
How Myst Taught a Generation of Gamers to Explore New Worlds - bangonkeyboard
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/exploring-myst-25-years-later
======
mortenjorck
_> “It took me so many years to realize that the power of all games are not
with the characters but instead the actual environment.”_

This is an interesting thing to read from the co-creator of a game franchise
with a deep enough lore that multiple novels have been published in its
universe. The characters in the Myst series are not insignificant – certainly
the specter of Gehn in Riven, even though you actually meet him only briefly
at the end of the game, is ever-present as you explore the world he ruled and
bent to his will.

And yet, that seems to be exactly what Robyn Miller is talking about there:
The character of Gehn is important, but the player gets to know him not
through direct interaction, rather through exploring the environment. Gehn's
screen time is an afterthought to the character development that derives from
observing the obsessive details of the places he frequented and shaped. The
environment _is_ the character development.

Myst marked a turning point in environmental storytelling, and its effects
have been felt all the way from the golden age of first-person shooters into
the modern age of "walking simulators." Even when today's games take the
overused shortcut of audio logs to fill in the details, the stages they set
all track back to those curiously broken chairs in Sirrus' study that made you
ask "wait, what happened here?"

~~~
setr
My preferred model for describing games is: a simulation of some universe, and
a way to interact with it. In such a model, learning a story/plot through
interaction (with the simplified simulation) is only _natural_ , and
storytelling through direct means in the fashion of books/movies, in a game,
is clearly a hack, directly conflicting with the nature of a simulation.

And ofc myst was no innovator in this — environmental/interactive storytelling
was well established by interactive fiction (IFs), MUDs, text adventures, etc
— but it is the quintessential example for modern video games (but thats not
saying much imo, since few modern game developers seem to even believe games
actually existed before 1990, let alone learn from them)

And thats not to say that all games fit my described model well (eg asura’s
wrath has almost no simulation/interaction at all, but derives decent impact
from the qte mechanic) but at the same time, a lot of games that don’t fit the
model were doing a job in the wrong medium (the uncharted series has a
sufficiently engaging plot [kinda], but it was really just an action/adventure
plot told very innefficiently, with a sufficiently engaging but almost totally
seperate third-person shooter game interspersed. Both plot/gameplay would have
been better served by their own mediums, instead of being composed into an
awkward hybrid)

~~~
resu_nimda
I think the true innovators in that realm are games like Ultima Online and
Star Wars Galaxies, both of which were heavily influenced by Raph Koster, who
came from a background of roleplaying in MUDs.

There have been lots of "sandbox" games before and after, but those two really
captured the right balance between creating a rich world to explore and giving
the player(s) the tools to shape it and create their own stories. They really
understood the concept that "it takes a village" of different players and
playstyles to form a dynamic community. I think they were really ahead of
their time and hinted at what might be possible in terms of creating
compelling alternate realities in VR.

------
Simulacra
I can still hear Myst, the music, the sound of the tree as it rose into the
sky. Kerbam! Kerbam! As a kid I wanted few things more than to open a book one
day and find a linking page.

~~~
danaris
I remember being, at age 13 or so, in the library of the college my parents
taught at, a year or three after Myst came out, and finding a book that was
exactly the same (general) style as the linking books.

I have no idea what it actually contained at this late date, only that it was
infinitely disappointing that it was _not_ a linking panel. (Probably some
sort of dry research.)

------
sn41
I played Myst and Riven at a time when the internet connectivity was very
poor, so there were no tips or game guides to help. Got frustrated, me and my
friend started playing it as a duo in our spare times, and we would compare
notes afterwards. My friend later said that he would see an ordinary gate or a
wall, and think of ways around it or over it, for days after playing Myst.
Even now, I can remember some of the atmospheric backgrounds - the breezes,
the creaks etc. Very spooky and enchanting games. I don't know if I loved
them, just that they were an annoying part of my life for 2-3 months.

------
aidenn0
Myst was the only adventure game I abandoned playing. I just never felt
immersed; rather it felt like a so-so puzzle game with a bit of window
dressing.

------
JohnBooty
Gaming pretty much died for a while in my book when these games got popular.

Thanks to games' inferiority complex and desire to look "more like movies", we
temporarily ditched most of the things that made games unique in favor of a
bunch of laughable full motion video.

Calling these games "interactive" was an extra kick in the teeth, as they were
so much less "interactive" than even an early video game like Frogger, Pac-
Man, or Robotron where you had multiple (or perhaps over a hundred, in
Robotron's case) objects moving around the screen, in real time, at 60fps,
each behaving according to its own rules.

Luckily, the industry eventually corrected itself and swung back to creating
the kinds of highly kinetic experiences that are unique to the medium.

