Expand your Playground

Hello… is this thing on… Ever since I said I wasn’t going to talk about work on here anymore it seems people have left. Funny thing about blogs... you need to write in them or people don’t come back. I can’t say how often I will post but I should really talk about some interesting things happening in my work life.

A few months back GameTap, a subsidiary of parent company Turner; announce that Uru Live would return this holiday season. A few former co-workers asked me what I thought of the announcement. How should I feel? GameTap was reviving a product I had obsessed about for years. They were bringing life back to a product that I was hired at Cyan Worlds for. GameTap was going to give a chance to something that some in the gaming community said was a failure. How was I supposed to feel?

The truth of the matter is I was very upset when Uru Live was canceled the first time around. This might have shown thru in some cryptic blog posts at the time. I felt like so many that it wasn’t given a chance. I can’t blame any one individual for the demise of Uru Live the first time around. It happened. It was weird that as soon as it was canceled I wasn’t worried about the product anymore, but my own job and my co-workers being laid-off. I thought I would be the first to go. Someone like Bill or Tony pulling my aside one afternoon and saying “well Ryan I have some bad news”. That never happened. Of course most of us know the rest of the story. Expansion packs and Myst 5 and then the closure. Then we here the news… Turner is interested in working with Cyan. Uru Live is coming back this holiday season.

Yes, the closure the first time around was heartbreaking. As a community we really need to see this time is different. I can still see many in the community worried that it won’t launch again. Worried to get excited for something all over again and then see it fade away.

I am here to tell you it's different this time.

It just feels different. Here is an example – David Reid, Vice President of marketing at GameTap, taking time out of his very busy schedule to have a meeting in the cavern with the community.

Other folks like Trent and Ron who really want to see Uru Live take off and become the product we know it can be.

Finally, you have Blake who can see potential in a product, see an Uru community who still longs for the game they believe in and help make the dream of Uru Live’s return a reality.

It’s getting late here and I’ll probably have to go thru this tomorrow and correct all the typos, but let me tell you why I am really writing tonight.

How much do you want Uru Live?

Recently, Cyan Worlds, Inc. made a post asking the community to sign up for GameTap. We wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t going to help Cyan and Uru Live in some form. I understand the reasons some have decided to refrain from signing up at this time. I could explain the many reasons why you should sign-up for GameTap, but instead I’ll explain why I signed up GameTap.

GameTap is allowing a game that I obsessed about for years to return. They are bringing back to life a product that from the first time I heard about it made me want more. I need to show my support as a fan and not as an employee of Cyan Worlds, Inc. When Uru was happening the last time, I joked that if we sold 1,000,000 boxes I would get a tattoo. I don’t feel the need to make a contest to see how many people can sign up. Maybe I will do something crazy if we get a truckload of subscribers. Just remind yourself that GameTap is only about 35 cents a day. So I ask everyone in the United States.

How bad do you want Uru Live?

You want it bad? It’s time to show it. Link

All you international folks, for now, please sign Ron’s petition.

Thank you for reading

Ryan “Greydragon” Warzecha
Uru Live Community Manager and fan
Currently Playing – Kings Quest 1 on GameTap