The Open Cave

Hello, "Filtik".
Thank you for the website. You are obviously doing a lot of work to get this project going.
I think however, you have very little information available here to tell we new users about The Open Cave, and to explain what you are up to.

So, I have some questions.
(Perhaps you already have answers to this stuff here somewhere, but I do not see it.)

Of course we mostly understand what Cyan is and what Myst is. We can see that you like the lore, and that you're enthusiastic about participating in the Myst fans community. As an enthusiastic hobbyist and developer, you may understand perfectly about all this stuff, but most of us who are just now discovering Myst Online/Uru Live have not yet been taught what all this means and we want to learn.

So, now Cyan has released the code for MO:ULa as open source material so that fellows like yourself can develop unique and creative 'shards'. You evidently list three of them here on TOC:
1- Uru / MOUL
2- Uru / Tpots
3. DI

What is "Uru/MOUL"? What is "Uru/Tpots"? What is "DI"?
Please tell us the differences between all of these "flavors". Why are you developing three and not just one?
Who are you? What is your background? Are you a graduate of computer science studies? Are you a graphic artist? What are your goals? Why don't you tell us your real name? Come on, Filtik, tell us about you and about The Open Cave project.

Thanks,
~r'Ricard
(Rodney Recor in Paris)

Please forgive me for answering as I am nothing to do with the TOC team and they will no doubt answer too.

MOUL stands for Myst Online Uru Live and was the previous incarnation of what we have currently run by Cyan on their on servers and is now called Myst Online Uru Live Again or MOULa for short.

Tpots stands for The Path Of The Shell which the TOC team run as a seperate shard. The name comes from an expansion to the game Uru that was originally sold in the early 90's. There was another expansion called To D'ni.

DI stands for Deep Island and is a shard run by the Guild of Writers, not the TOC team.

If I may say, nobody is obliged to reveal their real identities if they do not wish to do so and your asking them to is a bit naughty.

If you would like more information aimed at new players feel free to check out guildofsleepers.org

I agree with Alien, your question does sound a bit agressive. I hope it was not your intention though.

There is lots of information on the web about the Myst series - the original game and all the sequels -starting by the Wikipedia itself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uru:_Ages_Beyond_Myst
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst_Online:_Uru_Live
etc..

and ending on the webs of each one of the Guilds:
The Guild of Greeters
The Guild of Cartoghraphers
The Guild of Maintainers
The Guild of Writers
The Guild of Messagers

besides all the blogs and other resources.

The Guild of Sleepers, one of the newest guilds, has a whole section dedicated to detailed information for new players.

As for the TOC team's background and OOC identities, I do not think it is relevant at all, nor do they have any obligation to disclose it. They are doing a great job and lots of us Myst gamers are grateful for their efforts and for making this space possible, and that's what really counts.

Thanks for your replies.

Yes I know about Myst Online and Uru Live. I am a player myself. I played Myst and all of the "episodes" through the years. I am a longtime fan. I thought that The Open Cave shards were something special, and not the same thing that Cyan is already running. (I had not heard of DI before at all.) And I know that "The Path of the Shell" is already incorporated into MO:ULa. I did not realize that it is being presented here as a separate shard.

Of course, no one is required to "reveal" who they are if they do not want to. Privacy can be very important to many people.
And, no I do not want to be rude or "aggressive" by asking. My motives are much more friendly.
What I am getting at is, if you are doing so much hard work, as an artist or programmer, and obviously as here on The Open Cave, working to contribute so much effort and service to the community, why wouldn't you want people to know who you really are?

It occurs to me that Uru Live was first introduced quite a while ago in the days before such sites as MySpace and Facebook, when anonymity and funny little avatar names were all the rage. These days, online communities have become so much more of a resource about real live people wanting to connect with others. I am surprised by the desire to keep oneself a 'secret" from people who would like to know you.

kindest regards,
"r'Ricard"

Hello Ricard,

Our MOULa shard is not exactly the same as Cyans shard. We have the same main content, but we have also many additions and are currently running a storyline. Sometimes we have some problems, but we are working on fixing them (btw. Markergames are playable soon )

About us: On our homepage is a tab, called "Team". You can find some informations about what we are doing there.

