the people at Slackers. Many have had to find some niche to do what they can in Uru. Many of us have no place simply because we have been beaten down and abused so that someone else could be put in the lime lite. So be it.
Anyone willing to dare. Should go back to the begining of UU. And look in the archives of what ever forum you chose. I was full of Optimisim in those days. Over the years it has slowly been drained from me to make way for someone else who can play the politics game. I can't.
Thanks for listening.
Wutt Evah

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2008-05-12T17:18:00.000-04:00

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The reason you didn't enjoy Eve was because you tr...

2008-05-10T11:24:00.000-04:00

The reason you didn't enjoy Eve was because you treated it like a linear game, expecting it to feed you content.

In Eve, all content is player generated. Mining is considered by many to be the most mind-numbing activity possible, and the resort of carebears. If you wanted to make a living, there are many choices to choose from - but YOU have to choose one.

Piracy, anti-piracy, bounty hunting, mass manufacture, drug production, capital ship construction, corporate espionage, theft, extortion, space-complex exploration...

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is ver...

2008-04-20T11:59:00.000-04:00

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Transplante de Cabelo, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://transplante-de-cabelo.blogspot.com. A hug.

I agree!

2008-04-10T22:11:00.000-04:00

I agree!

Also, after reading your post, just say its anothe...

2008-04-10T22:09:00.000-04:00

Also, after reading your post, just say its another UU... ooh! Great idea Papa G! Why not call it...UU2? OK KIDS, YOU JUST SAW IT, I JUST TOOK THE TERM UU2!

THIS IS OFFICIAL FROM PAPA G!!! Now I should probably post this on the moul forums.

Hey, it has been written again! Check it out on m...

2008-04-10T21:55:00.000-04:00

Hey, it has been written again! Check it out on my blog at urulive.blogspot.com!

I know he'd appreciate it. He's been spending the ...

2008-04-01T12:06:00.000-04:00

I know he'd appreciate it. He's been spending the most time on the game.

Hehe, I think I may have to start calling GD "warm...

2008-04-01T11:02:00.000-04:00

Hehe, I think I may have to start calling GD "warm cupcake"... ;)

Nice.

Reading this reminds me of my attempts to unify th...

2008-03-01T10:32:00.000-05:00

Reading this reminds me of my attempts to unify the Dutch community... Not many know this, but the Dutch community is split in half. Something went wrong during Untìl Uru, and as a result there were two Dutch shards, there are still two Dutch forums, and in MOUL there are two Dutch neighbourhoods. And people from one forum/hood won't talk to the ones on the other forum/hood. The two sides have become bigger and bigger, because even new Dutch explorers are forced to choose a side (if they want to join a Dutch 'hood). This cold war has been going on for a few years now ... it's ridiculous.
Both sides were complaining that their 'hoods were too empty compared to prologue. They blamed Cyan, although I pointed out that they were the ones that caused it. Last year I spent some months (with others) to unify the community... In vain. People were too stubborn and no one wanted to admitted mistakes. People were even getting angry at me. Eventually I gave up.

It's good to see that there is progress concerning the Slackers and that problems are being solved. Good of you that you spent time trying to understand both sides and working towards a more peaceful situation.

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2008-02-29T16:20:00.000-05:00

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Yet. :)

2008-01-31T10:02:00.000-05:00

Yet. :)

"Uru is going nowhere."Although not in the sense t...

2008-01-28T23:05:00.000-05:00

"Uru is going nowhere."

Although not in the sense that you intended, that is exactly the problem, and I agree completely. To use the bus analogy, we're going nowhere. Forget the final destination, forget the next stop... we're not moving.

Must be deja vu. I've had this in various stages o...

2008-01-28T13:52:00.000-05:00

Must be deja vu. I've had this in various stages of composition in my draft area for a while, but just got around to finishing it up and publishing it.

Did you post this before or am I having a déjà vu?...

2008-01-28T11:20:00.000-05:00

Did you post this before or am I having a déjà vu?

Anyway, I agree with your analysis.

GS,Since I don't see a way to comment on your own ...

2008-01-28T02:35:00.000-05:00

GS,
Since I don't see a way to comment on your own blog, I'll add my comments here.

While I understand and sympathize that the expectations of the "Old Guard" you describe weren't met, the impression I've gotten from the collective Old Guard is a refusal to accept reality. My perspective is that (most of) your expectations are not going to be met, that complaining about it isn't going to bring about the change you want, and the only effect that griping about it does is cut into everyone else's fun. It isn't necessary or helpful for the new guard to know or to care what Uru isn't. The only thing griping does is draw attention to you... and pretty soon, people assume that's the only reason you have to do it. Your explanation helps me to understand that isn't your reason... but you'll never communicate that to the majority of players.

