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Uru Resurrects Fan-Operated Multiplayer Shards

Posted by simoniker on from the back-from-beyond dept.

ToriaUru writes "Over at Cyanworlds.com, there's now a newly launched Until Uru page, providing fans with all the information they need to download a new client and/or create their own server for the canceled online part of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. Thanks to all the hard working people at Cyan who made this happen!" We previously reported on Uru Live's cancellation, and the Until Uru FAQ, along with a 'giant gnarly disclaimer', explains the downloadable add-ons are "enabling independently run [fan-maintained] servers that any client can connect to... this is not URU Live" - though there is a "nominal fee" of $5.95 for player authentication for those who want to try the service.

13 comments

  1. Can server owners add content? by amorsen · · Score: 0

    It seems like they cannot. What then will distinguish each server, and what is the point of the whole exercise?

    --
    Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
    1. Re:Can server owners add content? by damnal · · Score: 1

      Aparently the point is that users will be able to talk to each other in the environments... seems a little superfluous to me. Why not fire up the single player game and an IM client, same effect without the 5.95 authentication fee.

    2. Re:Can server owners add content? by EMR · · Score: 3, Informative

      Users can customize each server.. Enable and disable certain things in their neghborhood and tweak different settings in each age. And it's all about community. My website has some more information about customizing your Shard. Until URU Server Wiki

    3. Re:Can server owners add content? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One step at a time, eh?

    4. Re:Can server owners add content? by rizzo5 · · Score: 1

      because then you can't impress others with your cool cone balancing skills or play games of hide and seek or other such fun nonsense, hee

  2. Let it die. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    MMOGers have a really hard time letting go. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that MMOGing sets up the same reward abuse pattern in the brain that addictive drugs do. Allowing these fans to flounder is allowing URU to die a slow, bitter death. It's dying and that can't be stopped. Just kill it now, and spare everyone the extended anguish.

    1. Re:Let it die. by Availle · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I think it's great that people are at least given the opportunity to have their game back. There were a lot of people who would have spent a monthly fee just to keep URU going the way it was during it's beta phase, and they are now getting what they want, almost for free. That's not a bad idea, and the 6$ are giving Cyan a part of the money back which it lost during URU Live.

    2. Re:Let it die. by wolf530 · · Score: 1

      Anyone with a mild interest in the Uru community will see that this is going to be a hit "in the meantime" (between now, when they launch Myst: Revelations, and when another Myst-online game is launched). Uru had a rabid (if small) following, just like any other MMORPG, and there has been some serious grieving for the loss of the Online version of the game.

      From what I can tell, Uru just didn't have time to get off the ground. It suffered from an extremely poor launch, due to clerical errors and unpreparedness, and then the producing parties just gave up too fast. If the community can do some grassroots work and really push this halfway-there version of Uru Online, I think Cyan will put more into the development of the Myst-Online Something-or-other they hinted at developing within the past few months.

      --

      Tristan Paine -- Founder, UFOP: StarBase 118 RPG
  3. More Flamebait (from a 10-year MMOG dev). by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    People tend to mark posts as flamebait that they become upset over, but their subjective emotional response is not necessarily the intent of the poster.

    I designed my first area for a MUD in 1992. I adapted my first Diku in 1994 and coded my first MUDbase in 1998. I've worked on about 6 MUDs and my name's in the manuals of 3 commercial MMOGs.

    You can call it idle flaming if you want, but that's my experience. It's easy to determine from circumstantial evidence when a MMOG has gone "over the hill", and like I said, the hard core playerbase at that point will have a difficult time accepting the decline of their favorite game.

    Personally, I think an 'outreach' to this sort of person - especially with a $6 fee attached - in the wake of the failed game, is nothing more than last-ditch exploitation. URU will not survive because of this program, but it will offer URU fans a little hope in exchange for their money, which I think is unethical.

    I repeat, it's dying and that can't be stopped. Choleric animals are killed to stop their suffering. "Mercy killings" exist. Artificially prolonging the life of URU's fanbase to make an extra buck, when the game is doomed in spite of it, is morally indefensible.

    1. Re:More Flamebait (from a 10-year MMOG dev). by greatbob6 · · Score: 1

      Maybe the reason for releasing this is not so much a matter of "Artificially prolonging the life of URU's fanbase to make an extra buck" but rather so people who enjoyed exploring through Uru's worlds together or just meeting and chatting in the neighborhoods can continue to do so. Maybe this is for the fans and has nothing to do with money. Maybe the very small charge is simply to reimburse a small amount of the money that Cyan put in just to release these updates to the community. Uru Live did die, but the fans did not...this is not a matter of trying to prolong the life of Uru Live but rather a way of letting the fans have a small measure of what they enjoyed so much before, until they decide it is dead.

    2. Re:More Flamebait (from a 10-year MMOG dev). by TheDuckie · · Score: 1

      Even if it is merely a gift to fans, calling it 'Until URU' seems unnecessarily cruel. Cyan has gone down an extra notch on this one in my book. There's already much fan speculation about where UU might lead and efforts to promote it to the uninitiated (as if an unpopular underdeveloped freebie will now become popular since you have to pay for it). They're offering it up bugs and all with no new content and the additional complications of volunteer servers (and what should one expect as URU gets jeri-rigged once again!?). Why does anyone think that although Cyan/Ubi with all of their resources couldn't get Live working smoothly, a determined group of scattered volunteers will manage to make it all better? It's kind of sad really. From how many angles would you want to watch a train wreck? I congratulate the fans for getting this far (I knew they'd keep it going in some form for awhile at least), but I agree with the earlier poster that even given their disclaimer, Cyan is being a bit disingenuous and unethical.

  4. Wha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    You sound more like you're feeling highly underappreciated, rather than flaming.

  5. Geeky Characters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yay! Now we can show the world how geeky our player characters look!

    Mine's got the Myst T-Shirt On!!! Yay!