Uru Re-imagined: Food for thought

[Yali]

Hi fellow Writers,

It's been a while since I've visited here. Recently, something has been bugging me, lurking in the back of my head. That little something is Uru.

For the past several years since MOUL's demise I made it my duty to play as many games that had Myst-like elements but offered a wholly different experience than Myst. I dabbled in Zelda titles but eventually found my way to the wonderful world of Elder Scrolls. Oblivion had just come out and I immersed myself in the open world gameplay and lore. I was actually quite enthralled. A whole new form of gaming opened up for me - the concept of total non-linearity and alternate world immersion suddenly struck me as quite wonderful.

After playing all three major Elder Scrolls titles, I found myself still itching for something bigger, more immersive, more Matrixy and intellectually stimulating. I attempted to play a whole slew of MMOs and found most if not all were extremely repetitive, boring and/or restrictive in a way where they might as well have just been single player games with a co-op mode. I tried EVE online and was actually surprised by what I found... a living breathing world. One which was not force fed a linear story a la Bioware SWTOR or quest hub crippled a la Guild Wars and LOTRO, but actually one where it felt real...

I remember reading an interview with the EVE devs where they said that in many ways they are more social engineers than game makers in the traditional sense. That is when it dawned on me that Uru may not have been the entirely failed concept that so many describe it as, but perhaps more potentially an unrealized, unrefined version of something much bigger and better. A theme park killer. The ultimate story driven, alternate reality sandbox. I began to realize that had Cyan had more trust in the players and given us more tools both in and out of the game world to make our stories and influence theirs, Uru could have been the game of the century.

So recently at work, daydreaming while waiting for calls (yes I`m a call center boy being a recent university graduate), I started envisioning, if Uru ever had a third chance, with proper funding ... perhaps by utilizing Kickstarter... and a brand new modern engine capable of Riven-like graphics in realtime, how would I realize it to be both a modern MMO and an innovative genre breaker at the same time. How could I please people who love MMOS but hate what they've become. Just look at all the big titles going F2P... Age of Conan, SWTOR, LOTRO, but not EVE. On the other hand, the sandbox games that are out there right now seem poorly made and uninspired... Darkfall and Mortal Online come to mind.

So I wrote this little game proposal.
I want an MMO whch prides immersion, player dynamics, story and exploration and lore as its primary features, not repetitive quests or combat or non-persistent environments where if I kill ten enemies they return 10 minutes later. Barf.

Anywhoo, constructive criticism is welcome very much so. I refrained from posting this directly on the MOUL forums for fear of flaming, so I`m testing this out here in the much cosier GoW forum.

[Floydman]

I'd love to read it, but the link is broken,

[Yali]

Fixed.

[Wamduskasapa]

I thoroughly enjoyed your ideas on the redesign of URU, it is a well thought out campaign.
Including the idea of a jail for infractions of the rules.

But I will have nothing to do with a game that involves combat of any type..

I am retired Military (1965-1989) and anything that will dredge up the memories from that past I must avoid at all costs.
I do not wish to end up back in the hospital...

[Yali]

The thing with combat is I've never had an issue with combat per se in a game environment, because to me its all virtual, but I've always had an issue with combat as the sole driving form of gameplay in a title. I used to never think combat could be done intelligently, and then I played Portal and the violence was handled intelligently and with subtlety. I actually tend to believe that combat in games is very healthy as long as players are in touch with reality in their every day lives. Moreover, I think a lot of gamers like it. I think Myst has always had great lore and environments but I see that not a lot of new players are attracted to the franchise, and I believe the reason for this outdated gameplay mechanics. I remember reading somewhere that at the time of Myst III's release industry critics were already pointing out how Myst's style of gameplay was remaining tied creatively to the 1990s era of slow paced adventure games. The key point I want to make is that games can be intellectual and even slow paced while exhiting combat mechanics. The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind is the perfect example of this. The game lore and environment is rich and detailed and one can explore the game's story at one's own pace, however this is the kicker... in my mind this is an alternate world with differing societies than our own. If it can happen, it probably would. In Morrowind the violence doesn't feel intrusive, but rather as a facet of the world one is exploring. The Dark Elves are xenophobic and the culture and natural environment is hostile and primitive. I felt completely immersed in the meta=narrative of Morrowind when something came out and jumped at me, essentially because in that context it made sense. I expected it.

