The Great Tree

[dcos]

This is a continuation from Jana's last post in Right Now.

Right now I think a little bit more than stating our purpose over again and just continuing to exist will be needed in the future. Because if that is all that happens more and more members will become disaffected and slowly drop away. Certainly people will move on, this is how life does work and how it should work, however those people are not being replaced.

In all honesty it is the great tree'ers more than anything else which have kept me with Uru this year and I look back on my memories with all of you with great fondness; solving Saxy's Kadish, plotting over voice chat in the baron's office, storming that welcoming meeting and all those other countless little interactions that make Uru. Uru.

I remember Saxy worrying over a feeling she had months and months ago, that Cyan was waiting for us to initiate some story and we were waiting for CYan to do the same with us. This is all new to everyone (including Cyan) and budget limitation and all that but we have tried at various times with mixed success to raise TGT to something of import in the cavern. We really haven't received any feedback from Cyan. I feel the same way Saxy felt way back at the start of the year.

We can say we have a purpose, we can say it loudly, we can say it often but unless we actually have a purpose then people will continue to drift away and not be replaced.

In my opinion the tree is sick, maybe even dying. It is a long way off from that rather morbid fate but it will come unless things change. The Guilds gave hope to a whole big part of the community, what about us Cyan? Wht about D'net? I actually believed we are being passed over in much the same way as the liasons and D'net, albeit in a less dramatic way and hurtful way.

I don't think there is much we can do really, except wait and see how the finale goes and cross our fingers for next year. I guess I just want to say this so that anyone else who is thinking it doesn't feel isolated from the group. I don't have any answers, I can't provide any new hope but here I am.

Basically you guys are great, we've had some amazing times and I hope we get to have many more.

[Moiety Jean]

I feel not that the tree is dying but that it's been a long winter, and the tree is dormant. If winter remains for longer than we can tolerate, the tree may die. For now we're just leafless, but alive at the core, moving slowly in tiny circulations. Jab us and we'll still make sap.

I had a profound dream last night. I dreamed that the episode we'd been waiting for came. We stood at the bottom of the Great Shaft, and my heart was pounding in the same way that it did when I first realized I was on familiar ground at the Cleft... when I first looked over the lake of D'ni from a balcony and saw with my own eyes the place I'd only read about. The stairs of the shaft were complete; they spiraled all the way to the top. Somehow it had been restored, all of it made shining and new, adorned with pennants and filled with light, and I knew Uru was finally the way it was supposed to be. Someone appeared before us in a maintainer suit, the old, encapsulated kind. We all knew the person was D'ni but we also knew we could not communicate with him or her through the suit, so we held our breath, and waited. We were in for a hell of an episode..

The dream ended there, but I woke up with this great sense of longing and hope. Uru still stirs something in me, even if it is nearly asleep. The little episodes, the little things we get are what waters the tree for me. Right now it gets just enough water to survive. I think that some of the branches have died, but mine will not as long as the rest of you are still here.
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~Moiety Jean

KI#44727
"There is a certain beautiful danger when a group of geeks get together to entertain themselves." ~Orin Drake

[Professor Askew]

I cannot work so hard as to find my place in Uru.

The Live aspect is simply not working for me. If I cannot find my place in it, how can I contribute to the group? If TGT held a meeting today what would we say? All we could do is reiterate what has been stated on the various fora.

But, rather than turn this into a rant or yet more constructive criticism, I will simply say that Uru is what it is. And what that is I'm not entirely sure. Given that, I cannot contribute. I will be here, waiting with MJ, for the door to open up, just enough to put my foot in and start making my way in. I will support the minority of people who have the unique opportunity of interacting with the DRC et al and follow the story on the forums. The one who called me is no longer present. The same goes for her facilitator. The leaders of the group I belong to are no longer present and there's no one taking up the slack. Of course, there's no reason to so that's a non-issue.

So, we wait. Hopefully Season 2 will offer better ways to participate. I don't know. We'll see. The situation is beyond words.

