The Myst series of games are a unique kind of games. They have always been about exploring interesting if not beautiful places, solving a few puzzles here and there, while leaving no room for conversation. Of course we had the usual speeches from Atrus, Gehn and others, but these were all monologues. The games would not let you say anything. Imagine how I felt when Atrus just left me to fall into the star fissure at the end of Riven. After all I had gone through, the least he could have done is invite me to Tomahna and offer me a tea or a beer for all the trouble. But no, even though Atrus seemed confident that I would be allright, I felt a little bit betrayed that day.
Years later, in 'Uru - Ages Beyond Myst', it was while I was exploring Eder Gira when I said to myself: "Why do I keep buying these games where I get to talk to absolutely no-one?" (I've played other games like 'King's Quest', 'Monkey Island' and such, where you do get conversations, usually funny or even ridiculous ones.) Anyway, the game included the menu-option to play myst online, but that didn't work at the time. A pity, as I was really looking forward to see the D'ni underground city...
Although I later heard about Uru going open source, Real Life kept me from installing and playing the game for almost a decade. When I finally got to it, it was late 2017. Although I was used to playing games that had a chat option, 'Myst Online - Uru Live' was different. It took me some time to get used to the chat interface in Uru. I remember one day walking in Aegura when someone ran past me saying "Hello Rody" through my speakers. (My avatar name was R0dy during my early days in Uru.) I had no idea how to respond as I was unfamiliar with voice chat at the time and I had not yet figured out how to select other people or groups quickly enough to talk to them.
The next day or so, I was in the Hall of Kings, reading the story of one of the D'ni kings. Suddenly, I noticed some distortion in the background music but I didn't think much of it at first. So I continued reading. The background music also seemed to play some other music. Then the KI symbol in the lower left corner started blinking. What was going on? I decided to lay down the book that I was reading. When I turned around, I noticed to my surprise that someone had been standing behind me for a few minutes, trying to get my attention. This is one of the shortcomings of the chat interface, as you can not see if anyone is sending you a message when you are reading a journal. Anyway, I was still unexperienced with the chat interface and never before had a game character addressed me and asked me a question directly. I was startled there for a moment. Not only that, I was so concentrated while reading the king's story, it felt like my internal organs jumped upward inside my body the moment I realized someone was standing right behind me for some time. It was quite unexpected. But it felt real. The emotion was as real as if someone in real life had been standing behind me... The question was friendly and harmless enough, so I tried to answer him as best as I could, while I was still pushing my internal organs back to where they used to be... (I think...)
As people kept asking me if I was Ro("Jethhe), I decided to change my name to PodHopper. It seemed like a fitting name as I was trying to discover the system behind the Pod Age portals at the time. Then, one day I actually got to meet Ro. He showed me around and explained the things I didn't understand yet. Being with him quickly improved my understanding of how things were done in Uru Live. And it also made me realize that it is not always necessary to figure it all out by yourself.
Ro seems to like having many avatars, but they usually start with Ro in their name. Hence the reason why so many people asked me if I was Ro... Many people in Uru Live know him because he is usually quick in making first contact with new players.
So, it was Ro"Jethhe who made me feel much more familiar with Uru Live and with the chat interface. And I have to admit: simply saying something is not that difficult. Saying something meaningful can sometimes be another story. This is especially true when you're used to being a complete mute like in all of the previous Myst games. In that regard, Cyan has tried to add to Uru Live the one thing that has always been missing in the Myst games: the ability to interact with other people. For some people this is easy, while for others it takes some getting used to. In my opinion, it is one of the things that make 'Myst Online - Uru Live' so special.
