It is not casual the fact that Myst saga has been keeping up so much after so many years since its debut. It was not only original but briliant in many ways and still is. But right now especially after economical crisis and several online wrong moves although it still keeps a large fans comunity, in fact the fans are its real point of strength. So what Cyan should actually do right now ( my humble point of view) is not to try by all means to keep the fans they already have and will always follow, but how to bring in more. Let's face it a newbie that just came to know about this extraordinary game has a lot to do to catch up. Start from realMyst, play all the other sequels, read books and forums etc....
So to bring more fans and new people to our direction what we need right now are NOT fan ages, although i love them and they should be made (don' get me wrong) , BUT what we need is a huge impact all over the world. An explosion that will make people turn towards Myst. And to accomplish such thing i have thought through some kind of diagram of priorities:

1. The most important. The MYST MOVIE! now just think how many people will be buying Prince of Persia following the latest released movie, or how many did when Resident Evil, or Tomb Raider did at their time. Sure these are more action games, but that's where myst's power is. It would be a breakthrough. Probably the first adventure game that becomes movie. Myst is not just a game. We are talking about a universe here. New beautiful language, number sistems, story... it could become "the Lord of the rings", the "literature" of all games ever. A complete saga of three(?) great movie-episodes. Noone has ever done something like it. With the right help and organization it could become a huge success worldwide. What Cyan needs in fact. Cash!!!

2. Naturally if such a movie ever comes out from hollywood, cyan should almost immediately re-release the whole myst saga... at least from Myst 1 to 5, again but with important changes. (examples: use the latest graphics on every myst game, exploring them with uru sistem which i think it is the best, add one more age to real myst like Gravitation, add a new age in revelation like everdunes( even though it was presumably burned from Atrus' sons, in fact "presumably"), get real actors to play Yeesha and Esher in myst 5 etc) changes that could make the difference. (maybe a very very special edition that contains all of them and in a very good price???)

3. that is where us, the fans right should be helping cyan, and our myst brothers. to bring that movie as soon as possible ahead, by advicing, sharing opinions, most importantly help advertising it all around, anything...

4. i believe that way many new explorers will come and will want to visit the cavern and explore uru. so here we return to uru... so a new expansion with all the latest moul stuff to integrate to the uru cc not only for exploring but with inside difficult puzzles to solve...

5. then i believe that cyan could alone and in major safety reopen Uru live, with no danger of closing immediately or after a year, or failing every project because of lack of money.

6. i am sorry all fans that make their own ages, which i repeat it is amazing, but i am sure that like me you wish to get so many answers, still so many things to explore...
for instance: there are still so many ages that we have to explore and solve and know like Meanas, visit Garternay or Terahnee and see what was left after the virus devasted everything, play Gemedet, link to Ader Jamat or Nidur Gemat...
find out about Te'Negamiris, or complete Kahlo, Chroma'agana, Venalem, Dahtamnay, Pento... imagine how many beautiful art we could find and the things we could learn and deepen the facts and story of D'ni universe... not to mention all those incredible areas still to be added around Ae'gura, the neighboorhoods, the assignments, the mysteries the secrets that still need to by discovered... i so much long for those things and i am sure you do too. let's not forget that Yeesha said Camal was an age writer as well but any information on how many ages he wrote and how many are still possible to find is missing, let's not forget that we still have to explore Releeshann and findout what happened to Atrus and Yeesha, did she have a daughter? who is the father? did she teach her the art of writing? Are we going to find D'ni survivors to Releeshann? All parts of an amazing restoration...

sorry if iam overwealming you... i just have all these questions in my head and hope one day we will continue the path that this great world is in and discover more.... plus of course the fan ages that would simply mean that people are flowing in back in the city to make this journey even more fantastic.

hope you can share your thoughts with me... my Uru friends...

I think you make several assumptions about the fan base that aren’t realistic. We do continuously lose some significant number of fans. With 27k sign ups, an empty Cavern and about 300 +/- posters in the forum… it is a really fun game but it’s not all that enthralling a game, especially without new content.

There are also a number of people that play Myst and do not like it. Those we meet are the ones that did so our viewpoint and experience is a bit skewed. The experience at GameTap gave us a lot of information about the popularity of the game. Now that it is free we have even more information. I can’t say that as an investor I would be thrilled to invest in MOULa. It just does not appear it will ever be all that popular without some significant changes. Many of those changes are not things the community is excited about making.

