The Myst and I story

[emma]

I have come to realize that my hole having a computer at home is because of this game. When somebody showed me Myst and let me try, I just knew I had to play it. At the time my then boss had offered peeps to buy computers and I figured I had just seen what I could use it for. So I bought it, it was a a Quadra, macintosh. I was very inexperienced in the ways of gaming and such, didn't even know that this was an adventure game!

When Riven arrived, I still had my old Quadra but realized it wasn't a good enough computer, even though I managed to play Riven on it. So I started shopping around for a PC. Had found that I was kind of partial to that genre, adventure games. Played most games that was released for mac, but now the Quadra had become antiquated and a upgrade was due. So I went and bought myself the computer I'm sitting at now. It's old now, three years, but had figured it had another year coming before getting a new one. It's not like I'm made out of cash!

Well well well... Uru comes along. I'm excited. I've got the bandwidth, I got the mind to it, got the... then somebody scares the crap outta me in mirc, asking me, do you think that your vid card will be able to hold up? Heartburn and recalculations, different prioritizing the financial status... I just got to get me the computer right?

So adventure gaming, has in a big way contributed to the microsoft net income, I am now on the prowl for a new computer! LOL! Gad... Why didn't knitting turn me on like this?

[Crunchy in milk]

LOL! Gad... Why didn't knitting turn me on like this?

Maybe you should try needlepoint (http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/2003/08/12/game_heroine_invades_bucolic_needlepoint_landscape s_wreaks_aesthetic_havoc.html)...

I enjoyed myst, not so much for the puzzles (many where above me at that age, and still are even at this age :D) no, I loved the exploration. It's the biggest draw card in any game for me (Maybe this is why I enjoyed the many pixel hunts in the Tex Murphy games so).

With Myst I took heaps of screenshots and set them in a slideshow to music in an application much like MSpowerpoint (but it wasn't around then) all timed and edited. I got a lot more enjoyment out of that than actually playing the game.

I never played Riven, but the love of exploration and taking keep sake screenshots has stuck with me throughout many other games. I won't be getting Uru any time near its release I'll wager, but it would be nice to explore vicariously via screenshots taken by those who do... *hint hint*

[Skinny Minnie]

Emma,

You could just try upgrading your video card to a newer one first, and see if Uru will play then. Just make sure you meet the system requirements for Uru otherwise, first. If your CPU speed is okay but your RAM is barely enough or not enough, it's not too expensive to add more RAM, too... You won't stave off the inevitable forever, though... :devil:

Forgive me, I ran a computer upgrades department for several years. :D

[fov]

i have started getting shivers when people ask me the video card question. my computer is less than 2 years old but the video card is only a GeForce2 (long story, mainly due to my own obtusness... or is it obtusity?) it's 128 MB, but still, i'm bracing for the day it's just not good enough...

i commented to my boyfriend recently that i may need to get a new card one of these days and he said "oh good, then you can give me yours." he doesn't play games and initially teased me for buying a 128 MB card at all ("what are you going to do with all those megabytes?!") but funny how the tables have turned now that i'm thinking of upgrading...

-emily

[Tom_K]

The only daunting thing to me, which subsequently keeps me from being overly excited about URU - is there's no sense of accomplishment or closure. It's just supposed to go on and on and...I don't have time for that! I like my adventures in nice little chunks. Like a book that you can dog-ear at a chapter end. Maybe I'll change my mind, we'll see. :)

[Garyos]

Uru seems much more alluring to me now than ever before... Especcially because I know my new computer can take it... But whenever I read previews about the "Neighbourhoods" you can have in the game I think of you guys and how COOL an AGs neighbourhood would be... And then we could have puzzle competitions with the JA+ neighbourhood and then we would have a barbecue and we would laugh and play and sing.... I mean, if EQ whores can get this much into MMORPGS, why can't we? :z

[bigjko]

The only thing that really bothers me still. I have a good computer now, so I'll run it fine. I'll most likely be able to afford the online fee. But, will there be enough people for it to become a success. Cause if it's not, the fee we're paying won't really keep the project up, and then it's no content time for us poor saps.

[emma]

Emma,

You could just try upgrading your video card to a newer one first, and see if Uru will play then. Just make sure you meet the system requirements for Uru otherwise, first. If your CPU speed is okay but your RAM is barely enough or not enough, it's not too expensive to add more RAM, too... You won't stave off the inevitable forever, though... :devil:

Forgive me, I ran a computer upgrades department for several years. :D

LOL! I tried that... ;) I now have a perfectly good vid-card on my shelf, that refuses to work in this computer. Go figure... :P Seem this baby can't take 64 mb vid cards! To be honest though, I'm going to keep this one, it's still good, even if not great, have also receive my brother's old computer, so I'm getting myself a switch and a router. I know, I feel completely geeky, I'll be having three computers LMAO! The older ones will be great for the older games I figure, not going to loose that opportunity. Now, if I only could find a bigger apartment to fit all this in...

[fov]

oh, sorry, i lied. my video card is 64 MB, not 128.

i like the idea of the adventuregamers neighborhood in URU... but probably not enough to pay the monthly fee. i'm cheap that way.

