If the Sky Were to Fall

If the worse were to happen, and we woke up tomorrow to the news that GameTap was pulling Uru Live...it would suck giant glacial erratic rocks through small coffee straws. We all know that. There would be the expected stages of grieving- anger, blame-denial-sadness-etc. But would we be bereft?

No.

Because UU still exists. Sure, the auth server isn't available, but it *was*. And it could be again.

If I were to run a Post-MOUL-Uru, this is what I would do:

~Reinstate the Kagi key, or a similar fee-for-access system. A one time thing, or a monthly fee. Something reasonable, but enough to keep the auth server running.

~ Encourage non-digital cannon content through creative storytelling. Give players things to work with. Create NPCs. Give them, under NDA, to some trusted players. Give these characters cannon story to work with. Let them share DRC notebooks, translations, tidbits of knowledge. Encourage these NPCs to visit multiple shards, so all the shards can participate.

~Make a STORY reason for the shards. Instancing has already been introduced into the D'niverse, maybe the only way to flee safely from the Bahro, was to split off into individual worlds.

~AGE BUILDING. Make it happen. Make it happen as fast as it possibly could.

yeahthat

consistantly, Blade says things better than I can, and makes me stop and regroup.

*sigh* Uru was not was it was originally intended to be. And I'm sorry that has been so disappointing for so many people.

But I'm tired of these people. The 'old guard', the 'new guard'. I'm tired of hearing about how everyone is so disappointed by the game, the new people, the old people, Cyan, GameTap, UbiSoft, whomever. I'm tired of fingers being pointed at me, fingers being pointed at people pointing fingers, like a bunch of bitter old people sitting on a porch, arguing about whose back hurts the most.

Maybe it's because I'm bad mood today, but my sympathy is at zero right now.

If Uru something that is so disappointing to you, for the love of God go do something else. Don't sit around taking potshots at others because they are enjoying themselves when you did not. Do something you enjoy and let others enjoy what they enjoy.

If you enjoy Uru, just enjoy Uru. There is no need to push your opinion on others who might not. Don't take it as your God-given crusade to defend it or Cyan from anyone. It's not your job to defend Cyan or Uru from its detractors or its own flaws. Play your game and, with dignity, allow others to have their own opinion.

I haven't been doing as much as usual with Uru lately, because I'm frazzled in general, I'm tired of feeling like I'm working uphill, and now, I'm content to just wait and see.

Wisdom of the Blade

because once again he says something better than I can.

People are free to annoucne their intentions, one way or another. I understand those people who are bored with Uru and have no desire to spend any money on something that they are bored or frustrated with. I certainly don't want anyone to be in a position where they feel they have to do that.

I also understand the frustration of the rabid Myst fan, as I am one. The rabid defense of the game is, I think, more really a self-defense. I know I get tired of being told that something I enjoy and value is boring, worthless, a waste of money. The implication here is that I'm some sort of moron because I am not bored, do not think Uru is worthless and I do not feel I am wasting my money.

I get very tired of told that I can't possibly be having fun when I, in fact, am. And I get tired that because I enjoy my game and I am willing to say so, and I try to work with my community that I have a 'pervasive snobbish global hippie vibe'. Of course, the reverse is true. I tire quickly of being told that I just don't understand or am not using my imagination enough when I am not enjoying something. So the sword cuts both ways.

In many ways, I think people get so riled up about these sorts of things in Uru because a lot of us see Uru as a refuge from the rest of the gaming world. A lot of people who gravitate to the Myst franchise do so because at least some of their interests are not being served by the rest of the games out there. Maybe they don't like violent games, or competitive games, or can't play the other games that are out there (they just don't have the hand-eye coordination, fast 3D environments make them sick, etc.). Maybe the sense of virtual archaeology that seems unique to Myst interests them more than puzzles alone, or the surreal-yet-not-aggressive nature of the background. For those people, the Myst franchise and its communities are a haven. And people often get angry when it seems like their sanctuary is being disrupted.

Maybe that's just my hippie vibe showing.

Logging In

Here's questions for everybuggy to ponder;
Why do people who don't see a reason to log into Uru seem so determined to prove to everyone else that there's no reason to log in?
Why do people who see reasons to be in Uru seem so determined to draw people in, even in the face of long odds?
What are people's positive intentions for their actions?
Do either of them serve Uru, and the community, and how?
Which is worse, an empty cavern, or a cavern full of people twiddling their thumbs?

ask away...

Have you ever wanted to ask me something? Now's your chance.