~~~
laurieg
It's a shame because games can be so much more than movies.

Her Story[1] manages to pair an interesting mechanic with with an engaging
story. I really recommend setting aside an evening to try it if you haven't
already.

It's a shame that the games industry seems to be allergic to using video in
games. You can have video with interactivity and story-telling all in one
package.

[1] [http://www.herstorygame.com/](http://www.herstorygame.com/)

~~~
ric2b
Really neat short game!

It's much better than L.A. Noire at making you feel like a detective and that
moment when you figure out what happened is amazing.

The mechanics are limited so it only works a short experience, thankfully it
doesn't overstay it's welcome.

------
rhcom2
I played Myst way too young. I couldn't figure out any of the puzzles and
still remember just randomly pressing piano buttons but the atmosphere was so
much fun to explore.

~~~
SlowRobotAhead
That damn piano... I’m pretty tone deaf and had no idea what to do there.

------
sbr464
I thought it was really interesting that the first version was written in
HyperCard.

~~~
The_suffocated
(And it was ridiculed by some back then as an "interactive slide show".)

If I remember correctly, Myst was a pioneer (if not revolutionary) in a number
of areas:

1\. It was one of the first computer games that were distributed with CD-ROM.

2\. It was THE first computer game that was distributed ENTIRELY with CD-ROM.

3\. It was probably the first computer game outside the racing/flight
simulator/FPS genres that emphasised a first-person perspective.

4\. It was probably the first computer game that used pre-rendered 2D
backgrounds.

5\. It was the first adventure game that isn't dialogue-based or inventory-
based (it has a small inventory, but mainly for storing documents rather than
tools; if I remember correctly, the first Myst game has only one "tool" that
can be "used" at the end of the game). Myst was exploratory. The player wasn't
told to achieve any goal.

It also remained as the top best-selling computer game for a half-decade. Its
sales record (six million copies) was surpassed only by Half-Life and
StarCraft in 1998, five years after Myst was released.

~~~
Lorkki
Myst was predated - and for some time, outsold - slightly by The 7th Guest,
which was very similar in all those respects.

Neither of them were the first graphical adventure games without an inventory,
as Loom had come out three years before. Several had likewise been in a first
person view, perhaps most notably the MacVenture series in the 80s. The first
CD-ROM game was The Manhole in 1989, which had the same designers as Myst.

Generally speaking, none of the individual pieces were particularly
innovative, but Myst pulled them off well enough and in a simple enough
package to appeal to people who didn't want to _learn_ to play a game. That's
a merit unto itself.

~~~
The_suffocated
Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. What I meant was that Myst was the first
adventure game that was _neither_ inventory based _nor_ dialogue based. The
Loom and The 7th Guest did have no inventories, and technically they weren't
dialogue based either (there weren't any dialogue trees that decided how the
stories progressed), but they relied quite heavily on dialogues/monologues to
advance the stories. In contrast, inventory and dialogues/monologues were
almost non-existent in Myst, and the player wasn't told a background story at
the outset. This was _very_ unusual in that era.

And I also didn't say that Myst was the first CD-ROM game. What I said was
that Myst was the first game that was distributed _entirely_ with CD-ROM.
(Actually The 7th Guest was the first, but it and Myst were released in the
same year. ) The Manhole, according to Wikipedia, was released on floppies
first.

------
GarrisonPrime
Half of these comments note how Myst captured the imagination. The other half
make it clear how the authors had no imagination to spark.

Myst arrived at a turning point in computer gaming, where what it provided
gamers was so much beyond what had come before the mind filled in the gaps (as
gaping as they truly were, with our 20/20 hindsight).

Sad that some cannot even comprehend what this means.

~~~
TylerE
People like what they like. Stop trying to gatekeep.

~~~
nickpeterson
What if what they like is trash?

