Fictional nature

From MYSTlore

From a scientific, real-world point of view, virtually all events depicted in and surrounding the Myst Universe are fictional.

[edit] Revisionism

Main article: Retcon

In some cases, some of the story appears to have been retroactively changed to account for an unexpectedly growing significance of some previous assertions. For example:

• It has been stated that Myst Island as depicted in Myst is actually a fourth the "real" size, and was made this small due to technological restrictions (it would have been significantly more expensive in time, money and effort to render all nodes in actual size), as well as ease of solving puzzles (the player has to randomly stroll around less, and will see more immediately which areas to focus on).
• The Bahro aspect has been added to the storyline at a very late stage and breaks many previous rules and assertions about linking technology as well as the D'ni society's customs and problems. None of the previous information, especially from journals and novels, gave the slightest hint at the Bahro, and Atrus's shock at discovering the similar Relyimah enslavement through the Terahnee suggests that very few D'ni knew of this, which may be considered unrealistic.

Some believe that such changes are arbitrary. While Cyan is perfectly entitled to make them, the risk is that this leads to multiple conflicting types of canon.

[edit] IC and OOC

In order to account for the contrast between actual, proven information and possibly fictional, made-up statements, fans generally distinguish between In Cavern/In Character (IC) — regarding everything as real and/or acting as if you are actually in the ages and really experiencing everything — and Out Of Cavern/Out Of Character (OOC) — regarding most information from within the Myst Universe as fictional, and/or that the player is not acting as if he/she is really in the ages. Since you are the main character in the games, the lines between the two can sometimes be blurred, and occasionally deliberately vague.

The distinction between IC and OOC is particularly relevant in online versions of Uru, such as Untìl Uru and Myst Online: Uru Live.

[edit] Standards

Main article: IC and OOC standards

The DRC liaisons created a set of IC/OOC Standards, which can serve as a good guideline for fans, but are, at this point, non-official, and non-binding.