Some informations about me:
I am also known as "Christopher" in some forums. I live in Freiberg near Dresden (Germany) and study Applied Natural Science at the University in Freiberg. Currently I am also trying to learn C++, so I can help improve MOULa. Everything else you can find on the Team page.

Opa

Hi Ricard,
I have to thank Alien and RockArdemar. They already described everything about MYST/URU etc.

But I don't understand why you are so interested in our team - yeah, we're a team and I don't know why you are always speaking of Filtik.
However, as Opa stated, there is a "Team" page on our website where you can find information about us. Using other sources, e.g. viewing my homepage (yes, is in german), you have the possibility to get further information on me.

On the other hand, there is also something that I appreciate very much: Privacy. I see no reason why I should publish my whole biography including information on my private life on a fan shard website. And even if it is not a mystery I don't want to use my real name everywhere. IMHO, one should seperate real and virtual world, nowadays.

Another thing, if you want to learn something about my personality, why should I introduce myself that far? First of all, I am a quite concise person and I prefer to say things in a short and precise way. Therefore, I do not like to write episodes about myself. But I also think that a way to get to know people is not knowing their real names and biography and reading information but talking to them and developing an own opinion. You can decide if you like me after talking to me or evaluating what I do. Where is the difference between talking to Mystler or talking to my real name? How does knowing that I read these books and that I have those hobbies affect a usual conversation?

Just my 2ct...

Sorry, Guys.
Mea Culpa, Mystler. I did miss the "Team" Page.
It's good to know now that you are the three of you working together. That's admirable. That is exactly what I wanted to know.

You folks should realize, that how many of you, what are your ages, what is your training and education, are all the kind of information that is indeed important for a group like yourselves to reasonably provide, since you are, after all, soliciting PayPal donations to support you. I am eager to support such efforts, as I know others are also. But to send money to you without knowing these things, is unreasonable indeed.

This Myst fan community (especially on the Rel.to list) is filled with abandoned websites, ignored projects, and outdated information. There are also many wonderful examples of outstanding creative work. both artistic and technical. Most of us will not just send money into the unknown. A project like yours, as I am sure you can appreciate for yourselves, requires dedication, long hours, a lot of hard work, with a commitment to success. We want you to succeed. If it can be determined that your team has these qualities, i think you can expect to receive support from a wider range of sources.

kindest regards.
r'Ricard

I don't recall the TOC team asking for donations, Cyan yes, but not the TOC team.

Did I miss it somewhere?

EDIT
I see it now on the home page ....

Hello,
I remembered how this donation subject started a while back, someone asked to donate and could not find a way to do so. They asked the team to provide a way for them to donate, so the team did just that. You must know you are not being asked by the team to donate, but instead they are providing a way for those that wish to donate to do so. I went back into the forum and found this.

by Charura » Tue 18. Oct 2011, 23:12

Donate here? I'll do it in a minute...tell me how

This is the answer that was given

by Filtik » Wed 19. Oct 2011, 11:19

Since we did not expect a donation, we have disabled the button.
But someone wanted to donate something. Therefore we have activated it.
You can find the button on the right side of the portal page.

I hope now you understand how this came about, and I hope that you will join us in TOC. We would love to have you here with us.
Regards,
S'ni Day

I asked how. great. I got the tab. I'm an American. This leads me to a Paypal that I cannot read. I tried saying USD 50.00

but was afraid to continue because it says 50,00 I have a 15,000 max on this card...lol.....any help here... if good..you guys are doing a great job and I would like to help in this way..technically I'm an idiot...Oh..and I only sprechen zie American