Talk:Trap book

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[1] removes the statement "(or even if [Gehn] was trapped [at all])". I'm not sure if this is warranted. Since trap books aren't real, neither is the trap, presumably. I.e., JohnLynch's original question has merit, as far as I can tell. Comments? Chucker 13:29, 11 November 2006 (CST)

I'm not sure what the original version means. Gehn was certainly trapped somewhere. Talashar 13:42, 11 November 2006 (CST)

Permanently, or was he merely held up? We don't know Gehn's actual fate, whether he's still alive (unlikely), or how he spent the rest of his life in the purported "trap". Chucker 13:46, 11 November 2006 (CST)

D'nara: I changed that line, since I remember a letter from RAWA stating he WAS trapped, though it is not certain how. I can't remember the exact source, but I think the letter was posted on www.dnidesk.com somewhere. Sorry :) — The preceding unsigned comment was added by D'nara (talk • contribs) 23:01, 11 November 2006. Please sign your comments!

D'nara (again): Found it! Pay close attention to the last part. http://www.dnidesk.com/rawa4.html — The preceding unsigned comment was added by D'nara (talk • contribs) 23:05, 11 November 2006. Please sign your comments!

Thank you. I have edited the relevant section, adding a link. Better? Chucker 16:39, 11 November 2006 (CST)

Thanks for clearing up my mess :P — The preceding unsigned comment was added by D'nara (talk • contribs) 23:42, 11 November 2006. Please sign your comments!

[edit] Conceptual replacement

Calling prison ages "the conceptual replacement for" trap books is a dubious claim, since the concept of prison ages existed (in the novels, for instance) at a time when it hadn't been revealed yet that trap books aren't canon. Is there any evidence regarding this? Chucker 15:14, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

Actually when I wrote it, I meant: you have 'prison ages' and 'trap books'; You decide the latter doesn't exist; whenever the latter is encountered, it is merged to the former. That's what happened to Spire and Haven. I didn't think it could be read as 'prison ages popped up out of the trap book concept' and it was not what I meant :) so perhaps you could rephrase it in a more clear way. Koena 19:48, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

[edit] Retconning

The retconning part should be removed, the books in Myst behaving as they did has been clarified by Cyan many times as artistic license, RAWA has stated that the way they behave in Myst V is actually based on the canonical behavior of the trap/prison books. XeresRazor 17:30, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

I don't see what do you mean by removed. Since we have a contradiction, or issue, or confusion, it should be analyzed in an encyclopedia. Also, the term 'artistic license' is an IC explanation of the actual retcon that happened in the Millers/Rawa's mind. Or am I totally off? Koena 19:57, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

Actually, "artistic license" isn't IC at all; it's very much OOC. The term has been used by RAWA numerous times before IC vs. OOC ever became an issue. Chucker 20:06, 4 August 2007 (CDT)

I remember it since 'Dr.' Watson was mentioning 'translating from Catherine's journals and D'ni documents' which is clearly an IC perspective (even if the term itself did not exist. You can call in 'In Universe' if you prefer). :) Artistic license has to do with a conscious deviation from reality (eg. having the Good Guy surviving a lethal fall in order to let the movie running) but since D'ni is not a reality to compare with, artistic license is not actually employed: it is employed when we pretend that D'ni are real and the games consciously 'deviate' from the historical facts.

OOC: 'We had this idea in the game but later we didn't like it or thought it didn't fit with the general philosophy of the fictional universe, so we deleted it from our fiction and later works' (the TRUE reason, which can be also considered a retcon)

IC: 'The real D'ni documents said this and that, but for the games we allowed ourselves to employ this fictional principle, to make them more playable'

Hope that makes sense. Koena 02:24, 5 August 2007 (CDT)

I'm afraid it does not. As I've already said above, RAWA has been calling this artistic license since years before the DRC was even a known entity to fans. Chucker 07:34, 5 August 2007 (CDT)

What has DRC to do with this? As I said, perhaps the terms IC and OOC are recent inventions, but I am talking about the concepts, not the terms. And I remember reading about 'D'ni translations from Catherine's journal' as far back as 1998, so DRC didn't need to exist back then for Myst to be meta-fictional. Koena 07:50, 5 August 2007 (CDT)