God is Love

Because my Blade is a deeply wise person:

From a legal perspective, any set of capable, consenting people should be allowed to enter into any relationship or set of relationships they want to with each other and call it whatever they want.

From a religious perspective, God is love. All love. Even the types of love someone else doesn't like. To block love or it's expressions, you are actively defying and opposing God.

Hmm

I've come to the conclusion, though reading and observation, that extreme Libertarianism is at its core, selfish. It revolves around a platform of "This is mine, I should be able to do whatever I want with it, however I want, whenever I want." and "What is mine, stays mine, and benefits me, and I have no obligations, social or otherwise, to any other person or institution."

This is diametrically opposed to my position on things; which is that we, as a society; and on behalf of that society, the government; have a moral obligation to make sure that our society is healthy, educated and safe. Things like public health, public safety, and public education should be absolute priorities for any society, because those three things provide a solid foundation for a thriving community. Healthy, educated people contribute more, and cost less overall, than people who are uneducated and ill. People who live in communities where they don't live in fear of violence, crime or disaster, are able to focus on more then mere survival, and can contribute to the community as a whole.

It is utterly bewildering to me that there are people who can't see the core value in making sure people are healthy, educated and safe. I dunno, I guess I just can't buy in to the American Darwinism that some people feel is the One True Way.

There was this guy...

Who got sent to Iraq. And his asked a good friend, "If I die, post this last message on my blog for me."

That last post is up, now.

Y'know, if ever I, or anyone I care about, was ever attacked by a large predator, I would hope that the authorities would take whatever measures needed to contain the animal. Up to and including killing it.

And I would hope that everyone would understand that the animal was not acting out of maliciousness or cruelty, or a burning desire to make life horrible for some humans, but just doing what it was designed to do.

Not the only game in town

No, you can't take the Christ out of Christmas.

But you can take it out of Hannukah and Ramadan and Yule and all the OTHER holy-days of the Season, that deserve to exist without being bullied around by Christmas.

Oh, and the X in Xmas... comes from the first letter of the Greek work for Christ. Sorry, no persecution there.

I haz a city

Eleritopia

Coookiieeeessss

I came up with these while playing around making holiday cookies. Really buttery, with a maple chaser. Num.

1c butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup real maple syrup
3 cups flour
extra:
1/4 cup brown sugar
Cream together butter, sugar and syrup. Slowly mix in 3 cups flour until dough comes away from side of bowl. Shape into 1/2 inch balls, and press one side gently into brown sugar. Place cookies 1 inch apart, brown sugar up, on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, or until bottoms are golden brown. Keep questing fingers out of the kitchen until they've cooled, or they'll vanish.

The universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice...It speaks in the language of hope.
It speaks in the language of trust.
It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion.
It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul.
But always it is the same voice.
It is the voice of our ancestors speaking through us and the voice of our inheritors waiting to be born.
The small, still voice that says:
We are one. No matter the blood, no matter the skin, no matter the world, no matter the star. .. We are one. No matter the pain, no matter the darkness, no matter the loss, no matter the fear. .. We are one.
Here, gathered together in common cause, we begin to realize this singular truth and this singular rule that we must be kind to one another.
Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us and each voice lost diminishes us.
We are the voice of the universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light our way to a better future.
We are one.
We are one.

We are D'mala

J.D. Barnes spoke in the city recently. Thank's Tai for recording it, so these words can be shared...

Let me tell you about some of the most important people in D'ni History.... There are a lot of important figures we need to remember... There was Pehpsi, whose spirit was a light no matter how dark the Cavern was... Moz'ie, JDrake, Dust'ei, Aquila, Rasmine. People we have lost. But have made our lives so much the richer. And there are those who are still here.... Eleri, Thend, DocOlanA, Marten, JWPlatt, SuperGram, Tweek, vid, Lynnuette, Whilyam.... Montgomery, Calam, Zardoz, Lial, Moiety Jean, D'lanor.... More than I can name or remember... And for every one of them, there are a dozen others that work hard, help each other and never receive an iota of thanks or recognition. These are just normal people who have come down here. Brian Fioca was a programmer from Alaska before he founded the Great Tree, for example. But these people are our history, this is our mythos. This is not the DRC's story. This is not Yeesha's story. This is not the story of the D'ni, for we are not D'ni. We are not even the new D'ni. Rather, we are our own people. We are not D'ni, the new, but D'mala, the returning. Isn't that what Yeesha was trying to get across? The virtue of returning.... If you are here, you are part of that history. Every word you say is part of it. Every conversation is another chapter.