To me, if there's war happening with the Bahro (which was already started as a plot arc in MOUL) then it makes no sense to me that some form of combat couldn't be involved just by sheer logic. I think what I'm getting at is that the way I envision Uru has and will always be as a total alternate reality game. I want to be able to live in D'ni and fully believe in everything that is happening with regards to the culture, history and present day circumstances, while trying to get as far away from gamey tropes that only serve to knock you out of the meta-narrative that the game creates. Uru already showcases one aspect of this very well, and this is the actor driven story and content which unravels itself like a play that every player can participate in. This to me is what an MMO should be, as opposed to a single player game which just so happens to have other players in it, who I might add, you find frequently taking the same quests as you with the same companions. In my mind, if something like combat can happen in an environment which is threatened by superhuman forces, than it should. That's my logic.

[Floydman]

Overall, I like many of your ideas for restarting Uru, especially creating a player-driven economy, but I think the game would fare better with only two factions. I absolutely HATE the concept of the bahro, but I would really enjoy the concept of a DRC vs. Yeesha storyline. I think the existing idea of the DRC wanting to create a structured restoration and Yeesha literally wanting to recreate D'ni is a good concept.

[janaba]

... had Cyan had more trust in the players and given us more tools both in and out of the game world to make our stories and influence theirs,
Uru could have been the game of the century ...
... I refrained from posting this directly on the MOUL forums for fear of flaming, so I`m testing this out here in the much cosier GoW forum.

Your statement to Cyan, though there's much more to it, and the one to the MOUL forums and thus a part of the community, besides other
similar reasons, is why Uru/MOUL is almost if not completely dead for a few years already, just artificially kept up and maintained somehow
for whatever reasons [... insert your thoughts and valid reasonings why Cyan might need this ...] ... This is no blame at all, just fact as I see it ...

Yali, if you'd leave out the combat parts (and of course jails and restrictive rules lol), which are not natural and logical in 'my reality' lol, this
would be the best immersive and attractive 'game' with all the most interesting and appealing ideas and by now conceivable basic conceptions
integrated into one awesome 'game world' which is the whole 'D'ni Universe' ... Great job ...

I think you're right, Uru or 'Myst Online:Uru Live' could have been or would be or become 'The Game of the Century' like this ... For the sake of
attracting more explorers, I'd accept the 'soft combat/contest/dispute way' you've proposed if it wasn't mandatory to interact or participate that
way as in other games for any rewards or even to proceed in the game though ...

Awesome elaboration and concept, Yali, thanks for sharing ...

[Jojon]

Sounds, to me, like a completely different game, to be frank.

On the other hand, I'm a single-player story experience kind of guy, myself and disliked both the real-time "blink and you have missed it forever" aspect of MOUL and its here-are-factions-pick-one-and-hate-eachother thing, so I suppose I'm just one of the fogies holding back evolution... :P

[Luna]

I feel like you added combat because "every game has combat nowadays". I don't think this is a good reason and I don't think combat should be added to a myst/uru game. Yes Adventure games are kinda old school these days but the Double Fine kickstarter was /hugely/ popular while it was exactly that. An old school adventure game.

Also, I don't think Uru should be remade. MOUL has lived and died and been revived as zombie too many times. I think new stories should be written, not old ones rewritten.

[Karkadann]

I thoroughly enjoyed your ideas on the redesign of URU, it is a well thought out campaign.
Including the idea of a jail for infractions of the rules.

But I will have nothing to do with a game that involves combat of any type..

I am retired Military (1965-1989) and anything that will dredge up the memories from that past I must avoid at all costs.
I do not wish to end up back in the hospital...

I have to agree, the world is full of violence and this was my only escape. The puzzles and environment tend do consume my mental resources and leave no room for the psychological battles that that seem to be more and more frequent for me.
Now im no solder but not all battles are fought on the battle field, and a good video game can displace the weirdness in my head if only for a short time.
I would rather poke at the GoW for a year or more to get the Garrishon wall working then escape with a video game that involves a manifestation of what im trying to escape from.