Cyan CTO Mark "Chogon" DeForest said in a community board letter that despite having a plan in place, cheerfully titled the "Myst Online: Restoration Experiment (MORE)," there are some "hurdles to overcome." Among the necessary compromises will be an implementation of a $25 fee for a six month subscription.

"We are not trying to make any money on this at this stage - but we do need to cover some of the costs," he said.

"You should know that the roadmap does not involve any new content from Cyan at this time. The plan is to start to move the content creation - the 'Art' - to you. In addition the guilds themselves will start to exercise some authority in monitoring, approving, communicating, etc."

Kotaku also spoke to Chogon about when the bigger, better, faster, MORE Myst Online might be up and running:

"We hope to have the MystOnline servers up sometime before the end of the year... hopefully, even sooner," he said.

The result will be a "more grass roots" Myst Online that will resemble Until Uru, but with more involvement with Cyan, Chogon said.

"Cyan will be in control of the core servers and the core of the game. While, the fans will be involved in not only creating content and tools but also helping run the game as well as providing structure (through the guilds) and key insights into keeping MystOnline going.

"This will start slowly but in the future, Cyan may be able to provide content once again and continue the story it has started."

“Cyan Worlds has been a great partner to GameTap," said content VP and creative director Rick Sanchez. "It’s just the right thing to do, giving Cyan and the fans the opportunity to continue to enjoy this rich universe that has become a second home to many of its inhabitants.”

The fan-favorite Uru Live getting shifted out of GameTap's portfolio for good comes just after Turner's content delivery network shuttered its editorial division and canceled its Galactic Command publishing deal with outspoken developer Derek Smart.

Amid all these issues, we asked Sanchez if there might be some difficulties at GameTap:

Sanchez reiterated that the editorial closing was so GameTap could focus more on other areas, which he detailed. "The reason we are moving away from editorial content is to focus our energies and resources on building our game library and new initiatives such as browser based games and expanded community features," he said.

"Our model hasn’t changed, we will continue to offer our paid subscription service of more than 1000 games, ad-supported free play on GameTap.com, and titles for purchase via digital download in our online store.”

Cyan president Rand Miller says that the newly relaunched game will include features that will allow players to create their own content, which was hinted at during the game's first relaunch. The revitalized title will carry a fee ($25 for 6 months was suggested) to cover the cost of maintaining servers.

There's something to be said for tenacity, but I fear in this case that something is "Just let it die already."

GameTap gives Myst Online back to Cyan. Cyan says it's opening the game to fan development [TXT - Thanks Kyven]]

GameTap presents the grand evolution of Myst

In anticipation of the February 15th release of Myst Online: Uru Live on GameTap, we take a look back at the history of one of the most famous video game franchises of all time:

September 24, 1993
Designed and directed by brothers Robyn and Rand Miller and developed by Cyan, Inc., Myst is distributed by Br derbund for the Mac. The game sets a new mark as the best-selling video game ever at the time and ushered in the first-person adventure puzzle game genre.

1995
Hyperion Books releases The Book of Atrus, the first book in the Myst series of novels, set in the same universe as the Myst computer games by Cyan. The Book of Ti'ana and The Book of D'ni, the second and third books in the series, are released in 1996 and 1997, respectively.

Making it into the mainstream: In The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror VI, there is a segment in which a 3-D version of Homer Simpson encounters the library from Myst Island.

1997
Br derbund's RedOrb Entertainment division releases Riven, the sequel to Myst. Riven, which is even larger and more beautiful than Myst, is considered the most mind-challenging chapter in the series.

1998
Virgin label releases Myst and Riven soundtracks, by artist Robyn Miller, in the UK.

Selling more than 11 million copies, Myst and its sequels held the title of best-selling computer game of all time throughout much of the 1990s.

2000
Updating the original Myst with the latest technology, realMyst was released featuring realtime 3D graphics. This is the version of Myst that Cyan and the world-famous Miller brothers always wanted to make, but the technology wasn't available at the time. Myst fans could now experience a fully immersive, dynamic world that they could wander through and interact with.

2001
Ubisoft Entertainment Software publishes the third Myst sequel, Myst III: Exile. This game focuses on a new villain whose home world was ruined, so he's out for revenge.

2003
Ubisoft releases Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, the offline version of the planned online game Uru Live, but cancels the online version shortly before it is launched. Since the online version is halted, the offline Uru: Complete Chronicles is released. This special edition includes the original offline game and its two expansion packs, To D'ni and The Path of the Shell, which contain content that had been intended for the online game.

To accompany the game, a soundtrack combining an eclectic collection of various rhrythms, voices, and moods is also released.

2004
Ubisoft releases the fourth installment, Myst IV: Revelation. Myst fans travel through environments pulsing with life to unearth a treacherous scheme involving two of Myst's most sinister villains.

2005
Ubisoft rolls out Myst V: End of Ages, the fifth Myst installment. Players embark on an epic journey into the heart of a shattered empire as the only explorer who can still save it - or destroy it with the wrong choices. Cyan Music Director/Composer Tim Larkin composes the game's original soundtrack with the tell-tale haunting and beautiful sounds that adeptly evoke the Myst series.

2006
GameTap announces it will be publishing Myst Online: Uru Live and opens the door to subscribers to check out the beta version of the game. In conjunction with the beta preview, GameTap launches www.GameTap.com/mystonline, a website that houses videos, podcasts, artwork, forums, wallpaper, game details and a host of other game-related offerings.

February 15th, 2007
GameTap introduces Myst Online: Uru Live, the newest chapter in the Myst story. This title gracefully fuses the social concepts of a traditional massively multiplayer online game with the mystery and problem-solving facets of an adventure game.

Join in, explore and help forge an entirely new Myst story: yours.

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GameTap has launched a 500-player beta of Uru Live, which could be loosely referred to as Myst Online. The game originally launched several years ago, immediately tanking in February 2004 due to lack of funds, and leaving behind a small but heartbroken fanbase.

These fans have kept the game alive in the form of fansites and a developer-made freeware version of the game called Until Uru.

Says GayGamer:

GameTap has improved the game with new sound support and a new physics engine that makes it much easier and faster to interact with others, something that bogged down the original game, and if things go as planned Uru Live may begin to incorporate content generated by its incredibly creative player community. If that works out, we could be in for ages and ages of fun. Here's hoping.

I am hoping for a less eye-searing alternative to Second Life's very cool content generation tools in something more closely approximating an actual game. I will be attempting to get in on the beta, and if that doesn't work I'll give the game itself a whirl when it launches. Eliza Gauger

Uru Live Lives! [GayGamer]

Myst III was the first time I actually started to dig the whole Myst thing, as the static graphics before then were just too oppressive. Since Exile I haven't bothered with the Myst universe but that may be about to change.

[...] Rand Miller, co-creator of the Myst empire, Myst Online: Uru Live will eventually let users build their own ages. Miller has always had this poetic goal of letting players "write" Myst environments of their own; Cyan Worlds plans to provide its own development tools to gamers to make this happen.

I never played Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, Uru Live, or any iteration thereof. And in fact am so out of the Myst loop that I had never heard of them until now. I've been craving a good zone out lately, so maybe I'll grab ABM to mess with until I can poke at Uru Live. Eliza Gauger

More here [Joystiq]