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Issue 9 · September 2007

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Issue 9 · September 2007 Tr He Ec Ah Ri Cs Ho IVt Ea Rn Issue 9 · September 2007 Dr. Watson Returns! Guild Pubs After three years, the New places to gather and former head of the DRC discuss the new Explorer- returns to the Cavern with driven Guilds. a message. Pursuit Into Majesty What’s Old is New Jeff Wise’s new Uru Long-missing familiar chronicle debuts. places find their way into Uru. A P R O D U C T I O N O F T H E C A V E R N T O D A Y In This Issue Special Sections 2 From the Editor 3 Contributors Cavern News and Events 5 Deceptions 7 The Guild Pubs The Guild Pubs are opened, and Dr. Watson and Michael Shimmerillion covers the new Guild Pubs and the Guilds Engberg return with a message. associated with them. Community at Large 10 Town Hall with J.D. Barnes 16 Pursuit Into Majesty Dr. Watson’s no-show at a Town Hall meeting gives a Jeff Wise and Darken Wolf team up to tell a tale of noted explorer an opportunity to speak instead. Stellaflora exploration and discovery. Illustrations by bpgisme. reports. 18 Cavern Couture 19 Creativity Corner Shimmerillion discusses what’s hot and what’s not in Another wonderful KI Toon from Thend and a beautiful Cavern fashion. collection of Golden KI winners from DPWR.NET. 22 Bulletins All the Cavern quick-news that’s fit to print. Uru Live 102 - Beyond the GameTap 101 14 Backstory: Dr Richard A. Watson Learn about the former head of the DRC. The Archiver is © 2007 The Cavern Today. All Myst, Riven, D’ni, Uru images and text © Cyan Worlds, Inc. All rights reserved. Myst®, Riven®, D’ni®, Uru®, respective logos ® Cyan Worlds, Inc. No part may be copied or reproduced without express written per- mission of Cyan Worlds, Inc. T h e A r c h i v e r · t c t a r c h i v e r . c o m · 1 From the Editor Well, The Archiver is intended to taken an OOC as well as IC look at the Cavern and the community, so I'll take this moment to pop on my OOC hat, and discuss an important matter affecting MOUL; the season finale, and the end-of-season break. From the very beginning, there has been a great difference in opinion (when hasn't there been..) regarding the switch to an episodic model of content delivery by Cyan. Certainly, having set times for the commencement of each episodes means that everyone knows when it is and can be there, but the flip side is, unfortunately, that. because all the events occur in that one week, everyone WILL be there. Cyan have also seemed to adopt some of the features of TV style episodic presentation, in that they are dividing the story up into 'seasons', also seen in that other Gametap luminary, Sam & Max. Like the mad cap dog-and-rabbit duo, Cate Alexander and co. will be taking a break after the season finale. As a result, and in conjunction with Uru's rather unlucky track record when it comes to cancellations, many explorers have expressed concern that maybe the Restoration won't con- tinue next year, particularly regarding Cyan's reluctance to discuss next year's schedule. Certainly, the memories of Uru's last cancellation are still fresh in many people's minds. But how well founded are these fears? Myst Online Uru Live is a different beast to the one that was dropped before its time in 2004. Firstly, Gametap, Cyan, and the community have already had a real taste of what Uru has to offer. Whereas Ubi only had Prologue to work off, this time MOUL has been running at full steam for a full year, and has already under- gone several tweaks of the formula. While the game is by no means perfect, it seems clear that Cyan are looking to fix up the problems, perhaps slowly, but certainly steadily. The story is also well underway, and looks to have a blockbuster season finale ready for October, complete with several iconic Myst locations. No longer is MOUL an unknown quantity. Secondly, MOUL has, to all appearances, had greater coverage in the public arena. The delivery method via Gametap in and of itself ensures that more people have the opportunity to access the game, especially as it comes already bundled in the Gametap fee, as opposed to the standalone boxed release of the game, which would likely only tempt Myst fans or MMO fans looking for a fresh fix. Finally, The community is well and truly entrenched in the game. Those who have been here through the Until Uru days have shown their loyalty