I will say this because I can't resist. In Lord of the Rings Online a friend of mine and I went where we shouldn't have. That is to say, there are places in the game that are just far too dangerous to travel to at certain levels. But, I just had to go. I'm going to say this assuming you are all familiar with the story and the characters from either the books or the movies. If you aren't, I know you'll get my meaning anyway. We travelled a long way through Middle-earth. Had to be twenty minutes to a half hour. We travelled east through Bree-land...through the Lone-lands...we kept going and going...all on foot...the scenery kept changing...it was spectacular...we began through the Trollshaws...we were very lucky not to come upon deadly giants...the scenery became more and more spectacular...the sun was setting...the foliage on the trees was wonderful.......and finally there it was.....Rivendell. We were high atop a mountain looking down at the safe haven of Elrond and the Elves. We made our way down and here we met Elrond himself and Aragorn and Frodo. It was amazing...one of the most exciting moments I've ever experienced in a game. At that moment there was no combat, no story, no puzsles, nothing but the joy of finding old friends from stories long ago.

And I thought, hey, D'ni has that kind of legacy. Half a dozen games, three novels....why can't I get the same rush in Uru? Because relying on actors to present the story is never going to work. I'm really starting to believe that. Not on any grand scale, anyway. How could it? They can't be everywhere at all times. Sure a conversation is a lot more interesting and dynamic than a text box from an NPC. But everyone gets their shot with the NPC. Only a lucky few participate in the conversation. And even when a conversation takes place it's usually quite chaotic, unnaturally crowded (thus breaking the immersion), and the actors can only answer so many questions...not to mention all the other nonsense crap people throw out.

I don't know. I'm really looking forward to Season Two. But, not for the reasons I once thought I would be.

Sorry about the non-rant.
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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

[Eleri]

[Durin Mephit]

(Side note: I almost missed this conversation because every time I come back to the forum, it has logged me out, and after I log in, it thinks all posts have been read. That is getting to be quite annoying.)

I'm going to put Cyan's financial situation aside as it's something neither we nor Cyan can change at the moment. I prefer to focus my concerns in areas where we can make a difference.

I've been encouraging people to Write to GameTap, and by proxy, Cyan. Everyone has different expectations about what Myst Online should be. And despite RAWA's best attempts to inject reality into our hopes, a lot of vocal players have felt let down by the way MOUL has been executed thus far. And so I've said, "Manage your (own) expectations." Explorers can express their concerns without being whiny. The key is to say what we want, rather than to wring our hands about what we don't want. If all you can say is "I'm not enjoying myself," then you really only have yourself to blame when you're disappointed.

That's one half of the problem. Once upon a time, we told Greydragon, "Hey, we don't feel there's much story." And he was honestly stunned, because he felt there was plenty of story. Now, months later, we've got the story... but we're unhappy about other things. We really need to identify what we want. I don't think we've been able to express it in any other words than "Cyan magic", that thrill we've felt before but which seems so fleeting now.

Now for the second half. This is the flip side of a coin. We have to accept that even if we are able to pinpoint the source of that empty feeling that we feel, and identify how we would like it filled... what Cyan wants or what will make this game succeed may not necessarily line up with what we want. So the key to the other half is, if we say what we want, we need to temper it with "But it's ok if this doesn't happen."

So now, for the first time, I'll present my letter to Trent in its complete form. It puts aside most of my personal interests in the game. I don't say, "I want more character interactions." I don't say, "I want the group I'm with to feel special again." I don't say, "More puzzles" or "Bigger Ages." I know different people will all want different things, and my biggest concern about the game is that Cyan is doing too many things, and doing them poorly, trying to please everyone at once. On the current staff, someone is going to feel disenfranchised with the game. That may be our group. I'm willing to wait. Maybe not everyone is... oh well.

[janaba1]

Your letter is awesome, Marten, eloquent and to the point, you know that and everybody
will agree I suppose…thank you very much for sharing this…/clap /thumbsup…

And you're absolutely right by stating this

[AztecConsulting]

I wrote this very late last night but was unable to post it then..

