[Eleri]

Not enough of a player base for sustainability.

http://www.gametap.com/forums/thread...threadID=13953

[dGalloway]

I never really got into Myst Online. I tried repeatedly, but it never really felt right to me. Still, I'm incredibly saddened to see it go, not just because it was a monumental undertaking and a new idea in a field of stale MMO games, but also because it brings GameTap one step closer to total destruction.

The community was already up in arms over the loss of 70+ games a few months ago, and now they lost one of the service's larger draws. However, I can also understand where GameTap stands on this. They tried repeatedly to get the program to work. Any online game requires bucketloads of cash to run and maintain; hence, why you have to pay to play. Considering how GameTap itself isn't really that popular, there was no way the userbase could have supported something so large, especially as it kept adding new content.

Maybe someday, Uru Live will return again. Until then, we can be thankful that GameTap tried their best to keep it running, even in their darkest hour.

[tsa]

Today I read the announcement that MO:UL, as it's lovingly called, will quit on April 4. Many people saw this coming. Many people are mad at GameTap for closing their favourite MORG down, but it was inevitable I think. Anyway, for many people it's a tragedy. For me too; although I wasn't often there I loved roaming the Ages and marvel at all the things that were to be seen there. Will there be life after MO:UL? I sure hope so.

[Ksandra]

It's sad, but I can't really say I'm surprised. If they couldn't get enough subscribers the first time round, what made them think it would be any different the second?

The whole Uru debacle has convinced me of something which I've suspected for a long time: that many game developers, and particularly adventure developers, are very bad at performing market research. It's astonishing that Cyan would undertake such an ambitious project without being reasonably sure that they had a customer base for it. Honestly, simple common sense ought to have told them that Myst fans wouldn't necessarily appreciate the switch to a story-heavy, third-person game reliant on interaction with other players.

[LuigiHann]

Originally Posted by Ksandra

It's sad, but I can't really say I'm surprised. If they couldn't get enough subscribers the first time round, what made them think it would be any different the second?

The first time around, it never left beta. I do agree on your observation that Uru's appeal was obviously limited, essentially being a bizarre twist on a niche subgenre of an already niche genre, but I applaud Cyan for trying something different, and I'm glad GameTap gave them the chance they never really got the first time around.

[ozzie]

Well, if you read through the thread on the Gametap forum then you will find out that most people who played Uru are normally non-gamers. That's also why many people will discontinue their GameTap subscription, because the other games don't interest them at all.
Many Uru players seem to be 50+ years old.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

What, again?

And hey, I take exception to the 50+ yo remark. Okay, so I'm 50+...

PS: Never did Uru online

[tsa]

It was/is a pretty mixed bunch indeed. The youngest I met there was 13, and the oldest somehwere in her mid-60's. I met some very nice people there, and actually I didn't meet anyone there who was a nuisance to anyone. Maybe that also made the game unique. MO:UL was nr. 3 on GameTap Most Played list for quite some time, but I think Cyan underestimated the amount of time and money it costs to come up with interesting new content every month. A new pod Age every month just isn't enough to keep people interested, and the big Ages E'rcana and Ahnonay they released were from Path of the Shell, and thus many people already knew them. I guess that's what caused many people to quit after a few months. During the past four or five months there were usually only around 6 people in the City when I logged in, and that just isn't enough to keep something like MO:UL going.

[tabacco]

I actually enjoyed Uru, and I generally don't like the Myst games. The community was a lot more fun to hang around with than your average MMO crowd.

That said, Uru had a lot of logistical and technical issues that I don't think were ever fixed, sadly, and that detracted from the experience. The worst part was that because the story arc happened in realtime (often during the workday) and wasn't replayable, I had to resort to reading about it on forums and blogs, which made me kind of wonder what the point was to a story I couldn't experience firsthand.

[Christian IV]

Cutting edge work is a risk and worth it I feel, Cyan has led the pack in some ways from the beginning, though their games will not appeal to some groups of gamers. There were incredibly high productions values to URU and to MOUL on line version of URU, and the community is one of the most diverse and interesting I have seen in any MMORPG I have experienced or studied. There may be some kind of continuance, the original form of URU online, what was called Prologue achieved a form of online state with what were called shards or individual servers which allowed a limited number of players to interact in the game setting and that may happen again. Some members of the community are working on fan created Ages using that form of engine, and that may continue too. With the energy and vitality and creativity that Cyan has shown from their earliest days, I would not ever say never to any work that they do, and this was a noble enterprise that the partnership with GameTap made possible. Turner is undergoing a corporate workover so that may have affected GT's decision as well, for there was a substantial player base, though it did come and go with the episodic format that evolved over the first season. MOUL will remain a fine example of a social game that has great depth and story potential and everyone involved is to be commended indeed.

[ShadeJackrabbit]

I think it was a good idea, but most people aren't ready for it yet.

[MystGirl]

That's a shame. I checked out the site recently. Never signed up myself (I still have crappy slow dial up instead of DSL), but it looked promising. I was hoping they could breathe some life into these types of games by making them online versions.

[Lee in Limbo]

I played off and on for a while, but ultimately felt like I was wasting time. The pod ages were only playable as a team, and the relative merit of building and maintaining a capable team that could handle their assignments and the vagueries of server lag just never seemed to pay off. The game was pretty international, which meant there were communications problems with people in ages. It was a bit like playing PVP in a combat MMORPG, in that, if you didn't go in with a pre-made team, nothing would get done. And that was the majority of the gameplay. The rest of the content was years old, including the 'new' stuff they were putting out as expansion material.

I really wanted Uru Live to work. I really did. I feel bad that it just didn't get the attention it needed to survive. But personally, I feel like it was down to a design problem. There just wasn't enough new or persistent material to the game to keep people around except to stand on collision planes in the caverns with friends and have dance parties, like they did in beta. There just wasn't enough to do. I think the concept is great, and I really wish someone would figure out how to make a good MMOAG, because Uru Live's worse sin was that it was dull.

I apologize to anyone who played it and, like me, felt it had fine qualities that deserved to be recognized. However, after having been a member for over a year and having been part of the beta team (near the end), I finally cancelled my Gametap subscription and haven't been back to the cavern in months. No point. I missed all of the 'live' material (really bad idea, I think), and none of the other stuff they put in really made it worth my while. Extra Relto pages and that thing we were building on the island across the bridge (never did figure out what that was for) just didn't hold my imagination enough to play the game with any regularity.

I feel really bad about that, but I can't help it. I was never entrenched enough in what was to me a very confusing community to become more emotionally invested in it. There was just none of the buzz I got from playing the Uru set when it was all still on disc. The community feel never sank in for me, which is sad, because I have a friend who really tried to get us into it more. My wife was never comfortable with the control scheme or the response time, and I got bored far too quickly. Sad, really.

Perhaps one day someone will get the formula right. I have some hope for Secret World, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. There's a whole casual player world out there who can't get into WoW and the like that are being overlooked, and until they come up with something that everyone without twitch reflexes can play and enjoy, that's a whole market that will remain untapped.

Personal Blog

[ShadeJackrabbit]

Nothing much to add except: Well said.

[tsa]

Yep, I agree with everything Lee said. But still, even with all those flaws, I love to go there and just be there, just as you might have a favourite spot in real life.