~~~
PhasmaFelis
So what? It's not hurting you.

~~~
nickpeterson
I would content that it does, but the effect is pretty minor.

------
webwanderings
I can still feel the sounds of Riven in my mind. It was fun moving around and
touching things.

------
te_chris
Not this gamer. My dad got me a copy and I tried for a couple of hours to get
past the first bit, couldn’t, and gave up forever. Evidently my brain is not
suited to that stuff.

------
debt
Myst was the first game that made me feel I was somewhere else.

------
sethammons
I can recall seeing the back of the CD jewel case as a kid. The scenes were
stunning! I can also recall the utter disappointment when it was not something
you could walk through and it was point and click. Expectations were not
managed well in my case, and I never gave the game a chance after that. It
also didn't help that it was installed on a friend's computer, so access
alongside boredom did not readily present itself to compel me to try again.

~~~
Endy
Did you ever try RealMyst after that? It sounds like the experience you were
looking for.

~~~
woah
I recently downloaded both. The point and click version plays better.

------
nuguy
Myst and even riven were great but very poorly designed and thought out. When
you play for the first time there’s a huge hump to get over because you don’t
know where the puzzle makers are coming from. I tended to overthink the
puzzles and over-estimate their difficulty on first finding them, something I
think can lead to people abondoning he game when they don’t need to. The
witness did a great job of easing the player into things. You know exactly who
is behind these puzzles and so you never lose your sense of direction so to
speak. Also, the interface of myst and riven are very clunky. Clicking the
side of the screen sometimes makes you do a 180 but other times only 90. Your
sense of space and ability to navigate is totally fucked in myst and riven. I
think a game that cleaned that up and added animations between stationary
scenes would be very good.

------
joshschreuder
What's the best way to play Myst these days? realMyst?

~~~
jammygit
There is a new game by the creators called 'Obduction' you could try out. I
think its equally playable in VR and not-VR

[https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/how-
brothe...](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/how-brothers-
behind-myst-reunited-to-create-mysterious-new-vr-world-172611/)

edit - technolust isn't exactly a myst clone, but if you like the genre its a
decent first person adventure game with a killer soundtrack

~~~
Smaug123
I tried Obduction recently, but it has _so_ much walking just to be in the
right place to solve part of a puzzle. I've given up on it for that reason.
The Myst series did this better, I think: you never really discovered that
actually you were an entire world's length away from where you needed to be to
solve the obstacle in front of you. (Possibly I'm just bad at the game.)

------
torgian
Must intrigued me, but when I played it as a kid I never got into it. Just
felt like a puzzle game that was boring.

However, the books that were part of the Myst universe drew me in. I loved the
books.

------
reidjs
Loved myst as a kid. A game I played recently that recreated that sense of
wonder and exploration was the Talos Principle. Should definitely try it if
you enjoyed the Myst series.

~~~
ido
Have you tried The Witness? [http://the-witness.net/](http://the-witness.net/)

~~~
wetpaws
I second Witness. Quern is also good, probably closest game to Myst you can
ever find :
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/512790/Quern__Undying_Tho...](https://store.steampowered.com/app/512790/Quern__Undying_Thoughts/)

------
mogigoma
The games themselves are mediocre, but the trilogy of novels (at least the
first two), and the Myst and Riven soundtracks are things I will cherish
forever.

------
ngcc_hk
Not playing myself but my wife and her cousin who happen to stay. Play for
months and they keep notes. I was stunned only the graphics. The pc then was
horrible compared to the mac environment. I do not know that it is faked 3D.
But it looks very real to me then.

------
calypso
Just today I was looking through old boxes at my parents house. I found my
Myst and Riven CDs. I remember playing these games as a kid after my
grandfather gave them to me so I would play something other than Doom.

------
k__
I never played Myst, but lately I played Quern and The Talos Principle.

Pretty intense games.

------
WalterBright
It was ADVENT with a gui interface.

~~~
Endy
Arguably, Myst has a more unique and deeper setting than Colossal Cave
Adventure / ADVENT. Maybe it's Zork with a GUI, then, but I still love text
adventure games (and seriously there's some great innovation still happening
with the style, so I know I'm not alone). Therefore, I don't see that as a
pejorative. Rather, I'd say that Myst accomplished what games like
King's/Space/Police Quest couldn't - they split the adventure game genre,
showing how to get away from the text parser - if you want to. I like the more
personal, serene experience of a classical turn-based adventure game and the
puzzle-solving element still excites me. I've only seen a few games that
scratch that itch the way Myst did (and still does).

~~~
WalterBright
I didn't mean it as a pejorative, just that the game play concept was almost
identical to that of ADVENT. Instead of typing "go west" you just clicked.

The innovation was in the graphics, which really pushed the boundaries of what
could be done on a computer of that era.

