General Guidelines

For your first excursion into Myst, choose the study questions most suited to your level of experience as an explorer of stand-alone interactive narrative-based multimedia. If you are attempting a computer game for the very first time, you should make sure you complete the initial reading from the Writing for Multimedia and the Web book before you settle down for some serious exploration.

If you are encountering the game for the first time, please do not use any of the online tip sheets or printed guides to Myst. I plan to place two printed exploration guides for Myst on reserve in the Johnson Center Library for your use next week. I also plan to send out over the next few days a list of some online resources (interviews, fan ephemera, puzzle guides, etc.) as additional contextual material.

Take notes as you explore the game so that you can capture all your fleeting ideas, impressions, irritations, pleasures, associations, etc..

Remember the difference between describe and analyze. If you describe, you list in detail what you have done and what you have observed. If you analyze, you interpret in detail what you have done and what you have observed and draw conclusions based on carefully cited evidence. An analysis requires only enough description to support the interpretation you are making

Beginner

1) What are your initial impressions of the software? How do you work out what you need to do to engage with the software once you have opened it? What problems do you encounter in initiating your interaction?

2) What help does the software offer to you? Are you offered enough information (in text, on-screen, in the box) to initiate a satisfying exploration?

3) What pleasures (think visual, aural, textual) does your exploration offer you? Which pleasures are most intense for you and why?

4) Of what does Myst most remind you? Think about the associations with other genres, such as adventure stories, historical novels, science fiction, etc.. How do these associations shape the the way you approach Myst?

5) What expectations are aroused by your first exploration of Myst? What are the sources of these expectations? What do you think will 'happen' next and why?

6) Look up the New Century competencies. What competencies are you using in your exploration? Keep track of the competencies that you use and try to analyze whether the competencies you use most change as you continue your explorations of Myst.

Some Experience

1) "Just because you can make a choice doesn't mean it's an interesting one." (p. 5, Multimedia) Analyze the choices you as an actor encounter in Myst. What are the different types of choice you are offered? (Think about choices to see, to analyze a visual image, to read, to apply problem-solving or critical thinking, etc.) To what extent are these choices interesting?

2) What pleasures (think visual, aural, textual) does your exploration offer you? Which pleasures are most intense for you and why? To what extent are the pleasures derived from repeating familiar experiences, from encountering new experiences, from a deepening understanding,l from a.....?

3) What role do the visuals play in Myst? What elements of our culture are called up, or referenced, in the visuals? Explore those associations and analyze how they contribute or detract from your pleasure as an actor in the game.

4) What is your role as an actor in Myst? Who are you? What is your position in the world(s) in which you are playing? To what extent do you act as yourself? To what extent does the multimedia allow you to reshape your identity or imagine yourself as someone else?

5) Part of the pleasure of exploring any interactive multimedia based on a 'world' structure is the explorer's learning about that/those world(s). How do you 'learn' within the Myst worlds? How do the interactions offered in Myst help you to 'learn to learn'? To what extent is the learning structured? Where does the steepest learning curve occur? How are you expected to apply your learning within the worlds?

6) Think about the way in which you imagine yourself as you are interacting. Which parts of yourself, which emotional, psychological and intellectual apprehensions, are most active in your interactions? How are these parts of yourself activated by the interactions you are offered? Describe the 'self' that is created through/by/in the course of your interactions with Myst, for example. To what extent are you 'gendered' in your interactions?

7) Look up the New Century competencies. What competencies are you using in your exploration? Keep track of the competencies that you explore and try to analyze whether the competencies you use most change as you continue your explorations of Myst.

Expert Myst-er

1) What is your role as an actor in Myst? Who are you? What is your position in the world(s) in which you are playing? To what extent do you act as yourself? To what extent does the multimedia allow you to reshape your identity or imagine yourself as someone else? Think about the way in which you imagine yourself as you interact. Which parts of yourself are most active in your interactions? How are these parts of yourself activated by the interactions you are offered? Describe the 'self' that is created through/by/in the course of your interactions with Myst, for example. To what extent are you 'gendered' in your interactions?

2) To what extent do you as an actor control what happens as you explore Myst? What consequences do your actions have? Are they immediate consequences or are they delayed consequences or a combination of both? What is most satisfying/least satisfying to you about your interactions and why?

3) Analyze the interactions you are offered. To what extent are the interactions physical or cerebral? What external knowledges do you need to apply throughout your explorations?

4) Part of the pleasure of exploring any interactive multimedia based on a 'world' structure is the explorer's learning about that/those world(s). How do you 'learn' within the Myst worlds? How do the interactions offered in Myst help you to 'learn to learn'? To what extent is the learning structured? Where does the steepest learning curve occur? How are you expected to apply your learning within the worlds?

4) Compare Myst with other stand-alone narrative multimedia you have explored/played. Analyze the differences and similarities. To what extent is Myst an immersive experience, one which severs your relationship, however temporarily, to the physical reality beyond your human-computer interface? To what extent is it, as the packaging claims, "The Surrealistic Adventure That Will Become Your World"?

5) To what extent does Myst become addictive? If you did not find it addictive, explain why? If you did find it addictive, examine the sources of that addiction. What draws you in and keeps you immersed?

6) If you are still searching for material to discuss, read the introductory chapters on interactive narrative multimedia in Garrand's Multimedia. For example, he suggests that a 'worlds' game such as Myst is not an interactive multimedia narrative. Look at some of the characteristics he ascribes to narrative and decide whether you agree with his judgment. Don't forget to include evidence to support your opinions.

7) Look up the New Century competencies. What competencies are you using in your exploration? Keep track of the competencies that you explore and try to analyze whether the competencies you use most change as you continue your explorations of Myst.