The Myst Movie has potential. I expect it will be one or two years… or more down the road. But I am sure it will boost Myst sales. It may even create a comeback for Myst. But unless something changes, like a river of new content, I doubt it can hold a crowd large enough to finance new Cyan created content. I can’t see Cyan investing the large sums of money needed.

Not all the Myst games are published by the same company. So, the collections are problematic. But, I suspect they may do something for the movie.

As to helping with the movie… in advertising there is a thing known as peaking too soon. When people read about a movie that is not out for years… they become desensitized to it. Then it takes a phenomenal effort to catch their attention. For now most of my outside effort is in getting people to use this site and learn their way around the community. Some people only check in once or twice a year. But the more that do the better. I introduce people to the things we have now.

Your item #5 I don’t understand. Uru is open.

Your idea expressed in item #6 suggests you think Cyan would return to creating ages. I think they believe Uru is never going to be financially viable. As designed it is too expensive to produce. That means it will need fan created content. Second Life, Blue Mars, and many other virtual worlds are relying on fans to create their content. I believe Uru will have to go the same direction.

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so you think that we wont be seeing anymore content from cyan ever again?
i understand your point of you and although some times i get to idealistic, on the other hand i am well aware of the reality and the conditions... but please don't ask me to give up hope that some day uru's storyline will continue as long as myst's should. i know that open source is a way to keep satisfied the fans, sort of speek, and all the ages created by the fans would be a greate add on, but as i read we cannot mess up with the real uru/myst storyline, probably because of rights but it could also mean that sooner or later the same storyline will continue from where they left off. believe me that i also try to stimulate every person i know to come and visit the forums and play and enter this great universe, but since i am writing to you from italy i have to inform you that realmyst and riven are nowhere to be found, someone should search them and buy them online, it is not like uk or usa here. and that often discarages, that's why i thought that if ever would be a myst movie, or even not, an economical edition of all myst games together could be a good move in relaunching it.

I know this sounds ridiculous, but why doesn't Cyan have a free and a premium version, like the world's most successful MMO, RuneScape? The users can support the development of URU.

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Cyan has maybe 1/100 or 1/1000 the content of runescape. Making a free version that is worth playing would be difficult. And yet they do have a free version. It's called being a Visitor. Note that since the whole game is currently free, everyone is an explorer automatically. Normally this would be reserved for paying accounts.

Then why doesn't Cyan just accept player-made ages and add them to the game?
For non-free areas, the developers could receive a percentage of the profits. (Like an app store)

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sythe wrote:

Then why doesn't Cyan just accept player-made ages and add them to the game?
For non-free areas, the developers could receive a percentage of the profits. (Like an app store)

This is something a lot of people are asking. Most likely because Cyan is more than a little afraid of what content player Ages would introduce (fears fueled on by people who either exaggerate the problem or are ignorant of the facts, or both).

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There's a possibility that Uru and the Myst series will see a boom in players, if the Myst Movie goes forward.

But there's no guarantee that the Myst Movie will even happen. It hasn't been greenlit yet, so we shouldn't pin our hopes on it being made, much less being a hit.

I know I'd like to see Cyan Worlds monetize the game somehow - the App Store concept is a good one - but fans here have the tendency to shoot down any idea that has the potential to generate income for Cyan Worlds. (Except the voluntary donations, of course)

Subscriptions? Buyables? The "App Store" idea? In-game loading-screen ads? All of these ideas are ones I've suggested in the past, and all of them have been dismissed by the fanbase; all have caused arguments and debate.

Maybe, given some time, fans will accept the idea of sale content for Uru, or something more than the current donation system, as it becomes clearer that donations aren't raising enough funding to make the game grow.

But until that consensus is reached, we're sticking with donations.

Given that situation, could we at least have an "automatic monthly donation" option made available?
That might make it more convenient and easy for fans to donate regularly.

even though many fans have disagreed on the way in which should be best to help uru they remain so attached to it and they love it so much that whatever cyan and co will decide the fans will follow in order not to lose their community and their access to the cavern... every and single one of us could suggest what he thinks it would be best right now but cyan has the last word and we should all adjust to every condition and circumstancies that would keep moul alive somehow...

