Cycreim wrote:

But can we please keep things original to D'ni? Please?

No. This is a place for suggestions. And like you said, it's up to Cyan, not us. I am the wrong person with which to plead. I'd rather see constructive and progressive suggestions here which might fit the idea in an acceptable way, such as actual D'ni entertainment, as you agreed. If you trust Cyan to do the right thing, you have nothing to fear and you gain the freedom to ignore posts like mine when they have no merit.

I'd like to thank you for mostly fair responses and valid points of view, which I do happen to understand, especially about something like Looney Tunes not being Uru. Please remember these were meant as examples which were given about two seconds of thought, some intentionally silly, to get people (and Cyan) thinking about the possibilities and I hoped there would be some high quality suggestions.

What I am about to say is not directed at anyone specifically, but to those who would try to control the expressions of others. Saying it's a bad idea is one thing and something I must accept. Trying to stop my expression of it is quite another. I will not be supressed from providing suggestions and opinions just because someone, or even everyone, disagrees. Is that what you want - to squelch ideas with which you disagree? Isn't that rather like presuming to speak for Cyan?

Oh please, JW, I have no need or desire to be on the defensive. Everyone knows I have no power to squelch anyone's ideas. I could walk over to where you live and pull your phone line out of your wall, but eh, it's raining outside.

I am, however, politely requesting you take to heart some of our ideas that we put forward in this thread instead of just criticizing us for not immediately agreeing with a suggestion that was pretty provocative from the start.

A lot of people voiced their opinions over the course of this thread and you've been consistently ignoring them.

JWPlatt wrote:

...you gain the freedom to ignore posts like mine when they have no merit.

That's the best suggestion yet!


*plonk*

I made it part way through page three, skipped to page four, and after three posts, just skipped to the end.

I'll start by saying, I don't mind the idea. Oh, I don't really want to see proprietary environments and stories that were clearly an invention of someone other than Rand & co in Uru. It sounds like fun, but really, it wouldn't add to the Myst universe in any significant way, and might marginalize it a bit.

Still, I'd love to see what CYAN could do to invoke a Holmesian Victorian motif, or Oriental Palace/Temple motif, or a Hagia Sophia-type cathedral motif, or a lunar base Age motif, or even a somewhat cartoonish environment (that could only exist because the laws of physics had been deliberately manipulated in the writing of the age) in an otherwise fairly original D'ni Age setting.

But here's something some of you folks really need to stop and think about: these ages that we're all so enamoured of? Are all inspired by other works of fiction. They may not be direct rips, but they are inspired by other things.

CYAN does not create these things out of thin air, wholecloth, in an hermetically sealed vacuum, with incense burning, floating in lotus position. They simply rework ideas to fit the house style. This is nothing new. They're just really good at doing it the CYAN way, so it all looks fresh and surprising. But at its core, the ideas are successful because they come from places we've already seen or imagined, but have never seen realized so vividly and so distinctly.

That's the secret of making ages people care about. That's why so many Myst clones failed to impress. They didn't draw on anything that resonated with the audience, and were soon forgotten by all but the most inveterate of puzzle junkies.

So honestly, while the idea of playing in an age directly lifted from another piece of fiction might seem absolutely anathema, really, you're only showing how myopic you've become.

Frankly, it embarrasses me to see how many intelligent, well-spoken people who clearly love at least one thing I dearly love as well, can still be so painfully closed-minded to anything that isn't exactly the way they believe it should be.

And finally, considering how closed so many people are to the notion of change, it surprises me to see so many of them, hurling invective repeatedly at nearly every idea not proposed by themselves, in this part of the forum.

This IS the Suggestions forum. You don't have to feel threatened by these little musings. They aren't going to steal your childhood. They're just people playing with ideas. I wouldn't normally criticize peoples' rights to critique an idea, but really, some of you folks are downright rabid and not just a little insulting.

It's not called for, no matter how strongly you disagree with an idea. Where are your manners? Would you be so rude to someone in a public place? Or at a dinner table? This is a place for friendly discussion, not vicious attacks on people's cognitive faculties. Show some courtesy.

You want your thoughts and feelings honoured here, but you refuse to extend the same courtesy to anyone who has the temerity to suggest something you can't agree with. If you're not prepared to offer anything constructive to the discussion, you could simply voice your dissent and leave it be.

Or is it infringing too much on your status as Grand High Poobah of the Keepers of D'ni Lore and Culture? Because if they're handing out badges and shiny robes, I want to join the club too... although I think Groucho Marx's idea of what to do with that club comes to mind right about now.

_________________
Lee Edward McIlmoyle
Adventure Game Devotee at large

Of course I know Cyan gets inspiration from other places, Lee. Do you think I'm stupid? I'm not some myopic fool who can't think. Please don't paint me as one. But as you've said, the difference is that they aren't clear copies of a single book/movie/cartoon. That media it copies, its story, is not the sole thing behind the Age. It is original in that copied pieces have been jumbled around and put in to make it different.

I really like your idea of having Ages the D'ni wrote have architecture similar to Earth architecture and to cartoonish/abstract architecture.

Would I be so "rude" (which I can't see that I have, but perhaps I just can't see it.) anywhere else? Probably. Why should I argue any the weaker against something I disagree with? I cannot "simply voice your dissent and leave it be." because I come back a few weeks later and see I've been insulted by some sassy or sarcastic remark.

_________________
-Whilyam

Not to comment on a suggestion, in favour or against, is to miss the point of the forum.

Cyan asked for this. If someone puts something forward that 'everybody' loves, they might implement it. If someone puts something forward that 'everybody' hates, they definitely won't.

Please don't get personal though. You can logically and reasonably attack a suggestion, but not the person making it. By the same token, don't take it personally if your suggestion is hated. The criticism isn't aimed at you.

Quote:

I made it part way through page three, skipped to page four, and after three posts, just skipped to the end.

And yet you frequently make long posts...

Verrrry interesting...

_________________
For cowards die a thousand deaths, while heros die but one.

Well, unless they're playing video games, in which case heros die a lot too.

Maratanos wrote:

Quote:

I made it part way through page three, skipped to page four, and after three posts, just skipped to the end.

And yet you frequently make long posts...

Verrrry interesting...

I don't think he was referring to the length of the posts. I think he was referring to the quality of the posts. Such as yours. Meow. Let's stick to the topic of the discussion.

You know if someone wrote an Age patterned after the work of a D'ni artist, say Fahlee, that might be kind of interesting.

I just read the first post in this topic and then skipped to this page. I know it's not gonna happen, but MAHN if it did! That would be like the ultimate video game! It'd be called THE GAME. It would get so much criticism, and it would steal so many audiences.