Cyan Worlds, the creators of URU Live / Myst Online, have announced that they will be releasing their game to the open source community. I think that's a pretty brave move, and shows a commitment from the developers to their work. The game was fun and very unique; it didn't involve leveling, or combat, or anything of the standard forms of interaction and progression that most MMORPGs consist of. Instead, Uru Live players engaged in adventure, exploration, and puzzle solving. The game had a strong narrative with new stories released in an episodic fashion, like in a television series. Unfortunately, the game flopped, twice.
It had a very strong and faithful fan base though. I think its a really brave move of Cyan Worlds to let the open source community have a chance to continue this effort, so that the fans can continue to live out their dreams in the world of Myst Online.
It would be nice to see other games that can no longer be effectively commercialized migrate into the open source community so that their fans can continue to breathe some life into them after the commercial services shut down. After all the effort that goes into building these games, it's always a shame to see them simply disappear forever.
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I think it would be interesting if we could see some people pick this up and create some of the first mostly officially sanctioned mmo mods.
Interesting. I definitely like the precedent this sets for "retired" MMOs. Here's hoping it doesn't collapse under the weight of splinter groups.
as an artist seeing this land in my lap nearly brings tears to my eyes. If it is released under GPL or a truly free license like BSD I will be creating worlds.
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