Toyaanisqatsi ~ Source Material

Toyaanisquatsi and The Abominable Constable are based on this source material from Zesty of Xeniphers and her partner, Kirk of Xeniphers.

Facebook Group: URU − MOULa, Shards, and Beyond

One of the most beloved franchises in the genre of computer puzzle games is the Myst series from Cyan Worlds, which culminated in an online multi-user virtual reality called Uru. After Uru exhausted its profitable commercial run, Cyan Worlds was able to release the game to Open Source and hand it over to the loyal fans, who continued to develop non-commercial fan-crafted extensions.

On Facebook, there are some FB Groups connected to Uru and its open source fan-built extensions.

I recently joined one of those FB Groups that turned out to be administered entirely by one veteran fan who, I am sad to say, runs the group like her personal fiefdom, thus spoiling the collegial and congenial ambiance of the Uru Community Culture.

Because the fan-built ages vary greatly in complexity, some of them have virtually unsolvable puzzles that would stymy the most intrepid puzzle solvers familiar with the Myst franchise. One of the newest such puzzle ages involves a very arcane cipher that would only be recognized by a subject-matter boffin at the NSA. Not surprisingly, everyone got stuck on this age, which (in my judgment) would require a team effort by intrepid MIT graduates to successfully conquer from start to finish.

Other fan-built puzzles ages are not quite as intractable, but still hard enough that most visitors with a limited amount of time on their hands would quickly abandon the puzzles as way too challenging. And so there are forums and discussion groups where people can trade tips, tricks, and hints with each other. In the most intractable cases, the author of the section was obliged to show up and explain the most opaque and obscure elements because no one could solve it all the way through.

And so, I joined one of those threads where one visitor (who is actually an employee of Cyan Worlds) asked for help because he was utterly stumped.

And that's when the Admin of the FB Group decided to unilaterally and unceremoniously kibosh those of us who were analyzing and discussing this especially difficult and intractable puzzle age.

Here is a fragment of the last three comments before I was unceremoniously ejected from the FB group.

Christopher Fawkes on Facebook Messenger

December 31, 2015 - January 1, 2016

Barry Kort

Greetings, Christopher.

Just so that you won't be blind-sided when it comes out, I wanted to let you know that I'll be documenting my unpleasant experience with Zesty in the closed group, URU − MOULa, SHARDS and BEYOND, which she lamentably administers with an iron fist, in contravention of the collegial and congenial ambience of the Uru Community Culture. 

Feel free to review and contribute to the analysis and discussion when it comes out.

Dec 31, 2015

Christopher Fawkes

I feel that slander within the group should not be tolerated , I will back Zesty with her opinion , sharing spoilers within the game and in groups and forums is and always has been frowned upon .I am kindly asking you not to send any messages to me in the future.

Jan 1 · Sent from Web

Barry Kort

Uru teaches Systems Thinking along with Collaborative Learning and Collaborative Problem Solving. In science, an opinion is nothing more than an unexamined Working Hypothesis. In science, one is obliged to try like the dickens to falsify each and every hypothesis on the table, including the all-important Null Hypothesis. Zesty did not do that. She adopted a false working hypothesis and then acted on it as if it were the ground truth. That's not a reasonable way to behave in a scientific culture or a collegial and congenial learning community.

Jan 1

Barry Kort

So Christopher, come let us reason together, like college educated scholars.

Jan 1

Xenia Elizabeth Zilli on Facebook Messenger

January 1, 2016 - January 9, 2016

Xenia Elizabeth Zilli

Just to let you know, Christopher Fawkes is my RL partner and he shared the offensive message you sent him with me, which is "Just so that you won't be blind-sided when it comes out, I wanted to let you know that I'll be documenting my unpleasant experience with Zesty in the closed group, URU - MOULa, SHARDS and BEYOND, which she lamentably administers with an iron fist, in contravention of the collegial and congenial ambience of the Uru Community Culture".

Just to let you know that I will share your offensive comments too, the one you made after my gentle reminder NOT to post spoilers, where you called me self-pointed URU police.

As I said - ~It is not ok to give away how to complete parts of the game, what is written on a particular marker, or how to solve a particular puzzle, unless, the person is asking you to do that. It is also frowned upon to spoil the game in public chat, forums or groups (like this one) for your fellow players. If you are explaining to someone how to do something, play it safe and explain it in private chat or PM.~ this is what is "collegial and congenial ambience of the Uru Community Culture" ! sharing spoilers is simply NOT ok and it has never been regarded as 'collegial or congenial' !!!

As an creator and moderator of this group I can only ask people to respect each other. If they do not do that, I consider it my responsibility to prevent them to do it again in the future by warning them and if that doesn't work by deleting them.

I really feel sorry that your ego got hurt in the process, but you should have respected the group rules and the other members too, who sent me numerous messages about that thread and many spoilers that were posted there.

I also find it very cowardly that you went behind my back to my partner to slander me and gossip about me. perhaps you didn't know who is he, but that doesn't make things any better.

Jan 1 · Sent from Web