REVIEW: Myst Online: Uru Live
(Review copyright 2007, Andrew Plotkin <erkyrath@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>)
Graphics: excellent
Atmosphere: excellent
Story: fragmentary, as yet
Writing: very good
Gameplay: good (but somewhat buggy)
Puzzles: good to excellent
Difficulty: medium to difficult
Growth rate: (estimated) changes weekly, additions monthly
Community: active and enthusiastic
- - - - -
It's tricky, reviewing a game that I've reviewed twice already -- starting
in 2003.
I don't know how many of those reviews you've read. I'm going to assume
you
know nothing of Uru. If you read the earlier reviews, I apologize for the
repetition. So: in 1993, there was this game called _Myst_...
No, I suppose you know that much.
_Myst_ defined the graphical adventure genre. Yes, there were earlier
ones,
but Cyan laid down the new goal: total immersion. First-person view,
environmental sounds, hyper-realistic (for its era) landscapes, live
actors,
direct manipulation of game elements, artistic and musical beauty -- all
in
service to a sense of place and presence. In 1997, _Riven_ tripled all
that
and laid it on a consistent grounding of world-logic.
Then Cyan stopped publi****ng games.
_Myst 3_ came along in 2001, but the development was farmed out to Presto
Studios. Cyan was consumed with a different idea: a *multiplayer* Myst,
operating over the Internet. Players would meet and -- together -- explore
a
constantly expanding world. A constantly expanding *collection* of worlds,
in fact.
This project went through a moderately unbelievable series of bumps. It
was
delayed. It was rearranged. Parts were turned into a single-player game,
and
then back. It was tested. It was previewed. It was cancelled. Everyone at
Cyan was fired. It was uncancelled, and most everyone was hired back. I'm
not making this up. None of it is really relevant now, except to explain
why
I've been reviewing Uru since 2003.
The im****tant date for you, the adventuring audience, was February 15,
2007.
On that day, _Uru Live_ was really and officially and finally launched.
- - - - -
So what is it? Since I am presuming you know what _Myst_ is -- or at
least,
its generation of adventures -- I will start with what Uru isn't.
_Uru Live_ is not a game with a storyline. It doesn't kick you off with a
goal (like _Riven_) or even a "how you got here" (like _Myst_). There is
no
series of plot events to be traversed; nor is there a past narrative to be
discovered. (Again, _Riven_ and _Myst_; although _Riven_ really had both
of
those layers.)
There *are* stories *within* _Uru Live_. In particular, one large
narrative
sequence (which I will discuss more later). But that sequence is not
"Uru's
story", in the sense that you might expect. Not everything in Uru ties
into
it. You can explore other areas before that sequence, or after it, or in
parallel. When you reach its big finish, you're simply at the end of one
thread.
(_Myst_, of course, tried to carry off this "it's over, but keep
exploring!"
structure. That failed, because there was clearly no reason to keep
exploring; you were done with the game. (Unless you were playing
_RealMyst_,
which has an epilogue.) _Uru Live_ works much better, because you know
that
there *is* more to explore -- and if you've found it all, more will come
along soon.)
Unlike _Myst_, Uru has a full 3D world model. This is no great innovation
in
action-adventure games (going back to _Tomb Raider_ at least), but very
few
pure adventures have gone the full-3D route. Other than Cyan's _RealMyst_
and _Myst 5_ (both based on different versions of the Uru engine), the
only
one I know is _Sentinel_.
But maybe I shouldn't make that distinction, because Uru is not quite a
pure
adventure. To be blunt: there is jumping. And if you miss a jump, you have
to waste time climbing back up to where you were. (Or maybe you have to
waste time returning to where you were exploring. Falling off a cliff or
into bubbling magma doesn't kill you, but it does force you to tele****t
back
home.)
I'm not saying this is the new _Tomb Raider_. (That niche is filled by,
well, _Tomb Raider_.) You don't need pinpoint precision. But the game is
*not* reducible to a series of decisions about which hotspot to click. You
have to pay attention to where you step. You'll inch along a narrow board,
leap a yard-wide gap, run for a door which is grinding shut. If you are
terrible at all kinds of reflex games, this may bother you.
On the positive side, the free roving gives a sense of presence that
action
games have long taken for granted. Can't make out a machine from one
angle?
****ft a little to the left, or try to slide behind it. Simply traversing
the
landscape -- a perennial tedium in most adventures -- is interactive in a
low-level but pervasive way; you're *running* instead of clicking through
locations.