View As Web Page

I’ve been lurking for some time now, not really participating on the forums, but checking in frequently and reading the posts. Trying to stay in touch but not invest too much time. There have been other things like work, my home office remodel, and lately Halo 3 - but the point is that since returning to the cavern and seeing the sights and feeling that rush of joy when the Great Zero started spinning again – it’s all been a great journey. But at the conclusion of the first season I am left hungry not full. Ages have needed teams or timing to solve and episodes have seemed tough to get plugged in if you’re overworked and just looking to explore. Maybe it’s just me. I’ve never really pushed hard for TGT membership, remaining an outsider who drops by once in a while to spend some time catching up only to jet off on another adventure. I guess I have never felt worthy of all the effort and time you all invest in the cavern. But I think a common thread from these posts is that Cyan needs to take this hiatus between seasons and watch the movie Serenity and see what a rabid fan base can accomplish if they are empowered. The cavern isn’t reopened because some business people convinced other business people there was a chance to make money, it’s reopened because a persistent rabid fan base were clamoring so loudly for its return they started learning the tools and languages and writing ages themselves. The TGT community keeps me coming back because of the people here, and it’s the people back in the cavern that are the future for the D’ni. We can only breathe life into the cavern if we are included in its future. The next season of MOUL can’t be a play we watch, it must be a world we interact with, that recognizes our worth and our ability to contribute. Maybe this is too much of a rant…Maybe I’m just too tired…It’s late here and I have tons waiting for me in the office in the morning, but when I put on my hat and place my hand on the book on my desk, and link into my Relto, and breathe in the crisp air, and rush off to my library to link into the nexus and worlds beyond my surface life fades away so quickly. I have found true friends in the cavern, I have seen wondrous delights, I have even won game or two of Ahyoheek, and I have done it all with the mountaineer spirit of wanting to see what is just around the next corner, or though the next linking book. It’s the discovery and the magic of walking in the shadow of a great people that keeps me heading back into the cavern as I will continue to do but the question for the future is will I lurk in the cavern or will I get to be involved? Will I be engaged as a member of the URU community to merely watch the play unfold before me?
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Ham Radio KE5JBX
KI# 702765
"The next season of MOUL can’t be a play we watch, it must be a world we interact with..." - Aztec

[Erik]

[janaba1]

Haha..., Erik, that's not a scream for attention, just a reminder...

Maybe you see those things too dramatically... A bit of self-confidence
is ok and not selfish at all

Generally, as for myself, I don't need all this here (subject of this thread)...
I'm happy and pleased... I don't need a special role or whatever,
I know what I have to do, that'll allways be, what I can do from the heart...

I'm glad to be here, I see, what "The Great Tree" has to do,
unfortunately this is very subtle and not so easy to conceive
or maybe not enough at all for one or the other...

So, taking Dan's question and proposing to pass it on to the
persons it was intended for, that was just a suggestion and
not altogether the worst...

[Professor Askew]

[Durin Mephit]

Agreed. More than 100 percent, if that is possible.

The more I work on videos documenting how things were in Prologue, the less I am satisfied with the play currently unfolding before us.
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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

[Lord Chaos]

I find myself moving to other things. I don't spend nearly as much time in the Cavern as I used to. When New Live started I had high hopes. While some of the hopes have come to pass, such as a couple of nice new locations, the main hopes have been disappointed.

From the first time I played "Myst" I've wanted to know more about the Ages, their people, and the D'ni. I looked forward to that happening in New Live, but it's not there.

I hope the next season, assuming it gets a go-ahead at all, brings us the missing stories. I hope the final episode of this season gives me a reason to look forward to the possible second season.

The above is true, but perhaps incomplete. There are other things going on in my life that may be changing the way I look at Uru.

[Ian [Atrus]]

I think the biggest issue is that there are no hooks for the explorers in the current stories or, if there are, they're either so thin that we don't see them or so vague that it seems we're not doing anything (dropping pellets, collecting wedges). All the official story happens behind the scenes and the main characters only come online to tell us about things that have already happened and we can't do anything about; on the other side, any explorer-made story is left in the cold not just because the OOC crowd doesn't like it, but also because Cyan isn't providing a suitable platform for explorers to make things happen.

The only way for TGT to survive (and also for many other explorer groups) is for Cyan to drop their current storytelling ways and start making a story where the explorers can really participate in visible ways - small, maybe, but with tangible results that can be perceived at large.
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"We are the kolbitar, the coal-eaters; we sit by the fire in winter and tell stories of a younger world."

[janaba1]

You're right, Ian, and I can absolutely understand what you mean
by that, Marten (and all, as it's all converging)

[Saxy]

[Fixing the thread. Check out the next post.]
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Not all who wander are lost... (MJ fixed my sig!)
KI: 38931