Support The Writers Strike

Now *THAT* is a party!

You know the servers are screaming bloody murder when you're getting heavy lag in Relto.

Thoughts of the Ending of Relationships

(not personal, you can all stop freaking out.)

Firstly, it take two to tango. If a relationship ends, very very rarely is one person a candidate for sainthood, and the other Satan incarnate. Sympathy for the ending relationship should be extended to both sides. Nor should outsiders assume that the 'Dumpee' is the wronged party, and the 'Dumper' acting harshly or irrationally. Conversely, don't assume that Dumper is fleeing a horibble relationship, and Dumpee is an ogre.

There is no way for the timing and delivery on ending a relationship to be anything but sucky. Having seen prolonged endings, and sudden-seeming cutoffs, I couldn't say one is better than the other. Once someone decides the relationship isn't right for them, how long do they have to stick around? Is it better to get it over with, or keep going knowing in your heart it's not working? Is one deception, and the other harsh, or is one compassionate, and the other honest?

The decision for someone to stay in a relationship with you is not yours. You can work on the relationship, you can ask for counseling or marriage therapy... and you can manipulate, you can guilt trip, you can change in ways you think will hold on to them, but when it comes down to them deciding to leave, you don't get a choice. You can not like their choice all you want, but you can't force them to stay.

Rehersal: Sucking the Life out of Uru Live

We all know there is a Rehearsal Server for Uru Live. Said Rehearsal is for large crowds of people do final bug testing on the upcoming content for Live. No big secret, that's what test servers are for.

And, like most test servers, people participating are NDAd six was to Sunday. The first rule of Rehearsal Club, is you will not talk about Rehearsal Club.

Rehearsal was the first chance people had to glimpse Uru Live, so of course all the die hards who'd been clinging to Uru since the death of Prologue jumped at the chance. And they continue to recruit for beta testers for Rehersal.

So, what can we extrapolate from this information?

1) There is a place where Uru Live new content is available to a large portion of the player base, weeks in advance of release.

2) People on Rehearsal are not allowed to talk about the content they see, but they are expected to work through it.

This implies that a unnumbered segment of the player base is ACTIVELY PLAYING NEW CONTENT weeks in advance. We can guess that not only are they seeing new and shiny things, but that they are exploring, solving puzzles, and speculating on what they find, all in an enclosed, isolated space, and they *can't talk about it to the rest of the player base*

That means that when content hits Live, there's a large segment of the player base that is ALREADY DONE with the new content, and is already waiting for the next thing.

And, given the pre-live recruitment, we can infer that many of the Rehearsal population is the REALLY BIG FANS, who used to be publicly seen speculating and solving puzzles, and now are keeping their mouths shut.

No WONDER things are slow in Live! If the real sparks of the community are off Exploring on Rehearsal, and just twiddle their thumbs and be social in Live, their Explorer energy and enthusiasm is wasted on Live. Instead of OMG CHECK IT OUT all over the forums when content hits, people are ho-humming, in part because they've already BTDT.

And I'd be willing to bet money that there are people who spend more time in Rehearsal than they do in Live. I'd even be willing to be that there are people who never come into Live at all anymore.

How is that good for Live? The rationale is that GameTap gets their money and numbers either way, but what does it do for the dynamic of the cavern? When a portion of the community, likely some of the most active members, are restrained, restricted and in some cases not even around, how does that make things look to new people?

The solutions range from the extreme: Boot everyone off of Rehearsal, and only recruit from outside the fan base; to the complicated; Make people earn Rehearsal access through time in Live; to the theoretically possible: Make at least two Rehearsal teams, A and B, and alternate their access.

But really, something needs to change. Beta testing is a needed, vital step. But in this case, it really looks as if that step is coming at the expense of the final product.

Never mind. the rabble seems to have cleared out in favor of complete asshats.

I'm rabble rousing, and by god the rabble need roused! So of course those that are horrified by the idea that Uru is worth working at are up in arms.

There's a portion of the people out there who see their only connection to Uru as the monthly fee they pay. And for that monthly fee, they get Stuff, and that's that.

Fine enough, until they start being the ones complaining about Uru's flaws. And yes, Uru has flaws. And we know some of those flaws are significantly tied in to paid staffing... and paid staffing is tied into GameTap seeing good numbers...

We all see the cycle. So those of us who (as I said while rousing) see Uru as symbiotic, and not parasitic, do things to bring in more people.