Myst Online: Uru Live is an old game that will not die and one that has developed into a long running saga. It is an online episode in the Myst based series of games made by Cyan Worlds, Inc. One can still play the game for free at: Myst Online.
The D’ni, the in game people that made the worlds, made the worlds people found in this story. Cyan made this story arch and the in game worlds rich in history of and backstory about the D’ni. A language and culture were developed for the story. There are even fan sites providing language lessons and historical information. I have contributed a site and added information to some of the fan sites dealing with the history of the game.
Originally the game was designed in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and I think oriented toward beginning role play audiences and those with no online role playing experience. An often mentioned aspect of Uru, the games name, being spelled you-are-you, lending itself to that idea. In general the story arc follows a close parallel to the gamer’s RL experience of finding and playing the game. The story is about finding the Cavern and exploring it to solve the mysteries. Aspects of the company building and running the game are incorporated into the story. This often makes it hard to tell which fansites are in RL mode and which are in role play mode.
Solving some of the puzzles depends on understanding the language, history, and story of the D’ni and in some aspects the game over the time since its release in 2004. One of the fans, Mac_Fife, has just contributed a history book to the Myst fan community. Thanks to Tai’lahr, an Ururite (Uru fan) and Second Life resident, for pointing out the book (in PDF format) in the thread: Three Years Ago Today – A History Lesson. A link to the the PDF file is in the opening post.
Mac_Fife wrote the book in role play style, or in-character. It is a readable without having to know all the history and in’s and out’s of the game. The book is 37 pages and has pictures and some relevant conversations.
I think this is a must have for any Myst fan. Thanks, Mac_Fife.
Other Myst Related Things
There is a sub-Reddit for Myst.
One interesting post is here: Riven
You’ll get the most related information by searching Reddit on Myst.
Plurk has some Myst fans. It seems most of them are out of the loop. So, if you are a fan and Plurk, help them out. You can find them by using the search at the very bottom of the Plurk page, sort of the footnotes section.