(I sometimes wonder if half the fun of action games isn't pretending to be
a
kid again: you can *run and run and never get tired*. Also, jump down the
stairs without worrying about a sprained ankle.)
You can, incidentally, switch between first-person and third-person views
as
you run around. I find first-person much better for the jumping and the
ledges. Try them both.
Uru also has some physics. Various objects roll, bounce, and tumble across
the ground when you run into them. In a few places, it matters how hard
you
slam into or land on things.
I can't say this is very well integrated into the game, at the moment.
It's
only a *few* places, which means you don't really learn the physics as a
game mechanic; it just trips you up when it arises. And the two scenes
where
you *have* to tumble an object to a particular spot are clumsy and
frustrating. (As I described it four years ago: "like Daleks playing
soccer.")
It's hard to say where this will go. Kicking objects around the landscape
isn't a very satisfying basis for puzzles -- the interface (like most
_Myst_
design) has no way to pick things up or carry them. So the physics model
may
remain underused in future Uru development. In a typical adventure, that
would be a clear call to rip it out of the game entirely, and rewrite the
few scenes that use it. Cyan hasn't done this; they launched with this, so
they're stuck with it. The future will tell whether that was a smart
decision or not.
_Uru Live_ is not an MMO-RPG. That is, you do not log in to club rats. Nor
weave cloth, bake bricks, or move rubble. Nothing in Uru can be repeated
over and over for the ultimate glory of incrementing a number. I don't
mean
everything is dull after the first time; some tasks are interesting more
than once, and you can always look for more efficient or more sneaky
routes.
But there *are* -- at any time -- a fixed number of things to do in Uru.
And
if you play with dedication, you will eventually have done them all. Quite
possibly in your first month. After that, you can either wait for more
areas
to open up; or you can start making your own fun. (I will discuss those
options later, too.)
And finally: _Uru Live_ is not bug-free. I don't know how bad the typical
MMO-RPG is on launch day, or how long it typically takes to clean up the
bugs. I've heard plenty of horror stories. In any case, Uru launched with
a
motley spectrum of problems, ranging from the goofy (tripping over a rock
can bounce you fifty feet into the air) to the annoying (a brief client
freeze whenever someone arrives in your area) to the serious (doors in
crowded areas frequently get stuck open, ruining puzzles, or get stuck
closed, blocking off rooms) to fatal (crashes).
All of the bugs are either rare, or can be worked around. (For example,
you
can do all your critical exploration in areas which *aren't* crowded.) And
there is clear progress towards fixing them. Cyan has updated the client
software every three or four weeks since December. (Patches are installed
automatically, but you can see them download.) For obvious reasons, they
chose to keep the software stable in the weeks before launch and the few
days since. So we're about due.
Whether the most annoying bugs will be fixed *soon* is another question.
All
the bugs I mentioned above are long-term; they've been around through
multiple updates. They're obviously bugs which have no quick fix. Maybe
they're in the pipeline. Maybe they're in every programmer's nightmare,
the
"someday we'll redesign the system to prevent this" bin. Cyan doesn't
publish a bug list or a bug-fix schedule. So I can only say that, today,
the
game is not unplayable. I'll keep you updated about tomorrow.
(Precisely so, as it turns out. As I was fini****ng this review, Cyan
posted
a notice that the servers will be down for an update tomorrow morning.
I'll
add an appendix to this in a couple of days, when I find out what it was.)
- - - - -
Enough contrasts. What does _Uru Live_ have to offer?
It's a Myst game, so it's gorgeous. I don't toss that claim off lightly.
Every Age has its own atmosphere and character. (The worlds you explore in
the Myst series are called Ages.) Light, sound, texture; radiance, mist,
shadow; insects, falling leaves, ripples in the water. Everything comes
together to create an environment. I'm not going to spend a lot of time
describing this, but trust me: the most immediate and familiar pleasure of
Uru is entering an Age, looking around, and saying "Oh, yes. It *is*
beautiful here. I'm so glad to be back."
You can create and dress up your avatar. It's a pretty good avatar
creation
system, considering that you're making normal people in street clothes.
(Yes, I've played with the _City of Heroes_ avatar creator. Uru isn't that
much fun -- sorry.) The faces aren't that distinctive, you can't vary your
height, and being fat is unpopular for some reason. So you see a lot of
brightly-colored clothing, and sometimes hair. Me, I wear purple.
