“Myst and Riven is well-written, interesting, on-topic, insightful, and a real pleasure to read.” —Edward Castronova, Indiana University Video games have become a major cultural force, and within their history, Myst and its sequel Riven stand out as influential examples. Myst and Riven: The World of the D’ni is a close analysis of two of the most popular and significant video games in the history of the genre, investigating in detail their design, their functionality, and the gameplay experience they provide players. While scholarly close analysis has been applied to films for some time now, it has only rarely been applied at this level to video games. Mark J. P. Wolf uses elements such as graphics and sound, the games’ mood and atmosphere and how they are generated, the geography and design of the digital worlds, and the narrative structures of the games to examine their appeal to both critical and general audiences, their legacy, and what made them great. Myst and Riven is the inaugural book in the Landmark Video Games series, edited by Mark J. P. Wolf and Bernard Perron, which is the first series to examine individual video games of historical significance. Mark Wolf is Professor of Communication, Director of the Mass Communication Program, and Director of the Multimedia Communication Major at Concordia University Wisconsin. MYST AND RIVEN THE WORLD OF THE D'NI By Mark J. P. Wolf THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS Copyright © 2011 Mark J. P. Wolf All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-472-05149-6 Contents Introduction.................................................................1The Myst Phenomenon..........................................................3Myst and the Adventure Game Genre............................................7Early Works of the Miller Brothers...........................................22The World of Myst............................................................35MYST ISLAND..................................................................39THE STONESHIP AGE............................................................51THE CHANNELWOOD AGE..........................................................54THE MECHANICAL AGE...........................................................60THE SELENITIC AGE............................................................62DUNNY (D'NI).................................................................68THE RIME AGE.................................................................70Beyond the Game: The Other Myst Products.....................................73From Myst to Riven: Subcreation and Expansion................................79The World of Riven...........................................................84TEMPLE ISLAND (DOME ISLAND)..................................................88JUNGLE ISLAND (VILLAGE ISLAND)...............................................91TAY (THE REBEL AGE)..........................................................96BOOK ASSEMBLY ISLAND (CRATER ISLAND).........................................98SURVEY ISLAND (MAP OR GARDEN ISLAND).........................................101THE 233RD AGE (GEHN'S OFFICE AND BEDROOM)....................................103PRISON ISLAND................................................................105Riven's Fortunes and the Rest of the Myst Series.............................106Myst's and Riven's Influence on the Adventure Game Genre.....................109Notes........................................................................113Glossary.....................................................................119Index........................................................................123 Chapter One THE MYST PHENOMENON The first time I encountered Myst was at the 1994 Digital World Expo in Los Angeles. A back room, away from the noise of the main convention halls, was lined with software booths where companies were promoting and hyping their latest products. Among them one vendor area stood out not for what it had, but for what it lacked: the lighting was minimal, almost dark, and there was no one to answer questions, not even a booth for that matter, just three white pedestals with computers on them, running the same program. The only signage was a white card that simply said "MYST" with no further explanation. Each computer displayed a different screen from the game, wherever the last participant had left off. Drawn by curiosity, conference attendees wandered into the quiet space and attempted to find out what exactly this low-profile piece of software was, an experience very much like the game itself, with no directions or obvious objective, just the free exploration of a contemplative landscape. And I (along with many others, no doubt) was hooked. In 1993, the same year Jurassic Park brought photorealistic computer-generated creatures to the big screen and the World Wide Web became worldwide on computer screens, Myst appeared and quickl