GreyDragon Speaks About Uru's Current State

[Aloys]

First of all. There was no hope for Uru's return after Prologue. The game died. The hope started when UU started. If it wasn't for the fans support, Uru would have probably been gone forever. So that is a feather in our cap.

Yes there was hope, there was definitely hope, maybe not for us at first, but clearly for them, that's why they went with UU. Had there been no hope at all they would just have moved on. Live went down in february 2004, things were really grim for a couple months while they were working on the expansions, and then they started working on UU in june/july. After that however, for the next year and a half the community's support was certainly crucial.

I have seen people saying that there was no point in pursuing Uru, that Cyan would never contemplate releasing code or running a server, that Uru was dead and deserved to be dead and that I and others were mentally ill ("damaged") for wanting it to continue.

I still think it is not good for Cyan to try and keep Uru alive by themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that they are trying to. But I don't think that's the right thing to do for them. There are three points of views on this situation:

• Cyan's point of view: full of mixed feelings, they would like to keep the game alive, but at the same time they understand it has probably very little chances of being picked up again by a new publisher; and so they need to start working on other more economically viable projects.
• The fans point of view (or at least most of them): they want to keep the game alive no matter what; although they will eventually support Cyan in whatever new project they have (that's better if that project is Uru/D'ni related).
• And the objective point of view. On one hand Uru has been canceled twice, no publisher will pick it up again, that's a 99.9% certainty. (always keep in mind the odd nutty art-loving billionaire who will fund anything). On the other hand Cyan is very emotionnally attached to this project, that's a 100% certainty. But by trying to keep it alive they are only making things more painful for themselves.

And in a difficult situation like this one you often need to have an objective point of view.
The story of Cyan and Uru is like a passionate relationship turned sour: you have to let that person go for good, and not start some "let's still be friends" thing for fear of making things more difficult, and prevent yourself from actually going forward.. So they may not want to let it go, but they most likely need to.

Letting it go doesn't mean killing it for good, or getting away from it's community. Keeping in line with the relationship analogy you just need to let that person (Uru) go and have his/her own life (letting the community fully handle the game UU style) and you can always hope for a good reunion a couple years down the road..

Now it's certainly understandable that they are trying to keep it alive by themselves, but I don't think that's the right thing to do. That's jus my opinion as an outsider.

[boblishman]

This has come at just the right time for me ... and, at least we have SOMETHING to hope for, so I shall be sticking around, now that I (almost) have a reason to continue Age creation. The very mention of Fan Created Ages in the post is extememly encouraging ...

What I find interesting is that this public announcement clearly states that the final decision will rely on Gametap's co-operation. I find it amazing that a Cyan employee would make such a post that effectively "pushes" Gametap into being either:
a) a "bad guy" - if they stop this from happening
or
b) a "good guy" - if they allow it...

I am looking forward to see what happens over the next couple of weeks...

[Aloys]

I was surprised by this too.. I don't think there's any hidden evil intention from Cyan though.

[boblishman]

I was surprised by this too.. I don't think there's any hidden evil intention from Cyan though.

No, I don't think it's an "evil intention" ... but it IS rather making it clear WHO will be responsible if these wishes do not come to fruition ... so I suppose you could say that it's almost "provocative" of a Cyan employee to do this ... something that gives me a little cause for concern ... ... UNLESS they have it almost "in the bag" ... and they are just trying to make Gametap "hurry up" and make (confirm?) a decision BEFORE the closing of MO:UL ... hmmmmmm

[Justintime9]

well, whether Gametap is going to or not, if they keep the rights, they'll have ALOT of URU fans to deal with... and when something gets between an URU fan, and URU, you know it's not gonna be pretty

[Nek'rahm]

The thing that really ticks me off is this: EVERY contract has a loophole.

Failure to PLACE a loophole usually involves the OWNING party's plans or company to get screwed. Odds are, there IS some way for Cyan to get all of it's rights back. The problem being, as BAD said, Turner is very slippery. They may, in fact, allow Cyan to do this only if they get a profit from it as well. They want money, and Cyan can't really afford to give it to em. If they do, Cyan may very well dissolve without necessary allocated funding.

All I'm saying is, wait and see. I'm only wondering what Cyan gave over to GT and Turner. If that was known, a way around could be found after a few weeks pouring over the contract and their options.

[belford]

"I'm only wondering what Cyan gave over to GT and Turner."

I wonder that too, but legal details are what both companies are *least* likely to discuss in public. "We would like to do X" is as much as I expected out of them.

Aloys wrote: "I still think it is not good for Cyan to try and keep Uru alive by themselves."

As I posted on the MOUL forums, there is some value in it for Cyan. They keep a dedicated audience together and paying attention to their company. It pays off (in buzz and fan networking) if they ever decide to do another Myst-related project -- of any kind, online or not, Uru-related or not. And there is a chance that it could grow big and popular enough to allow a third relaunch of Uru *without* any outside funding. (This is of course a long shot. But a game that *isn't* running will *certainly* not grow popular.)

Now, all of those benefits are long-term and only indirectly monetary. So it can't make sense for Cyan to dedicate a *lot* of attention to keeping Uru alive. You mentioned "letting the community fully handle the game UU style" and I think that's exactly what Cyan has in mind.

[BAD]

First of all. There was no hope for Uru's return after Prologue. The game died. The hope started when UU started. If it wasn't for the fans support, Uru would have probably been gone forever. So that is a feather in our cap.

Yes there was hope, there was definitely hope, maybe not for us at first, but clearly for them, that's why they went with UU. Had there been no hope at all they would just have moved on. Live went down in february 2004, things were really grim for a couple months while they were working on the expansions, and then they started working on UU in june/july. After that however, for the next year and a half the community's support was certainly crucial.

Ok, I did over simplify. There was hope in that Cyan wanted to find a way to continue Uru, but, Cyan did not just give UU to the fans. We the fans spurred them into releasing UU. Almlys was creating Alcugs, people were signing petitions, and I am sure Cyans email servers were filled with people asking if Uru would continue or giving suggestions on how to do just that.

I believe the hope that Uru Live would come back in it's original form (or something similar) began when UU opened up. It was proof that Cyan was not willing to just let Uru go.


I agree with Bob that it was provocative for GD to dangle GT out like that, but I think that was a very good thing for Cyan to do.

[Chacal]

If Cyan does decide on keeping MOUL running with an opening for user content, bets are open on whether or not they will consult us on how to do it, or they will decide single-handedly and just make their decision public.

[Lontahv]

I really don't think they'd confide anything in us.

I think whatever they do--it'll be public(at least if we're involved). I think those dreams of some group of writers having to sign an NDA and getting sucked into Cyan's "brother-hood" is just that--a dream.


~Lontahv