You have a home Age, named Relto. It's a tiny island in the mist;
reminiscent of Myst, and deliberately so, you will find. It is your
starting
point and your refuge, in solitude unless you choose to admit others. You
will collecting Age Books to fill your bookshelf there. You can also
customize your Relto, in small ways -- although you will have to discover
how.
You can meet other players. You get a workable (if somewhat clumsy)
contact
management system, in the form of a "KI device". Finding one of these is
an
early goal when you enter the game. It lets you manage a friends list,
write
notes, take in-game snapshots, and send both "email" and "IM" style
messages
to the people you meet. (The KI has other functions as well, but I don't
want to spoil any surprises...)
You can wander around the City in the Cavern. Yes, I really do have to use
capital letters. It's my favorite place in the game... even though it's
not
a puzzlefest. It's just a place to hang out and meet people. We presume
that
more of the City will open up, over time.
There's a system of Bevins, or neighborhoods of the City, which serve as
meeting places. You can travel to any public Bevin, and some of them have
specific purposes. (Such as the straightforwardly-named "Beginner's
Bevin".)
The neighborhoods also fill the role of "guilds" or "clans" in most MMOs;
you can join someone else's Bevin, or start your own and recruit people to
join it.
Various small secrets and discoveries are scattered all over the game.
These
are side quests, rather than primary goals. You get minor rewards for them
-- new bits of clothing, or "trophy" markers in your Relto.
Puzzles, yes: lots. There are a couple of Ages designed specifically for
groups of players to solve -- you can't get through them by yourself.
These
are the most recent additions to Uru, so they're what you'll hear
experienced players talk about most. (You don't have to pay attention to
the
hardcore folks, mind you. I'm just giving context.)
You've got that long narrative sequence I mentioned earlier. *That* is
designed specifically for a *solo* player to solve -- although some parts
of
it get easier if you coordinate with a friend. This "Journey" is the
largest
coherent part of Uru right now. (Also the oldest. Which, again, is more
significant for experienced players than for you.)
The Journey does not have a plot, in the sense that _Riven_ had. It's more
of an exploration of the history behind the great City -- parts of that
history, anyway. It offers glimpses of Yeesha, the daughter of Atrus, who
appeared in Myst 3, 4, and 5. It has a beginning and an end, but the end
is
more of a philosophical stopping point than the achievement of some
driving
plot-goal.
Again, to be clear: these various elements -- the City, the Neighborhoods,
the multiplayer Ages, the Journey -- they're not mutually exclusive. You
can
move back and forth between them at will. Your Relto is always available
to
you, and that links to (nearly) everywhere.
The down side of this parallelism is that _Uru Live_ doesn't start you off
with much momentum. You appear in Relto and, well, it's up to you. Now
yes;
that's exactly how _Myst_ started. But _Myst_ gives you a couple of urgent
questions right away. (Who are Atrus and Catherine? What is this im****tant
message?) More im****tantly, it gives you an immediate goal: find the
fore-chamber, enter a number into it. In contrast, Uru is very lax about
giving you goals. You have to hitch up your belt and start wandering. You
can *find* goals, and the clues you need to achieve them, but there is no
trail of satisfaction leading you into the body of the game.
(Yes, this is why I said earlier that finding a KI device is one of your
early goals. I'm trying to fill in gaps in the game design. More on this
later as well...)
- - - - -
I've described what Uru offers *today*. More is supposed to be added
regularly. How often?
There is no good answer yet. Most of what currently exists comes from
previous versions of Uru. (The two multiplayer Ages are the exception;
they
appeared in mid-January and mid-February, respectively.) In an interview
from last September
<http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/28/joystiq-interviews-rand-miller-of-cyan-worlds/>,
Rand Miller says they want to add "[a] decent sized release every
month." Which is vague. But also, "...we're going to make changes every
day."
That's six-months stale news, anyhow. What can I can tell you, based on
twelve days of experience since launch?
Well, those two new Ages are fairly small. (But that doesn't mean they're
quickly exhausted. Since they're group efforts, you can have some fun
replaying them with a new group -- or helping a newcomer through them.)
In other news... one door in the City, previously locked, was found to be
open on Feb 19th. But it's still barricaded, so you can only peek in. And
on
the 20th, it snowed in Eder Delin. Seasonal change! We all ran in to look;
just as pretty as before, but differently. (I think there must be seasonal
migration, too, because the birds sound different...)