to the entity that is Uru, while the constant streams of new explorers into the cavern clearly demonstrates that there is a space in the industry that, at least at the moment, only Uru can fill. Cyan clearly intended the game to fill that niche in the veritable swarm of MMOs, and it's highly likely Gametap perceived that too, as they otherwise wouldn't have signed the game in the first place. Myst Online: Uru Live is a game teeming with potential. The release of some long anticipated locations in the season finale is surely just the tip of the iceberg, with Cyan clearly intending to go the distance with an IP that, with any luck, can never truly be concluded; the ending never truly being written. I expect to see MOUL back next year, and would be shocked if it wasn't. And not only to return, but to return bigger and better than ever before. To paraphrase a certain group of British comedians and their escapade in a pet shop, expect me to be saying this over the next few months: "Uru isn't dead, its just resting." And getting ready for a new year, better than the one before it. - Narym, Editor-in-Chief T h e A r c h i v e r · t c t a r c h i v e r . c o m · 2 ContribContributorutors s NNararymym layMT seigerVtup so he can catch games while exploring. EditEditoror-in-Chief-In-Chief MTigeMasterrV Assembler covers community events and is on a mis- Narym, an explorer from Aus- MTigerV hails from the swamps of Narym, an explorer from Australia, sion to profile every new guild that pops up in the tralia, is a long time fan of Louisiana, where his long years of is a long time fan of everything everything D'ni. While he was catrappingvern. and shrimping have given D'ni.relativ Whileely late he in wasactually rela tiven-ely lahimte in a sixth sense when it comes to navigating the teactuallyring the eCanteveringrn itse thelf (heCa vonlyern itseentelfre d(he during only entewarteedrwa ys of the Cavern. A long time D'ni explorer, Kiteerah D'mala),during heD'mala), consider she himse considelf to harsv himsee been lfa partto ha ofv e beMTigeen a rV is also a huge LSU fan (all sports) and is Journalist the community long before that, and counts said constantly trying to get a surface-to-cavern radio re- part of the community long before that, and counts Kiteerah is an explorer from the community as one of the greatest parts of Uru. He lay setup so he can catch games while exploring. said community as one of the greatest parts of Uru. has interest in the arts and in writing (the regular Midwest, who came to love every- kind)He hasand sointe sereemsst toin hatheve fartsound and his nicin hewriting with T he(the regular thing D'ni after playing Myst as a Cakind)vern andToda yso, and see inms particular to hav ethe found Archiv hiser. niche with The teen. She came to the Cavern in late 2003 and was a Cavern Today, andBpgisme in particular the Archiver. membeKiteerr ofah Prologue. After visiting the City on vari- Photographer ous Joursharnalisds,t she made D'mala her home. The won- Kiteerah is an explorer from the Bonnie lives with her husband, derful URU Community has made her feel as though thrBpgismeee kids and a cat on Oak Island, Midwest, who came to love every- NC.Pho tSheog risapher/Ar a musician,tis artist,t web- she thingis part D'ni of aftea huger playing and Myst loving as afamily . On the sur- siteBonnie designe livre, s occasionalwith her husband,fiction teen. She cameface to shethe Cais vae rmothen in later of2003 4 andwho was cr eaa tes web pages and writethrere and kids ama andteur a photogcat onraphe Oakr. Island,membe r of Plorologueves to. rAfteeadr andvisiting write the. City on vari- She played Cyan's originalNC. MystShe gisame a m onusician, her the nartist, in- weousb- shards, she made D'mala her home. The won- laws' Mac and has played all the games and read all of derful URU Community has made her feel as though site designer, occasional fiction writer and amateur the novels since then. When the cavern called to her pas- she is part of a huge and lovingMar familyat. Onanos the sur- sionphotog for arraphecheologry. asShe we llpla asy heedr loCyve an'sof urban original explora Myst- game face she is a mother of 4 who crPhoeatestog werbapher pages and tion and abandoned architecture, she found herself wan- on her then in-laws' Mac and has played all the loves to read and write. dering the ages and never wanting to leave.
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