http://change.gov/openforquestions
do a search on 'respite', mine's the only one in there.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
ddfreyne:
Uru being open-source means anyone can do pretty much whatever they want without Cyan's approval.
Dr Britcom Mom:
I think ddfreyne sums it up pretty nicely.
Me:
And some of us get the screaming heebie geebies from the thought.
Yup. Big Old Screaming Heebie Geebies. NOT because of the potential for wild and wacky Ages. Not because of the potential for 'adult' spaces and events. Not because of worrying about Ages that look like they were pulled straight from an 8 bit game (Although doing that *on purpose* might be tres nifty.
Because with no one steering the ship in any way, how do we keep from ending up on the reef? It's already started, with the conflict between an FCAL or none, between if this will be isolated shards just like UU, or one big central network that servers can decide to connect to or not.
I could care less if someone makes a Nudist Age, or someone makes a Pentecostal Age where everyone must dress modestly, as long as everyone has the right to visit, or not. But without some sort of centralization, some sort of road map, we'll end up like UU all over again, individual 'shards' of people, who rarely to never go anywhere but their 'home' shard, and all the attendant isolation, territorialism and conflict.
And all the cool new Ages in the world won't help that.
Friday, December 12, 2008
OSMOUL, Venn Diagrams and You
The Uru/MOUL/Open Source MOUL community seems to fall into three basic categories:
Social, Sandbox and Story.
Social are the people who are really into it for the hanging out, Sandbox are the people who want to tinker and build, Story are the people in it for the story and history. Within that there's lots of overlap of concept: people who want to build D'ni artifacts, or people who hang around discussing the notebooks in the Hall of Kings, or people pushing the limits of what their avatars can look like and having parties.
Each of those facets have their own expectations, their own cultures, their own wants and desires, and in some areas they blend, and some they don't.
Classic Venn Diagram, right?
Ever notice how a 3 ring Venn Diagram looks like a tree as seen from above?
The trunk, the strongest part of the tree, that which supports the entire structure, is in the area where all three of those facets; story, sandbox and social, come together. To be strong, the Tree needs a core place where all of those aspects can manifest in an equal, supported way.
From there, things branch out, into places where people are creating puzzles, and telling stories, and social events, and creating surreal ages, and having parties and playing with physics.
Everyone can build a home that meets their dream, and it is built on a foundation of a place where everyone is valued and welcome and a part of the Whole. And all of the branches, twigs and swirling leaves, can be accessed by climbing up that trunk. Or, you can be content to just sit in the shade, leaning up against the trunk watching the sun filter though, and that's just as good.
Social, Sandbox and Story.
Social are the people who are really into it for the hanging out, Sandbox are the people who want to tinker and build, Story are the people in it for the story and history. Within that there's lots of overlap of concept: people who want to build D'ni artifacts, or people who hang around discussing the notebooks in the Hall of Kings, or people pushing the limits of what their avatars can look like and having parties.
Each of those facets have their own expectations, their own cultures, their own wants and desires, and in some areas they blend, and some they don't.
Classic Venn Diagram, right?
Ever notice how a 3 ring Venn Diagram looks like a tree as seen from above?
The trunk, the strongest part of the tree, that which supports the entire structure, is in the area where all three of those facets; story, sandbox and social, come together. To be strong, the Tree needs a core place where all of those aspects can manifest in an equal, supported way.
From there, things branch out, into places where people are creating puzzles, and telling stories, and social events, and creating surreal ages, and having parties and playing with physics.
Everyone can build a home that meets their dream, and it is built on a foundation of a place where everyone is valued and welcome and a part of the Whole. And all of the branches, twigs and swirling leaves, can be accessed by climbing up that trunk. Or, you can be content to just sit in the shade, leaning up against the trunk watching the sun filter though, and that's just as good.
more thoughts
Just to be clear, I'm not horrified or dissapointed by this move by Cyan. I think it opens up the world for the community to strech its wings in ways that it never has before. But there will be, for me, an element missing. I think, given that we won't have the no new content limitations of UU, that the community will step up to create some fantastic stories. Maybe, someday, those will even be integrated into the canon story. But, I'll still wander around D'ni wondering what *that* building is for, or where *that* passage might lead.
You do realize this is Cyan getting back to its Roots, don't you? This latest iteration will be called "Cosmic OSMOUL"
You do realize this is Cyan getting back to its Roots, don't you? This latest iteration will be called "Cosmic OSMOUL"
Open Source MOUL
I can't say that I'm thrilled.
On the one hand
All of those people building Ages will finally have a chance to really share their skills.
All the people longing to be back in the Cavern can.
All those who need an Empire of their own, with their own rules, can have it.