So we're not seeing daily changes, after all. (Perhaps there are small
changes that we're overlooking. I suspect not, though -- plenty of
obsessive
players are keeping an eye out.) Notable things -- things you'd want to go
see -- are weekly, so far. And everyone is keenly watching to see what
happens over the first month.
- - - - -
And, finally, there is the overall... not story, but *scenario*, of Uru.
See, this is not just a collection of alien worlds to explore. That Cavern
that I mentioned? According to the game, it's on Earth. It's three miles
beneath New Mexico. It was discovered by some Americans in 1987 -- an
abandoned underground city, full of inexplicable technologies and ****tals
to
other worlds. When you play Uru, you are playing yourself: an explorer
from
the surface, helping to rediscover a lost civilization.
The entire strange history of the Myst series is reflected in this in-game
history. You see, the original discoverers needed funding to explore, and
later restore, this tremendous cavern. So they contacted a pair of game
designers named Robyn and Rand Miller. _Myst_ and _Riven_ were
fictionalized
versions of stories taken from diaries found in the City... and with that
revenue, the group (now calling themselves the D'ni Restoration Council,
or
DRC) began inviting people to the City. They re-opened sections. They ran
out of money. They pulled up stakes and abandoned the Cavern. They found a
new source of venture capital. They returned and began again. More people
arrived to take part. The invitation reached you.
So _Uru Live_ is not a simple adventure; it has elements of the "alternate
reality game". The DRC has a live web site: <http://drcsite.org/>.
Players
can discuss the restoration, in-character, on the DRC forums --
<http://forums.drcsite.org/>
-- which are distinct from the more general
(and generally out-of-character) forums at the main Uru web site.
On a more mundane level, all this explains why large parts of the City are
barricaded by very contem****ary-looking orange traffic cones. The DRC are
very safety-conscious, and won't open new areas for public exploration
until
they're sure everything is safe.
The DRC are the NPCs of this role-playing game; they're operated by Cyan
personnel. They sometimes appear in the game to touch base with the
players
and make announcements. (Announcements also appear on the DRC web site, of
course.) Mind you, while the DRC are in charge, they're not the only force
in the Cavern. There are rumors of some disaffected ex-DRC folks
returning.
And there's Yeesha, a genuine descendant of the D'ni people -- only seen
in
traces and images so far, but with unknown powers...
- - - - -
But if this is a role-playing game -- in the old D&D sense -- then what is
the role of the players?
That, right there, is the giant burning question of doom. The Uru web site
is full of empowering verbiage: "For the first time, you are the
storyteller. What happens next is up to you." "Uru Live continually
expands
and evolves based on the choices and actions you and other players
take..."
"What story will you tell?"
But, in the most direct sense, the game doesn't *give* you choices. Well,
you can choose not to solve puzzles -- but that's not affecting the story.
(It may be a *good choice* -- perhaps you're not *interested* in
multiplayer
puzzles, and therefore ignore those Ages. You can do that. But it doesn't
seem to be a way to influence how Uru evolves.)
You can't move a stone that isn't preprogrammed to move. You can't select
crafting, class, or skill paths, which are the decisions offered by most
MMO-RPGs. You can't explore any new Age that hasn't been opened for you by
either the DRC or Yeesha. It's the nightmare of role-playing games -- your
seventh-grade D&D group, where the iron-fisted GM decided everything, and
woe upon the player who tried to stray from the carefully-crafted plan.
Right?
Right. And wrong. And maybe.
When I said this was, in part, an alternate-reality game, I didn't just
mean
the fancy DRC website. There is fan activity too -- a *lot* of fan
activity.
The official forums buzz, as do the DRC forums. People argue about every
aspect of the game; where it's going, how players fit in. (The very topic
I'm spinning right now.) Whether the DRC are a bunch of idiots; what can
be
done about it.
There are major fan websites, with more appearing weekly: Uru Obsession,
Guild of Greeters, Guild of Cartographers, Great Tree, MystLore, D'niPedia
-- those are just off the top of my head; I'm not even trying to be
complete. Some of these have specific focusses. The Greeters, for example,
are dedicated to meeting new players in the game and helping them get
oriented. Remember earlier, when I talked about filling in gaps in the
game
design? There are an *amazing* number of web pages and FAQs for new Uru
players. (I, may I modestly say, have written one myself:
<http://eblong.com/zarf/uru/newfaq.html>)
In-game, other kinds of player activity. One group has a weekly
storytelling
hour. Another conducts tours of the cryptic cave glyphs that appear in
certain Ages. The Greeters work ****fts in the newcomer neighborhoods.
