Interview with Gordon Currie — Part 2
Gordon Currie
Just Adventure recently was invited to interview Gordon Currie, founder of the Rivenguild and AdventureGamer.net web sites. We asked him about online communities in general and Rivenguild specifically. Here is what he had to say.
What is an online community, and what does it offer to its “citizens?” More specifically, what does the Rivenguild online community offer? Do you offer any other online communities devoted to different subjects?
Basically an Online Community is a gathering place for those on the Internet that want to share information and meet with others who share a common interest. I see online communities similar to old town squares back in the early days. Rivenguild is an online community dedicated to those fans of the computer games Myst and Riven. We offer chat, webboards, mailing list, newsletters, free downloads, tips and tech support, up to the minute news and more.
Although RivenGuild.com focuses on the two games produced by Cyan Inc., we have recently spun off the AdventureGamer.Net website aimed at those gaming fans interested in building their own worlds and ages. Downloads, webboards, free textures, software links and cool articles make this a spot many role playing gamers are now coming to and the creative bunch on the net wanting to build games or worlds.
I have played both Myst and Riven, and enjoyed them both, but to me they are just games. What is it about Riven that compelled you to develop and maintain such a site?
I think it was our (I am partnered with Doug McBride on the creation and maintenance of Rivenguild) interest in building a fan community online that served the Riven fans that started it all. I had created the Myst and Riven links Bookstore and Doug had started the Riven Lyst. We merged the two and since then have seen our sites grow exponentially.
We maintain the site daily for the fans. We love the games, love working with Cyan Inc. (unofficially) and hope to develop some even bigger and better sites in months to come.
What is your response to those who blame Myst and Riven for what they perceive as the downfall of the adventure genre?
I don’t agree with that at all. I think Myst and Riven brought many to the gaming world and introduced them to some pretty neat games. I myself have played dozens of games ranging from Half-Life to Timelapse. Our demographics from our site suggest that Myst and Riven have done more for the adventure gaming community than meets the eye.
Rivenguild seems to contain a lot of content about the D’ni language. How did the Riven fans manage to build an entire language around what little was in the game (or does the book contain more)?
Actually the Riven fan community hasn’t created the language of D’ni at all. The language exists in the ancient texts and books that only Cyan has access to. The fans have gathered the language and history from the books that Cyan has published as well as information that has been released via the web. At RivenGuild.com, we have made it our personal quest to see that D’ni is not forgotten and fans have the correct information. Discoveries are made weekly and there is so much that has yet to be explored or discovered.
Have you run into a situation where an independent page on your site contains content not conforming with your vision of the Riven world? If so, what do you do about it?
We don’t police sites or pass judgements on sites that don’t conform but we do encourage people to post the correct copyright notices and to respect the incredible work the artists and creative team at Cyan have created. Our vision of D’ni, Riven and Myst is based on the information we have researched from Cyan or information we have been able to dig up. Cyan has information and strict guidelines on third party story development. I think the fans understand this and make every effort to work with them.
Have the Miller brothers even commented on Rivenguild?
Both Rand and Robyn have been in contact with us and spoken very kindly about our project. They acknowledge that we are an unofficial site and share their interest in keeping the fan interest alive. Links to our site from both Cyan.com and Riven.com please us a great deal. Robyn Miller’s recent startup (LandofPoint.com) has even linked to us. We are excited about Robyn’s future projects.
Do you think there will ever be a sequel to Riven? If there were a sequel, what direction would you like to see it take? If the Miller brothers are not making a sequel, then have they sold the rights to someone else? Do you know whether there are any plans for a movie version of Myst or Riven?
As far as sequels go, I don’t believe so but you never know. If there was a sequel, I am not sure what direction they might go. The D’ni world (universe) is huge!
As far as rights go, you would have to talk to Cyan about that. The same could be said about movies etc. We simply do not know. :+)
Do you plan to expand the scope of your site in the future to cover other games in addition to Riven?
Yes, although this may be done via a different domain or “sister” website. We may also incorporate new games into our AdventureGamer.Net website as well. Our main focus will be on building an even bigger and better “interactive experience”.
Is there anything you’d like to add?
I think what has made RivenGuild.com and our mailing list, The Riven Lyst, truly successful has been the incredible fan support from all over the world. We have visitors from over 54 different countries and our daily visitor traffic is over 6,000 people a day. As far as we know, we are the largest Riven site on the net and we are having fun! Thanks to Cyan Inc. for creating the games they have and being so supportive of our work.