-emily

[Intrepid Homoludens]

http://the-luggage-shop.com/victorinox-swiss-army-knife-rambler.jpg

I originally purchased a computer for my writing (original intent was laptop for portability but ended up getting desktop for price). As it turned out, I discovered the world of PC gaming on a lark, mistakenly getting a PC version of the erstwhile Incite magazine instead of the usual console version (for my Playstation). It came with a demo disk - Gabriel Knight 3, Quake III, and an video interview with Warren Spector on the soon-to-be released Deus Ex. I installed the GK3 demo, and haven't looked back since.

What I came to realize over time was that my PC has become my 21st century lifestyle's Swiss Army knife. I can do everything on it, beyond writing and emails. As I'm an artist and designer it's indespensible to me, as research tool it never ceases to allow me access to all corners of the world. I've particularly decided that computer gaming is highly integral to my life and serves to augment it, and I interpret adventure games and action/adventures to be the imaginative extensions (but never replacements) of exploring a new neighbourhood, forming a new friendship, acting on a new whim, or panning my eyes across a sweeping vista from a new vantage point.

I've decided that computer gaming - and computers in general - are just as valid neutral tools for living as cars and other machines, and as such depend on their users, who'll use them constructively, or abuse them, or change lives with them, or use them as psychological crutches. I think that comes around full circle with me. Much of what I write focuses on the complexities and volitilities of human relationships and identities. There are a good number of adventure games that do this too, varying in their degrees of sophistication in handling the themes (GK3, TLJ, Syberia, etc.). This is the ultimate exploration and adventuring that I fell in love with in my discovery of the adventure game. And this is ultimately one great reason I've decided to invest myself more in computer gaming, embracing the technology not because of its 'cool factor', but because it offers yet another grand scenic bridge to understanding and affirming human experience.

http://www.stupid-boy.com/smilies/otn/other/jpshakehead.gif Now if only the game developers would focus more on what I've just explained than on the cool-shit-features of the latest graphics cards, we'd all get on much better, yes?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Oh, and regarding Uru...

According to the previews Cyan plans to give us a few months of complimentary sample online play as opposed to the free one month most MMORPGs offer. This seems fair enough, as Uru's premise is gradual unfoldings of new corners of worlds to explore, a few months free should allow us plenty of time to discover the game's nuances and - this is key to snagging our subscription money - plenty of time to form new friendships with other diehard adventure gamers online in what looks to be the ultimate place for digital liasons: a very beautiful world to hang out in, where you can travel to your heart's content, and unlock new places and secrets on a regular basis. Whether this will be embraced by the market remains to be seen, but I'll tell you right now, a crapload of it depends entirely on how CyanWorlds and UbiSoft market the game (the games industry is horrible at marketing, particularly to mainstream markets). They had better use the best methods possible, because it's going to take a lot more than a few hundred subscribers to sustain the Uru universe.

[remixor]

http://www.stupid-boy.com/smilies/otn/other/jpshakehead.gif Now if only the game developers would focus more on what I've just explained than on the cool-shit-features of the latest graphics cards, we'd all get on much better, yes?

Who are you, and what have you done with Trep? :eek:

I'm kidding of course. I very much agree with your second to last paragraph in that post. While I believe that games are still in a process of maturation, they can be just as valid as forms of expression as any other form of media. I may post more on my feelings about this later, but it's 2:30 am and I should go to bed early for once.

[James]

My family bought a PC years ago for miscellaneous use, word processing, research, and games I suppose. It wasn't long, however, before the primary use was evidently gaming. We upgraded two years ago, to the PC I'm currently using. Coupled with this, I got an Alienware Area-51m for my 18th birthday, and for my excellent results in my finals [in top 5% of the country].

I bought Myst and Riven years ago, but only played partially through both. I just find them boring. The lack of interactivity, the static nature of the enviroment made it very difficult for me to appreciate any sort of gameplay, or atmosphere. I can see why one may like them, for the puzzles are complex and intriguing, though more often than not, in my opinion, also deeply frustrating.

[fov]

i agree with the swiss army knife analogy (except for me, i'd say that my computer has replaced my television... i'm not the type to carry around a swiss army knife!)

I originally purchased a computer for my writing (original intent was laptop for portability but ended up getting desktop for price).

that's funny... i am absolutely incapable of writing on my desktop. i get too tempted to check my email or play a game "just for a minute..." :rolleyes:

i snagged a laptop from my first job when the company went under... it's set up in the kitchen where i write. the desktop is for everything else.

:D emily

[twifkak]

I'm amazed by the whole social phenomenon that has arisen within and without the computer. It's like flashmobbing, only not as sucky.

[Tamara]

my hole having a computer at home
*choke* re-reading that I just got a <dirty mind>


:pan:
self


:rolleyes:

<cough>





To write something vaguely on-topic, I can very rarely type up 'proper' writing (as opposed to forum posts), I won't be able to collect my thoughts sufficiently. To write anything serious, I need to do it longhand, with paper and pen. Then I type it out after.

