D'niverse Documentary CD, step one.

It begins HERE

MYSTERIUUUUMMMM!

Go and register for Mysterium! Book your hotel! Start getting excited! I know I am ;)

Presents!

For the first three people that reply to me with your email, I will send you something. It might be something I've made, or something cool from my Box o' Random Stuff, it might be music, or a rubber...duck, a book I think you will enjoy, or something else that is nifty-neato.

Whatever it is, I promise that I will get it to you in 365 days or fewer. I promise I will not send you junk, but it will be unique, and make me think you you :)

The CATCH is, you have to post this offer in your journal, too. Bwaahaa!

Visions of Uru

I really haven't said a whole lot on what I envision Uru to be, mostly cause Tweek and Alahmnat have been saying it much better than I could.

I want a world that feels like I've literally been sucked into a book, that I am part of the world, not just an observer.

Now!

While this snippit of article from over on the Washington Post is talking about LOST, (I kan has new episode, plz? *pacepace*), I think that much of what they talk about applied to how some approached Uru, as well. "Content" needed to be supplied constantly, stuff needed to be happening constantly, or Uru wasn't entertaining. Rather than taking Uru as 'real', where adventures don't happen every day, and waiting for things to unfold, people we chomping at the bit.

That may be part of what purred the move to episodes. Also, and I say this with deepest admiration for the person behind the story... but the story was being run like it was being written, not played out. It was an observable narrative, not an interactive experience, and that put people off of the story, badly.

"This is really about unfolding narratives and our decreasing ability to live in the unknown," says M.J. Ryan, author of "The Power of Patience."

While humans may have always wanted to know what happens next (See: rabid readers of Charles Dickens's "The Old Curiosity Shop," released in installments in 1840), Ryan says the Internet has transformed that feeling from a desire to an entitlement.

Traditional narrative was about a linear beginning, middle and end, says Ryan. "But the narrative of the Internet is associative and non-linear." Instead of watching a complicated story unfold, users can hop around seeking specific puzzle pieces. "It encourages the bottom line. It's about who wins, who loses, and what's on the island."

What worries Ryan are the implications of that bottom line: "If we can't even wait to see what happens next week on a show, what does it say about our abilities to live our lives in the not knowing? Because for that, we don't really have an option."

"It does say something about human nature and instant gratification," concedes Jon Lachonis, who created the popular Web site TheTailSection.com. But, he argues, his interest in "Lost" is more social. "Whatever the mystery du jour is, there's a real communal approach to talking about them."

My dreams are secure

Ahh, yes, the Moral Superiority Clause. In which someone tells you how dumb it is to put energy into something they deem unworthy, because there's Starving Children in China(tm). Usually paired with the It's Just A Game statement, in which the digital nature of the source material is seen as further indication of the unworthiness of attention.

There are some of us who believe in Uru's inherent worth. That it should exist not because it's a money maker, or because it's cool to play, or whatever. We see the dream, and we want it to be real, because it deserves to be shared on its own merit. We put time and energy towards it because we feel it is the right thing to do.

No one, not jackal59, not anyone else, has the right to denigrate our joy in Uru, our dedication to bringing Uru to life because it should be. Snicker all you want behind your hands, but some of us still believe in beauty for beauty's sake. That things that inspire wonder are meant to exist come hell or high water. And that's something that all the snide comments and waving of business models can't take away. It's called 'faith'.

Irrational Anger

IMPORTANT: This is a generalized, sweeping rant, directed at no one person or group in any particular. It is a gut reaction to a set of data, that may or may not have any basis in reality. However, I need to get it off my chest.

I just logged into Uru, with 5 hours of it's life left.

There's 95 people in the city. Another 100+ spread through the 'hoods. Who knows how many in Ages.

WHERE THE FRACK WERE ALL OF YOU WHEN IT MATTERED? Sitting bitching on forums? Complaining that Uru wasn't what you wanted in some way shape or form? Kvetching about this that or the other thing?

NOW, NOW WHEN IT IS TOO LATE, you don't have a problem with the game. You're fine with 'just' socializing or 'just' going through ages you've seen before. NOW, when it's about to be taken away from you, now you notice.

Damn you all. Damn all of us for letting this slip through our fingers.

The Ending...doesn't exist.

Uru made the Myst community HUGE, and connected it in ways that it hadn't been before. But with Uru going away (again), and having the potential of changing (again), people are falling apart (personally, and collectively).

This is why keeping things like the Guilds active, and directing people to rel.to, and getting people interested in attending Mysterium, is important. It shows that there is Myst life outside of Uru.

Noodlings, cat herding and Getting Things Done

Issue 1: There is a finite amount of people in the D'niverse community willing to step up and Do Things.

Issue 2: There are things that Could Be Done, often more numerous than the aformentioned people.

Issue 3: The D'niverse Community is Allergic to Initiative.

Issue 4: People who Take Charge are viewed with suspicion.

Issue 5: Commitment and Follow Through are not always priorities.

All of these snowball together to create a dynamic in the community of people spreading themselves too thin, burning out, things not getting completed, or people not taking charge of a project, and it flounders for lack of direction.

Bring Your Hankies.

No, I mean it.

April 5, 2008 - For Immediate Release

Fans across the world unite to send Cyan this message: Don't. Give. Up.

This video by Marten completes a journey of seven in this Age of Earth.

http://rel.to/marten/dgu.html

Mmmmm. Books.