When you're upset at something that you can't change, no matter how religious or not you may be, there's no better proverb to remember than the Serenity Prayer.

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

One final point. Only a few people at Cyan know what the original vision was. Everyone else can only dream of what they think it was meant to be. As you said, "We were expecting something like Riven, and Cyan was working on something that would satisfy that." The second part of that is still an assumption, a wish; you wanted something like Riven, but you can't be certain, even if things hadn't changed, that you would have been satisfied. The Old Guard has idolized the path not taken to a point that it seems they can never be happy with how things turned out.

Well I'm glad it's not me. Honestly, I don't have ...

2008-01-26T15:15:00.000-05:00

Well I'm glad it's not me. Honestly, I don't have a counter to what you say. Cyan is going with the Bahro so I doubt we'll see them leave anytime soon, but that doesn't mean you have to move on or be unhappy with that. There are a number of people still doing "scientific" work in the game. BrettM is one. He made up a number of documents including potential explanations for the lake algae which were well thought-out and very good.

There's also a number of creative pushes you might like. J.D. Barnes' Lara Documents (OOC: Unlimited potential creativity).

I suppose it also could be the people you're around. I don't know which hood you were in, but (at least now) in Uru Obsession we don't do that kind of crud. At least not when I'm online. :P

Perhaps it's not the game for you, perhaps Uru was eventually going ot have Bahro, regardless of what your friend said. Perhaps, perhaps. In the end, I don't think any Linking Theories would have an issue with Bahro as they can all conveniently ignore them. They are the deus ex machina of Myst and don't particularly matter, to me, if I'm working on something "factual".

I hope you return soon and can enjoy the game even with the memories of what could be.

It's not you, specifically, that I'm referring to....

2008-01-26T14:50:00.000-05:00

It's not you, specifically, that I'm referring to. I was speaking about the general populous of the community. Generally speaking, most of the people I talk to and try to share ideas with respond with hostility and close-mindedness and tell me that I should get over the past and just accept Uru for the way it is, and that I'm a bad guy for not wanting to participate and for canceling my subscription and not showing my support. There are exceptions, as with all generalizations, but this is too common for me to just simply ignore. Maybe I'm not finding the right people to associate with, but, then again, maybe the right people aren't making themselves known in the sea of bozos.

I'll try to explain what I feel about Uru, and what I expected it to be before a certain company interfered. I was never actually in Choru, but I had lots of friends who were that didn't understand why I wasn't invited, so I got some... Shall we say, inside glimpses more often than others, so I was able to put together what it was going to be like.

The whole Bahro thing was a snap decision in an effort to comply with the demand for a single-player experience. There didn't used to be pillars that you hunted down to repair the Bahro's soul or whatever it was. I'm not sure how much of Yeesha there was, but there was much less "magic" to the game back then. Back then, the Myst universe would not have even considered that standing in a circle in K'Veer would summon a Bahro. It felt more real and Linking Theory was something that you could almost explain "scientifically", and you would exchange ideas and make a pseudo-thesis sort of write up and show everyone. Everything felt real and somehow made sense and nothing that couldn't be explained ever happened. Now you have the Bahro running around, changing the state of Ages while you're in them? While I understand that Linking Theory is just a silly fantasy idea, it at least felt like it could be real.

Now, when something happens, you just have to accept that it happened and move on. There's no wondering how something happened, because you can't explain something like the Bahro screwing around with Linking Books to create personal "instances". The universe has taken on a far more magical approach to things than Myst and Riven.

We were expecting something like Riven, and Cyan was working on something that would satisfy that, but then it was changed, and barely anything that I expected, and barely anything my friends witnessed in the early Choru stages, ever came to pass. At one point, one of my friends said Rand logged in to Choru to tell all the testers that what they were playing was not the Uru that Cyan had envisioned. He said it wasn't Uru at all, and that's when everything just... Changed. The entire mood of the game completely changed and everyone knew it.

That's why I'm saying that the "new guard" just can't understand what the "old guard" expected, and why they're more apt to just toss in the towel after hoping so long that things would set themselves straight. The "new guard" wasn't there for all that happened before, and I don't blame them for that, but there's no use denying that they can't understand what the "old guard" is feeling. All they know and expect from Uru is from the "new Uru", so it all makes sense for them. But for us, who were exposed to the "old Uru", we see how things were supposed to be, and we see how things are now, and we see how things will probably never be what they were supposed to be, and that just disappoints us. Some of us have tried to like "new Uru" but I, among others, just CAN'T. Not yet.