[Skinny Minnie]

Lol Emma, you beat me to it, huh? I hope you get an Uru-capable rig going by November... :crazy: But yeah, definitely keep an older PC around for the older games. I have a beloved Pentium 200 MHz that still serves me well, and even most of the old DOS games play fine on it...

To write anything serious, I need to do it longhand, with paper and pen. Then I type it out after.

That's interesting, Tamz! Jeez, I can't even stand addressing envelopes by hand! ;) I've been typing stories since I was nine and I bought an old, used typewriter at a flea market, so when PCs gained popularity I had no problems continuing my writing there. This may be in part because I am a left-hander with handwriting worse than your average doctor's, though... :shifty:

[Kingzjester]

We've had a computer ever since Moses changed his mind, turned around and went back into the desert. My father is a programmer. He programmed for mainframes for the Yugoslavian Railroads back when Yugoslavia was bigger and had a red star on the flag. I still remember the rubber Spectrum keyboard thing that you could spill your coffee over and not worry about contacts and the like... they should make more keyboards like that. And the sound it made was cool too. The first PC we had was a 286 way back when those were expensive... The first game I played was Tetris, when it was new. One of my first adventures was Indy and the Last Crusade.

[remixor]

I had a computer from a very young age because my mom needed one for running financial spreadsheet software for her job. It forced me to learn DOS pretty well, back in those good old pre-Windows days. My first computer was an IBM XT, 4.77mHz and the first computer ever to use a hard disk. Oh yeah. I didn't get a new computer until the 486 came out, which was a hell of a lot later. I honestly don't even remember what my first adventure game was, but I do know that the first one I completed was Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and it took me bloody months. Man, was I proud of myself though. That game rules.

Like Minnie, I can hardly stand writing by hand. It takes me about four times as long to write anything as it does to type the same amount.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I write effortlessly either way, by hand or by keyboard. I write using the 'puter at home, and I keep my moleskin journal in my backpack for sudden bursts of inspiration or to pen my day's nuances. Who the hell's to say that a digital diary combined with a handwritten one is wrong? I think it's marvelous.

[emma]

Tamara! *giggle giggle snort* hole.... *laughs some more* Sorry about that peeps! I wont edit, figure some comic relief is always welcome! ;)

I love writing in long-hand. Just love it, but the freaky part is that I used to be a good speller, and since having turned to typing more and more, having the back-space eraser somehow made me less careful when I write with a pen. I actually find myself MISSING the back-space key when writing in long-hand!!!!

Hehehehe, reminds me of a friend that dreamt that she had a piece of paper in front of her, and she just couldn't figure out how to make it scroll...

[Tamara]

Well, I went to a relatively old-fashioned school, handwriting lessons and all for the younger kids. :D Hell, even at 6th form, very few people would accept typed homework, so writing is .. normal to me. I was a quick kid, so I learnt to write extremely fast so that I could keep up with my head. In fact, in exams I still finish an hour or so before everyone, not cos I think faster, but cos I write faster. I've also got neat handwriting (well one of my handwritings, my natural one .. long story), so ..

But in any case, it's not that typing is too slow for me, I'm a fast typist too, though probably not as fast as I write. It's just that sitting in front of a screen seems to suck the thoughts out of me .. dunno. It's possibly the background noise that bothers me (when I concentrate, I concentrate), or the fact that I'm used to writing while I think. Whatever :)

PS Emma: I have the opposite spelling problem. I can be a relatively sloppy typist, sometimes, but you'll never ever spot a spelling mistake in something I actually *write* - writing is somehow more fluid for me.

[twifkak]

Offtopic:
I still remember the rubber Spectrum keyboard thing that you could spill your coffee over and not worry about contacts and the like... they should make more keyboards like that. And the sound it made was cool too.
There have been a few keyboard retrospectives on slashdot, believe it or not. Check it out, if you want to hear similar stories of keyboard love, find out about other old school keyboard, read up on the evil keyboard conspiracy that led to today's keyboards being so much crappier, or find out where to buy an old one.

Ontopic:
Is there a topic?

Any way, I can pretty much only write on the computer, because I don't often think linearly, and because my mommy says I'm dysgraphic. I've always been a very good speller (though, recently, I've been confusing the 'ent's and 'ants').

My first computer was a HotStart (a company that took DOS and infused their own crappy pre-Windows thing, which I subsequently learned to disable) 286, at 8MHz (12 MHz when turboed :cool: ), and my second was a top-of-the-line 486 DX 25 MHz. Good stuff. Of course, I had been playing with computers at school before (including a Texas Instruments one.. also good stuff).

[fov]

the first computer-like thing we had at home was a texas instruments. my parents still have it... i might steal it and bring it home with me when i visit them in october. we had a bunch of games like munchman and parsec... but the best were the Adventure text games, which were stored on audio tapes... you had to connect a tape player to the computer to get the data onto the screen!

this was followed by a Compaq running DOS (no idea of the specs, but this was pre-3.5" floppies), an Apple IIGS, a mac LC, and finally a mac LCII. played a lot of adventures (sierra mostly), and bought a CD drive so we could play Myst. my dad bought me a mac performa 550 when i went to college but it soon became but a big doorstop. didn't use a windows machine until i was almost 20! but then i learned quickly. :D

-emily