The Great Tree

[Masterwabbit]

...will the D'mala shard still be up and running for those too, uh, economically desparied. Or is it going to be a Gametap-only thing from then on?
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All the world's a stage, and my room happens to be the supply closet.

[Professor Askew]

I have to believe that once UruLive returns, everything about Until Uru will be shut down. Especially now that it looks like fan-generated Ages will eventually be accepted into the mainstream game. Fan-run shards competing for Explorer's attention doesn't make sense.

This is all guess-work on my part. I could be completely wrong.
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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

[Masterwabbit]

Wait a minute, I found something interesting that Moke stated. It's on the DRC site, and, if I read the chatlog correctly, he states that sign-up for Gametap isn't necessary! W00tness!
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All the world's a stage, and my room happens to be the supply closet.

[Gadren]

[Ashtar]

[Rils]

right, later on he states that the price will be just under $10. But it's the same price with or without Gametap, from what I can tell, so you might as well go the whole way...

And I agree with Ashtar. While UU hasbeen fun, it has always been something to fill the time until Live came back. Once we have that, I don't plan on using the UU shards. I understand that some folks are against paying for an online game subscription, but 10 bucks a month isn't really that much. That's equivalent to one movie ticket, and if you drink one latte a week yer spending more than that in a month. I think I can sacrifice that for new Uru content and hardware!

~Rils
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[J'Kla]

There seems this compulsion amongst some that you can't have UU and Live2.

Why not?

Thats like saying you can only like one meal.

The majority of explorers will no doubt dive with gusto into Live2 and I will be joining them. Live2 will no doubt become a favourite and the price is within range.

But give up UU I just can't see why it would be a requirement. Ok eventually UU and Live2 will grow apart but surely killing off the private shards sounds spiteful.

If live2 lives up to it's hype (and I am not saying it won't) then the chalenge it faces from UU is comprable to the mosquito on the elephants rump.

Cyan have announced they are taking back control of the authentication server and I have no doubt this is to establish an element of control on the private shards. But they are supporting the transfer of Kagi Keys (ok no new ones) but they are even offering to change passwords.

http://www.cyanworlds.com/cgi-bin/ubb-cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000804

[Durin Mephit]

J'Kla,

Glad you could join us here on The Great Tree forum

If you look closely, you'll notice all of the conversation above your post dates from before Cyan's May 31 announcement on the future of Until Uru.

Cyan's continued support of UU is a very good one to see. Obviously they cannot encourage it to grow much more, because that could involve requiring additional support beyond the infrastructure they've already devoted to it, and it really wouldn't have been unreasonable to say "Hey, we have to feed our own mouths... we need to encourage people to focus on Uru Live and reduce distractions." So based upon those points, some of us speculated that UU would end, but we know now happily that it won't, and it will be interesting to see what happens. As our esteemed Professor Askew said, "This is all guess-work on my part. I could be completely wrong."

The future is both bright, and uncertain. Gotta wear shades!
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768

[J'Kla]

Sorry if it looked like a criticism It was as allways just me trying to draw attention to a general malaise.

The great tree was and is one of the few places thats been activly plugging new content for UU. Here I am specifically thinking of the alcugs shard.

I also really did want to point out the thread in D'ni Guilds forum where they are transfering Kagi Keys.

[Ashtar]

Actually I'm glad that Cyan posted they would keep the UU shards going even when Live came online. I know there is a diverse community out there, and some prefer visiting their friends on a private shard. And as you pointed out, not everyone will be able to afford Live right away. But as a shard owner, it's also my duty to do what's best for Cyan also. So I've been trying to encourage people who use my shard to move over to D'mala and eventually the Live servers. The free shards won't bring home the paychecks

As to the Alcugs servers, if Cyan does incorporate the Tpots content like they have indicated I imagine it will be done as it was meant to be. The puzzles in those ages were never designed for single player and Cyan had to make some major compromises for that use. I would rather visit those ages as they were meant to be played, not as it is now. So most likely when Live starts and I know for sure that the Tpots content will be included, I will most likely shutdown my Alcugs servers. It's not something I want to do, but having two competing storylines would not be the best idea

Ashtar
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Uru Live KI #: 69208

[brian]

Does anyone remember what UU actually means?
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#Brian Fioca
#KI: 11882331
#KI: 1504111 [disconnected]

[Professor Askew]

Ah, Brian, always straight to the point.

Actually, I've been fascinated by the shock and dismay of a number of people at the possible loss of the private UU shards. I haven't checked but I assume (and hope) that this lamenting is coming from shard owners who have put a lot of time (and money?) into running and maintaining their server(s) for the benefit of our fellow Explorers. If said lamenting is coming from the Explorers themselves, I say......wha?
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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

[J'Kla]

So it sounds like if someone wants to tell a different story from the official line they are to be ostracised.

It is allways good to know who will stand and who will capitulate.

We allready have two stories in the cavern Yeesha and the DRC.

Before anybody starts on me I am not trying to do down Cyan they invented a universe and a universe is universaly big humungous even.

Big enough for billions of stories.

The fan licence says as long as writers don't tread on the storylines of Cyan and undertake to remove anything that conflicts. As long as nobody but Cyan profits from their universe. Finaly only electronic media is allowed we are free to muse in the Myst universe.

I have asked and been told directly by a top Cyan representative that they expect the community to self police this arangement.

I personally believe the virtual universe is strong enough to pay the paychecks of Live2 and anybody who believes that the private shards are ever going to threaten the livelyhood of the most inspirational writers of the digital world.

Well lets say I won't be counting on them to assess the futures market.

The private shards have finite membership governed by the original number of Kagi Keys sold. A number of these are lost forever. Cyan have declared as is their right not to issue any more.

If it is any help to those of you who would see the private shards shrivel and die.

Please think of us as the Amish of the Myst universe. A small sect bent on preserving a time between Live and Live2 where a few were gathered in cyberspace to preserve the Uru community during the dark times when the great seers at Cyan were reduced to only two.

Till that great future visionary GameTap saw profit to be made from the scattered followers and saw that in their rush to hand their money to this great visionary the called were prepared to trample the guardians of the story to dust lest they contaminate the new story.

Ok. Joking aside I quote myself "Mosquito and Elephants rump."

PS if Cyan don't have a problem with this why should anybody else?

[Durin Mephit]

J'Kla,

I don't believe anyone here has a problem with the private shards or the Age Builders. Nobody here has expressed a wish that the private shards die. Several of us have expressed skepticism that the private shards would live past the restart of Uru Live, but skepticism is not the same thing as wishing they were dead.

Please understand that we (The Great Tree) have some emotional attachments specific to the original Prologue story; the conflict between Sharper and the DRC is how our group came to be. We are eager to see how this story will resume or conclude with the return of Uru Live.

While the efforts that you and other Age Builders are embarking upon are indeed commendable, and I'm certain that the stories you will write will be rich and involving, I suspect that those stories cannot ever be as near and dear to our hearts as the one that gave birth to our tight-knit group.

If that bothers you, I'm sorry but it's just the way things are.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768

[Bogardan Mage]