More on Uru Cancellation

It seems the Uru cancellation is heating up. Too bad the game didn't get this much attention when it was live. Two really interesting articles that people sent me today on the subject:

First this one, about a mass immigration into Second Life (from Tom Boellstorff): Large Group Considers Coming to Second Life.

Second, this one, a really nice article by Andrew Plotkin via Simon Carliss on Game Set Watch pondering the future of a user-run Uru with homegrown Ages, including the possible use of Multiverse as an engine for such. Myst Online: Uru - Beyond Cancellation. Wow all our worlds are colliding! Look for more posts on this in the coming weeks.

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Comments

[Sheri Pate]

We made a point on the forthcoming podcast for The Cavern Today's segment "TCT Talk" about the moment that an MMOG leaves the drawing board of a visionary and becomes the property of the users or "citizens" of MMOG's.

Where a game developer can take their product is very limited once it is introduced in a community setting. Then it becomes what the Community wants it to be. When content is released, it is then shaped, molded and hammered out by the PLAYERS. Not the developers.

Sad part of it is, most game developers don't realize it or think about it.

In the massive intellect that is the Uru Community, it would be extremely short sighted to assume that a piece of content would only have one intended use. Give me a break. Cones. That's all you need to say to an Uruite. Cones. The beloved traffic cone is an obstacle to most non-Uruites. However, to an Uruite, it's a balancing puzzle, it's a way to play practical jokes on your friends, it's used to make graffiti, it is a piece of a sculpture. Did the developer who decided to introduce the traffic cone think that that one miniscule piece of the environment would have such an impact or be used in that many ways? I seriously doubt it.

I always say, Cyan could have given us anything and we would have made SOMETHING out of it. The meager cone is but one example.

However, the initial point that was made about the migration of the community, I want to address that.

If you're not from Uru, this might fly over your head, but if you think about it from the point of view of a Cavern Resident that has been to other online worlds, it'll make perfect sense.

Cavern society, for the Hard-core Uruites who have never before ventured beyond the safety and comfort of the Cavern, is a very sheltered and guarded environment. It is Utopian for all intents and purposes. The Cavern has a vibrance and the ability to bring out the best in people. As one friend called it "An Excellence Filter", as in you have to be one tough son-of-a-gun to have been through Uru not once, but twice and survive to see the other side.

But my point is that most MMOG's don't have the same type of humanity that is expressed in Cavern. The adventure that was Uru was basically a walk-through of the Seven Virtues to counter-balance the Seven Deadly Sins that are prevalent in every single online world that I've ever encountered.

To join a social online world, like Second Life, after being a part of the Uru Community will be, for the hard-core Uruites, a series of culture shocks. That they will have to adjust their thinking from the generosity and selflessness that is prevalent in the Cavern to the "only out for themselves" mentality that is so extremely prevalent in most "Social" MMOG's.

Call it a wake up call, call it anything you'd like, but the second round of Cavern Dwellers who haven't gone through this before are going to be in for a rude awakening if they choose to NOT stick with their Cavern family and friends.