Uru Resurrects Fan-Operated Multiplayer Shards

ToriaUru writes "Over at Cyanworlds.com, there's now a newly launched Until Uru page, providing fans with all the information they need to download a new client and/or create their own server for the canceled online part of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. Thanks to all the hard working people at Cyan who made this happen!" We previously reported on Uru Live's cancellation, and the Until Uru FAQ, along with a 'giant gnarly disclaimer', explains the downloadable add-ons are "enabling independently run [fan-maintained] servers that any client can connect to... this is not URU Live" - though there is a "nominal fee" of $5.95 for player authentication for those who want to try the service.

Can server owners add content?

[amorsen]

It seems like they cannot. What then will distinguish each server, and what is the point of the whole exercise?

Re:Can server owners add content?

[damnal]

Aparently the point is that users will be able to talk to each other in the environments... seems a little superfluous to me. Why not fire up the single player game and an IM client, same effect without the 5.95 authentication fee.

Re:Can server owners add content?

[rizzo5]

because then you can't impress others with your cool cone balancing skills or play games of hide and seek or other such fun nonsense, hee

Re:Can server owners add content?

[EMR]

Users can customize each server.. Enable and disable certain things in their neghborhood and tweak different settings in each age. And it's all about community. My website has some more information about customizing your Shard. Until URU Server Wiki [outoforder.cc]

Re:More Flamebait (from a 10-year MMOG dev).

[greatbob6]

Maybe the reason for releasing this is not so much a matter of "Artificially prolonging the life of URU's fanbase to make an extra buck" but rather so people who enjoyed exploring through Uru's worlds together or just meeting and chatting in the neighborhoods can continue to do so. Maybe this is for the fans and has nothing to do with money. Maybe the very small charge is simply to reimburse a small amount of the money that Cyan put in just to release these updates to the community. Uru Live did die, but

Re:More Flamebait (from a 10-year MMOG dev).

[TheDuckie]

Even if it is merely a gift to fans, calling it 'Until URU' seems unnecessarily cruel. Cyan has gone down an extra notch on this one in my book. There's already much fan speculation about where UU might lead and efforts to promote it to the uninitiated (as if an unpopular underdeveloped freebie will now become popular since you have to pay for it). They're offering it up bugs and all with no new content and the additional complications of volunteer servers (and what should one expect as URU gets jeri-rigg

Re:Let it die.

[Availle]

I think it's great that people are at least given the opportunity to have their game back. There were a lot of people who would have spent a monthly fee just to keep URU going the way it was during it's beta phase, and they are now getting what they want, almost for free. That's not a bad idea, and the 6$ are giving Cyan a part of the money back which it lost during URU Live.

Re:Let it die.

[wolf530]

Anyone with a mild interest in the Uru community will see that this is going to be a hit "in the meantime" (between now, when they launch Myst: Revelations, and when another Myst-online game is launched). Uru had a rabid (if small) following, just like any other MMORPG, and there has been some serious grieving for the loss of the Online version of the game.

From what I can tell, Uru just didn't have time to get off the ground. It suffered from an extremely poor launch, due to clerical errors and unprepare