On the other hand, unless Cyan runs their own canon server, we'll never see the DRC again, never know what happened to Yeesha, and the truth behind Wheely's death and the Bahro cave she found...
They could never have canon plot things happen on any fan run server, not without accusations of favoritism or elitism, demands of proof of Cyan involvement, ect and so forth.
So, while this keeps Myst Online as a game, as a concept alive... the story of Uru is, at this point, dead.
EDIT: Just after poasting this, I saw this quote from Chogon (Mark DeForest) over at the MOUL forum:
So, there is always the glimmer of hope that we will, someday, get the Uru story Cyan meant to tell. Less dead then, and more like Sleeping Beauty.
On the one hand
All of those people building Ages will finally have a chance to really share their skills.
All the people longing to be back in the Cavern can.
All those who need an Empire of their own, with their own rules, can have it.
On the other hand, unless Cyan runs their own canon server, we'll never see the DRC again, never know what happened to Yeesha, and the truth behind Wheely's death and the Bahro cave she found...
They could never have canon plot things happen on any fan run server, not without accusations of favoritism or elitism, demands of proof of Cyan involvement, ect and so forth.
So, while this keeps Myst Online as a game, as a concept alive... the story of Uru is, at this point, dead.
EDIT: Just after poasting this, I saw this quote from Chogon (Mark DeForest) over at the MOUL forum:
By opening up the source to MystOnline, it does not preclude Cyan from creating their own server in the future with Cyan's content and storyline. However, with our current situation, that might be a long ways off and we don't want to hold people back.
So, there is always the glimmer of hope that we will, someday, get the Uru story Cyan meant to tell. Less dead then, and more like Sleeping Beauty.
Worthy Cause # 3874
This lady singlehandedly puts on a Christmas Dinner for homeless youth each year. Help her out.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Waiting for Uru
Marten said:
Yes. This.
Fan made, fan driven, fan centric is a good thing. People can fine-tune their social and sandbox space the way they want it. There is already tangental way to do this, witness the thriving Uru-centric communities in There, Second Life, and (to a lesser extent) Guild Wars. There should always be a place in the Uru world for fan creativity.
But fan run live options are not Uru. They are using D'ni as a setting, but they aren't built around D'ni, and the mythology of Aitrus, Ti'ana and descendants. Uru *is* that story. Always has been. Always was meant to be that story. We were meant to be players in that story.
So, if Cyan stepped up today and said "You have a choice, you can have access and rights to materials, you can make fan shards or servers or Ages or whatever, but the price is that we will never move forward with Uru or the D'niverse again... or you can wait, bide your time, and eventually we'll pick up where that story left off." then my vote would be for waiting.
Not because Cyan is perfect, not because they haven't made any mistakes, but because, when it comes down to the bottom line... Uru, the real Uru, the settinggs and mythos of D'ni, is *theirs* not ours. It's their creation, their story, their vision, their world. And it's also their IP. We don't have the right, legally or ethically, to demand or expect they hand any of it over to us, no matter how much we want it, no matter how cool it would be to have UU2: Electric Boogaloo, no matter how much we miss hanging out with others in the cavern.
My point is: If Cyan is not involved, whatever you have is not really [i]Uru[/i]. You can call the game whatever you like... you can pretend that it is Uru, you can put the word Uru in the name, but it is like calling the sky green and the clouds purple; it doesn't change what it really is, and any incarnation of D'ni won't be Uru without Cyan.
Yes. This.
Fan made, fan driven, fan centric is a good thing. People can fine-tune their social and sandbox space the way they want it. There is already tangental way to do this, witness the thriving Uru-centric communities in There, Second Life, and (to a lesser extent) Guild Wars. There should always be a place in the Uru world for fan creativity.
But fan run live options are not Uru. They are using D'ni as a setting, but they aren't built around D'ni, and the mythology of Aitrus, Ti'ana and descendants. Uru *is* that story. Always has been. Always was meant to be that story. We were meant to be players in that story.
So, if Cyan stepped up today and said "You have a choice, you can have access and rights to materials, you can make fan shards or servers or Ages or whatever, but the price is that we will never move forward with Uru or the D'niverse again... or you can wait, bide your time, and eventually we'll pick up where that story left off." then my vote would be for waiting.
Not because Cyan is perfect, not because they haven't made any mistakes, but because, when it comes down to the bottom line... Uru, the real Uru, the settinggs and mythos of D'ni, is *theirs* not ours. It's their creation, their story, their vision, their world. And it's also their IP. We don't have the right, legally or ethically, to demand or expect they hand any of it over to us, no matter how much we want it, no matter how cool it would be to have UU2: Electric Boogaloo, no matter how much we miss hanging out with others in the cavern.
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