3/27/2006

Myst: My Cybersmith Quest Remembered

Back in the day, you know, like '96 or something, My brother lived in Boston with our parents. On the weekends, my Dad used to take us to Harvard Square where we chilled in the shops, ate in the classic spots and took in intellectual culture. The coolest thing that was ever in Harvard Square was Cybersmith, an uber cool internet cafe from the first age of the internet.(http://www.ibiblio.org/cmc/mag/1995/mar/jason.html)

My memories of that place are limited, but I remember a bunch of internet access stations, hubs of gaming computers and an awesome Virtual Reality station where others would watch you navigate an digital world as you donned a visor and gloves. One day, while cruising through Cybersmith, I noticed two men playing a strange game with unbelievably clear graphics. This was an age of sonic the hedgehog and extremely pixelated TV gaming. What I saw on the monitor that day was more than a game, it was a dream sequence.

The men who were playing looked perplexed and enthralled. They were taking notes on the game and had a large bible of notes from a bookseller called Unlocking MYST. Under their breath, they mumbled thanksgiving from the guide text. "Thank God we bought this, we would have never figured this out otherwise." They may have been Harvard men, but I suppose they were Engineers. Who knows, they may have been intellectual wannabes, desperately trying to decipher the greatest puzzle of computer gaming's middle age.

They left the computer hub a few minutes later and left the game up. I watched them leave and then proceeded over to the computer. There was a minute and a half left on the session. I strolled casually around the digital landscape trying to figure what was going on. The game seemed to have no point and was only alluring in the randomness of the landscape. But something kept me there, something kept me searching and trying to figure the game out. The session ended suddenly and I looked up. My Dad refused to pay for a computer game and we walked on.

Recently, I remembered Cybersmith and Myst during a mundane Calc class. I dreamed of playing the game again, and this time, conquering the epic macintosh puzzle. I have enlisted the services of friends to help me achieve my dreams. Together, as Project Myst, we will conquer the game in the our senior spring and achieve ultimate nirvana.

This is what I am after.

This is why I come to you.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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