There
are frequent dance parties, with music streamed on Internet radio. And if
you think dancing in an online game is silly, I can only point out that
Uru
isn't the first MMO where it's happened.
And these things *do* affect what comes out of Cyan. The DRC has posted
signs in every Bevin, directing new players to the Guild of Greeters. (The
Greeters also have distinctive ****rts -- a treasured privilege in a game
with limited clothing options.) When the DRC forums were deleted in a
website reorganization, loud protests from players -- including protests
in
the game, directed at DRC personnel -- induced their return.
Which is a sign in its own right. Forum activity and forum history are
*valued* by the Uru community. They happen outside the game, and maybe
they
would be meaningless without the game; but they are still a vital part of
what Uru is. Furthermore: by occurring outside the game, these activities
bypass (ignore? transcend?) the iron-fisted game master. Players can't
knock
down a door in the game, but they can build whatever organizations they
want
in the fan community.
Players, in short, are making it up as they go along.
And frankly, so are the Cyan folks. They aren't building some vast
Neverwinter-like system for online role-playing -- or even a TinyMUD-like
one. (We'd have heard some hint of it by now.) They're not planning a vast
Tale-in-the-Desert tree of tasks for players to crank through. (Although
I'd
like to see a few elements like that.) Cyan is writing new material,
planning new story events -- and paying attention to the player community.
Cyan isn't taking orders from the players; but they're taking cues.
Why, yes, I do have an example.
A couple of weeks ago, a player posted a notion on the forums: Let's try
to
*summon* Yeesha. We've only seen her messages. Is she still watching us?
Will she ever take an active role? Let's get together in a Bevin, and...
wait for her.
In a sense, this was meaningless posturing. There's no "summon Yeesha"
button in the interface. The players were planning to stand in one place
and
do nothing. They knew perfectly well that Cyan was under no obligation to
pay attention to them. It was not a demand for attention; it wasn't even a
protest.
Last week, they did it anyway. They stood around. I think they chanted.
(No,
I wasn't there.) They tried standing in a big spiral, which is one of
Yeesha's symbols. They did this for hours. And then, in their midst, an
image of Yeesha appeared -- flickered -- vanished without a word.
Easy for you to guess the outcome, since I brought up the example. Easy
for
Cyan to do, probably. And the success spawned an immediate bunch of
copycat
plans, of which I'm sure most will come to nothing. But the Yeesha seance
was an attempt in good faith, and it was met with a response in good
faith.
I'd say that gave more reassurance to the Uru community than an unlocked
door and a snowstorm.
- - - - -
I alluded to Neverwinter Nights and MUDs, but in a sense Cyan *does* have
plans in that direction. They want to allow players to build their own
Ages.
No, there's no schedule for this. The interview I linked earlier suggests
six months after launch, but I don't put any stock in that. However: Cyan
wants it, and players want it.
I don't have much to say about players building worlds... except that it
would make everyone's concerns about player influence eva****ate like dew
in
the morning. Or maybe, like dry ice on Venus. *Everybody* would be writing
an Age. (I certainly would be.) Yes, ninety percent would never get
finished, and ninety percent of the rest would suck. That's the way it
always works. That's how you get stuff that *kicks ass*.
I've said this before: I think player-built Ages will turn out to be the
big
draw of Uru Live, the thing that makes it take off over the horizon. It's
what Second Life is trying to do, except Second Life has a creator-hostile
monetary system and bad land management. (Plus genitalia storms.) I don't
want to build stuff in Second Life. I am *psyched* to build stuff in Uru.
- - - - -
"So should I play this thing?"
Sure you should! But don't believe me. I'm as caught up in Uru as anybody.
In this review, I've tried to give specific details about what's good and
bad in _Uru Live_. But much of the value of the game is in the
indeterminate
future. Will the bugs get fixed soon? Will good stuff be added regularly?
I'm predicting it will, but I don't get to read Cyan's bug list or their
work schedule. So my predictions are based on hope.
Let me talk about how you pay for it.
_Uru Live_ is being published as part of the Gametap subscription service.
So it's ten dollars (US) per month -- except that's not the whole deal.