It also doesn't help, like I said earlier, that some of the more knowledgable and influential people in this game driven by information, enjoy pressing their influence and overriding those of us with perfectly valid ideas. This, also, isn't true for everyone, but in my experience, it's the general reaction to me and my "old Uru" ideas.

I'm tired of wanting to play Uru and wanting to like it and then constantly being reminded about what it was supposed to be, and constantly being hounded that I'm just stuck in the past and that I need to move on. I'll move on when I'm ready to move on, and having everyone who thinks they're better fans than I am constantly press me to just accept Uru and like it because that's how it is doesn't help matters in the least bit. I'm tired of all that, so I canceled my subscription and I turned my back on it. I may return when I see that enough has changed, but it hasn't yet. So I'm moving on.

So what was that which you had expected? You menti...

2008-01-25T15:51:00.000-05:00

So what was that which you had expected? You mention it so many times yet I don't know what you're talking about. An Age, a feature, a story, a certain style in the 3D model? Perhaps the "new guard" is unwilling to understand because you fail to give substance to your opinions.

All I can say to this is that, while the game may not go in a way I like sometimes and in a way I do at others, I adapt and still enjoy. I enjoyed Minkata, even though I could dumb it down to "a lot of wasted time in the desert" or some such.

Yes, I think Cyan's death and Live's death contribute to both of the "old guard's" sides. Some see it as what was meant to be or was inevitable and cite MOUL as a failed idea. Others remember those days a fear that death will come again and some stay away, disillusioned, and others stay and enjoy what is still here.

As part of the "old guard", so to speak, as someon...

2008-01-25T13:48:00.000-05:00

As part of the "old guard", so to speak, as someone who's been around since before Uru was even called DIRT or Mudpie, I think you're missing a huge point. I think everyone is missing a huge point and they like to attack those of us who don't play Uru and decry what it's become.

We were around when Uru was supposed to be something VASTLY different than what it is now. We dreamed of different things, we were given hints of different things... We expected something else entirely from what we actually got, and Cyan knew this, too. Regardless of who was responsible for the changes, the changes happened and everything we dreamed about didn't happen. We still got a game, sure, but it wasn't what we expected, and then it was canceled by the same short-sighted brass that insisted on the changes.

It was canceled and Until Uru came out, and then Cyan actually went temporarily out of business and many, many of the original visionaries of the game we were promised then left to move on to something else. When Cyan was revived by GameTap, they set out to work on the game they had in the aftermath: still something entirely different than what we were promised to begin with.

I understand that these things happen, and that some people can accept it, but YOU people need to understand that some people don't want to accept it because it's not what they expected and it's not what they want to play. Every time they play it, they think of what should have been and what could have been, even if they don't want to. This is something that people who joined yesterday can't comprehend. They don't know what could have been, so it doesn't bother them. They only know what they see right now, and they like it. Fine! More power to them. Honestly! It's great that the love Uru.

One of the reasons I stopped playing Uru was because this "new guard" couldn't understand why the "old guard" didn't like the game, and they don't WANT to understand, they just want to attack us for being stuck up and doomsayers and stuck in the past. This "new guard" thinks they're better because they can accept the game as it is now, but they have absolutely no clue what it's like to look for to something for so long, only to have it ripped away from you.

Before I get much more heated about this, I just want to say: I appreciate the fact that the "new guard" enjoys the game. I love Cyan and I would never wish anything bad of them. I want them to succeed as much as anyone of you, but there's still too many reminders and remnants of the past and there's still too many of you who are intolerant of us for seeing them.

Thank you! After some of the comments early on Ne...

2008-01-03T05:15:00.000-05:00

Thank you! After some of the comments early on New Years eve I was preparing a similar post out of spite.

This is just nuts, but the problem appears to be the 'WoW' mentality of newcomers that if you've done it, that's it. Myst Online is much more than that, period.

--TSK

I think it's really awesome that the different org...

2007-09-24T11:47:00.000-04:00

I think it's really awesome that the different organisations of Writers immediately threw all their differences aside to make a start with the formation of the Guild.

I think one of the main reasons for that is that they really want to form their Guild.
They've been building Ages for quite some time now and it has been their dream to create Ages for MOUL. Now they have been given this opportunity, and they really don't want to spoil that.

Compare this to the Messengers for example. I think a lot of Messengers don't really see the need for a Guild, because they're all happy with their current organisations already. So they reluctantly start forming the Guild, trying to preserve as much as possible from their own organisations.

I agree that the Writers are currently doing a great job; they are an example to all.