Myst is a game which challenges one's thinking skills more than one's hands. It is a game not of twitch reflex but of keen observation and critical thinking — truly, a challenge which stands alone in its class. But that portion of the game was not what made me nostalgic; no, it was memories of the worlds that Myst created.Myst centers around Ages, which are manifested as small islands with no physical connection to one another. Each of the Ages is distinct: the architecture, music, and story told by each is unlike the others, but all are intertwined in the mystery which the player must solve. It is this aspect of Myst which I recall so vividly — worlds so immersive that one could become lost for hours in their magic, much as I once did.
After finishing perusing my old games I sat down at my desk and, after carefully blowing the dust from the disc, installed and loaded the game. I was struck at once with a flood of thoughts as the introduction rolled by and I was thrown back into the world I had loved so much.
"I realized the moment I fell into the fissure that the book would not be destroyed as I had planned. It continued falling into that starry expanse, of which I had only a fleeting glimpse. I have tried to speculate where it might have landed, but I must admit that such conjecture is futile. Still, questions about whose hands might one day hold my Myst book are unsettling to me. I know my apprehensions might never be allayed, and so I close, realizing that perhaps the ending has not yet been written."But something was different. Something was not the way it had been my first journey through the Ages. The ecstasy of discovery was not present as it had been. I realized the true power behind the Ages of Myst.
The first time we see a world, there is an emotion which results — an emotion which can only come from the astonishment of coming into a world that is new, unexplored...pristine. Not a foot has been set there, and you will never again be able to see the world untouched.
It is that feeling that I have fruitlessly chased for so many years. It is novelists like Orson Scott Card, musicians like C418, game developers like Markus Persson — these are people who understand the joy of discovery.
Since that time I have tried to find that life and put it into my work. It is difficult to channel: once I find a world that I find interesting I am either lost in it or fail to fully render the idea on paper. The ability to fully convey a fictional world to another is one that I admire and desire, and will continue to pursue throughout my life.
Cormac, I for one know exactly the feeling you describe. Because I have a design-oriented mind, my moments of awe come from beautiful landscapes, such as my first glimpse of Halo. However, I think that the joy of these moments do not stop after the initial discovery. When I revisited The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, I remembered the first time I saw the great sea, the first time the Tower of the Gods rose from the sea, etc. This nostalgia does not only come from video games, though. When I listened to a Bruce Springsteen album that I had left untouched for ages, I could instantly remember various events in my life that happened contemporaneously with my hearing of this song. So overall, I agree that you can never truly repeat that feeling of awe that you get from experiencing a digital masterpiece, but the work’s ability to capture whatever you felt like at the time of your experience is almost as powerful as the initial discovery itself.
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