First of all, you can do a free preview. This is the "visitor" program. It
lets you create a trial avatar for a week. You're limited to a few areas,
and (worse) you can't mess with your clothing or hairstyle. But you can
see
Relto, visit the Bevins, and solve the first set of Journey puzzles.
If you decide to buy in: Gametap is only available in the US and Canada.
Cyan wants _Uru Live_ to be available worldwide. They haven't managed
worldwide yet, but they *have* set up a separate payment system for
fourteen
other countries. (See "New Player Info" on <http://mystonline.com/>
for
the
list.) The international price is slightly higher: US$13 per month.
Gametap is Windows-only. The Myst series has always been available for
both
Windows and Mac -- it started on the Mac, after all. A Mac version of _Uru
Live_ is currently being tested, and the web site says it will be
available
in "early March". (However, it will require an Intel Mac. Yes, there's
some
WINE-based emulation layer involved, if you know what that means.) I
suspect
the Mac price will also be $13/month.
If you *do* live in the US or Canada, and you are a Windows gamer, your
$10/month gets you Uru *and* every other game in the Gametap lineup:
<http://www.gametap.com/home/game_titles/browseTitles.jsp>.
I'm not here
to
push Gametap -- but they have a fine selection of adventure games besides
Uru. They've got _Myst_, _Riven_, _RealMyst_, and _Myst 3_. They've got
_Dark Fall_, one of the best indie horror games of the past few years.
They've got _The Last Express_, the tremendously original and unjustly
neglected brainchild of Jordan Mechner. They've got action-adventure
titles
like _Prince of Persia_ (the Jordan Mechner games you've *heard* of), and
_Silent Hill_ -- two series that the serious adventure student should not
neglect. They've got a lot of old adventures (the original Infocom text
games), and some new adventures (the ongoing _Sam and Max_ episodic
series).
To be clear, here, Gametap is a subscription service. In fewer letters,
that
spells "rental". As long as you're paying your ten bucks per month, you
can
play as many games as you can fit on your hard drive, for as long as you
want. If you cancel, they all go away. That's probably obvious when you're
talking about an online game like Uru, but it's worth noting when it comes
to all those other games. (Of course, rental is reasonable for adventures
anyway. You solve it, you're done, you never play it again. If you're a
collector, get thee to Ebay.)
- - - - -
"No, seriously, is this thing worth the monthly fee? Even after I've
solved
everything?"
Different people are playing _Uru Live_ for different reasons. Take
advantage of the free preview, and see what works for you.
If your goal is to see new Ages, and new things in Ages, you probably will
not play every day. Once or twice a week seems like a good rate -- at the
current rate of change. If you don't feel any urgent need to see each
change
as it happens, you could play every other week and still keep up. Probably
no less than once a month. Cyan is strongly motivated to put in
interesting
new things every month; you're paying by the month, after all.
You have the option of looking for new stuff on your own, or watching for
announcements on the forums and event web sites. Choose your spoiler
comfort
level. (Another self-plug: I maintain a list of change announcements, at
three different spoiler levels. See
<http://eblong.com/zarf/uru/notice/index.html>.)
If you want to see new Ages, but also to hear about them in-game, you can
of
course do that. Log in every couple of days. Hop into a popular
neighborhood
-- you'll get to know them. Ask the regulars what's new. They'll be happy
to
tell you.
If you are interested in what other players are saying, you will certainly
want to watch the web forums.
If you want to take part in Cavern activities, watch the forums and see
what
looks good. Same goes for out-of-game activities. (There's currently a
small
contest on to design some stained glass for the Bevins. See
<http://drcsite.org/explr_project.php>.)
If you decide you like the Uru community as a social group -- entirely
aside
from new releases -- you will probably play often. Chat systems are most
rewarding when you hang out every day. And Uru is a *very* pretty chat
environment.
If your goal is to influence the way Uru develops... then I have no
guidelines. Be clever. Be creative. Write, paint, program. Hang out in the
game, or out of the game. Organize. Persuade. Think of a new angle. Be
involved. We're all improvising here.
Yes, it's worth the money. Are you nuts? It's going to be great.
- - - - -
(This review, and my reviews of other adventure games, are at
<http://eblong.com/zarf/gamerev/index.html>.
My essays, FAQ,
and other Uru do***ents are at
<http://eblong.com/zarf/uru/index.html>)
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't ****pped you to Syria for interrogation,
it's
for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because you're innocent.
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