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In the mid-2000’s, Cyan Worlds, creators of the massively popular adventure game Myst, released an ambitious online sequel that never caught on the way they'd hoped. Myst Online: Uru Live sought to translate the single-player puzzle-solving experience of the Myst series into a collaborative, massively multiplayer online game.

The game had a rocky reception and its online component was compromised from the beginning. It underwent a series of cancellations and relaunches, but in the end it only survived thanks to its dedicated player base. Players carried the game on their backs for years, hacking together fan servers to reimplement much of the online experience the way it was always meant to be. They even formed their own in-game governance structures to improve the player experience. These efforts were so successful that they eventually drew the support of the developers themselves.

We spoke with an ardent member of this player community about his time spent in Uru during its heyday and today.