Jesse Ray, Paul Henderson Pearce 69-123 (5,6,7)

Myst to Uru
An emergent following

Summary: Myst: Launched in 1993 became a surprise best-seller PC game. Held the title of BestSelling PC Game until 2002 when The Sims surpassed it. (Created by Cyan) o Unique Design Approach: Chose to invert the traditional priorities of game developers. Originally, Action was thought to entice players, developers spent a majority of their efforts creating intensive action/input demanding games, usually violent in nature. These games often had pixilated animation, poorly compressed video scenes, and low resolution audio. Cyan instead focused on high-quality graphics & audio production Led to creation of a detailed & intricate fantasy world never-before seen- Myst o The detailed visual world allowed for a slower game pace and the integration of a complex narrative through which the player would follow. o Gameplay is viewed through 1st person with minimal on-screen clutter. Point-and-Click movement and interaction commands The Uru Player: Unique community due to the nature of Myst relative to other games o Myst attracted a broad range of players between the ages of 15-75 o Most TGU (The Gathering of Uru) had been Myst fans prior to joining Uru o Player community was nearly 50% women o Most players did not play or enjoy other games; Myst was valued for its intellectual nature emphasizing problem-solving and critical thinking skills. The Gathering of Uru: an influential hood or neighborhood within the online community o Became the de-facto Uru community after the Uru servers went offline in 2003.

Key Terms: MUD- Multi-User Dungeon Assimilation Immigrant group adapting to its new Locale Disaspora Movement and scattering of people from an established ground Transculturation Assimilation between both cultures takes places. Myst- Imaginary island and title of the original game (Before Uru) Shards Urus term for server Emergence- bottom up organic development of group behavior There.com- Similar to Second Life; an online social environment Nexus- Terminal through which players could select living books Age- Term for a world or location within game Living Books- Transportation method through which players can travel though ages Griefing

Discussion Question:
- Are there any other game communities that have as tight knit of a group as TGU, and if so how and why? - Do you think communities of other online games today would exhibit similar emergent behavior if their servers were shut down? - If TGU hadnt split its group across multiple platforms, do you think it would have continued to gain following? Ie. Can Uru continue to become popular without Uru the game? - What makes Urus avatar creation an appealing platform for creating 100% accurate virtual representations of ones self (appearance, gender, etc.)? Why do so many other games have such inaccurate gender representations?