Personally I really don't see any kind of content for Moula for a very long time. From cyan or user created, also with the differences in opinions of whats good for uru and whats not and what needs to be fixed and what doesn't . it's gonna be several years before anything comes up.


when it comes to the movie, well unless they have top named directors and/or actors I really don't think the movie will go very far. The scripted would need to be the greatest thing since sliced bread,

Sorry for being so negative, I'm just being realistic.

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The Myst Movie has not been greenlit, which means it's not clear if or when it'll actually be made.

As for MO:ULa content, my guess is that the first new content will open around the end of 2010 or early in 2011, and that it'll be a Nexus for fan ages, on a fan-run server.

As for the number of fans/active players, it is less than the 31,000 that the Cavcon data list because some people have gotten bored and left - but not as low as 300. There are probably plenty of people who enjoy the game itself but who aren't actively posting on these forums.

goofy wrote:

Personally I really don't see any kind of content for Moula for a very long time. From cyan or user created, also with the differences in opinions of whats good for uru and whats not and what needs to be fixed and what doesn't . it's gonna be several years before anything comes up.

It depends, there is new content for Uru:CC coming up every now and then. There are already plenty of complete Ages, some of them of a very good quality. And adapting those for MOULa is easy; but when/how (and if) those can actually be included in MOULa is entirely up to Cyan. It could be next week, it could be in three years. We have already expressed ideas and put forward ways to help them, we can only wait...

matthornb wrote:

As for the number of fans/active players, it is less than the 31,000 that the Cavcon data list because some people have gotten bored and left - but not as low as 300. There are probably plenty of people who enjoy the game itself but who aren't actively posting on these forums

Just like there are plenty of people who could enjoy the game if there was new content, but currently do not, and are only participating in the forums.

Shorah All: D

It is interesting to read so many different opinions on Myst and interest in a report. upcoming movies.

Whether it becomes a movie with wow power, or a movie in the first place does not catch a broad audience, based probably on most people today are more accustomed to violence than you previously were.

And perhaps, therefore it will take a time to catch the audience's interest.

But if we / and movie makers already thinking negatively about their project, This might end in negatively way.

Let us try to bring positive thoughts, and attract positive energy instead.

For it is safe and has shown, that once a broad audience sees the quality of a film, without violence and a movie with tasks which are interesting and should be resolved, it can create many new and healthy interest in the real world.

Shorah from Sha'nie: D

With the recent re-release of some of the Myst (including Uru) games on Steam it has come to my attention that Cyan could use Steam to re-launch MO:UL, rather than making it a community project exclusively which may or may not work, they should go the Call of Duty route and release it on Steam and release expansion packs every so often to help pay for hosting costs. I'm sure fans wouldn't mind paying for the game again and paying $5 for new ages. Using the Steam platform would entice new players and therefore new revenue. Just an idea but I think it could work. The only other alternative would be to go the World of Warcraft route but I don't think there's enough content in Uru to justify having it be a MMO in the traditional sense.

Also, there is a large mod community on Steam and if you make the Uru Library manager available in-game, as well as make the SDK available as a tool, then I'm sure there would be plenty of content generated that would bring plenty of new players. The game certainly wouldn't be as popular as Left 4 Dead 2 but it would at least generate enough hype to pay for itself, at least I think so.

Further, Steam's beta testing features removes the need to pay for software testers, just let the players do it. This allows for quick and easy testing on tons of computer architecture without paying anything. Also it gives the players a feeling of taking part in the development.

matthornb wrote:

The Myst Movie has not been greenlit, which means it's not clear if or when it'll actually be made.

As for MO:ULa content, my guess is that the first new content will open around the end of 2010 or early in 2011, and that it'll be a Nexus for fan ages, on a fan-run server.

As for the number of fans/active players, it is less than the 31,000 that the Cavcon data list because some people have gotten bored and left - but not as low as 300. There are probably plenty of people who enjoy the game itself but who aren't actively posting on these forums.

I think the movie would have to beat the movie Avatar. Also bet the number of fans that are not actively playing or posting will increase tramaticly the moment news is leaked out that something new is on MOUL:a, like another bomb going off, so to speak. That sure log jammed up the cavern briefly.

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