As mentioned in our interview with 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.

While Miller states that this is "forward looking" and may change, he thinks ambitious gamers are up for the challenge. He says, "We're always amazed at what our fans are able to accomplish, frankly, and by making those tools available, I think we'll be even more surprised. ... Essentially what we're creating in the mythology of all this is a writer's guild."

Miller anticipates that the development tools will be available in about six months, the time he thinks is needed for them to stop being updated.

Developers rarely give their own game- or level-creating tools to fans. This move is especially uncommon in an MMO with a plot, versus online sandbox games like Second Life. We're interested to see how Cyan Worlds lets players move between its content and community-created ages.

Myst Online: Uru Live will launch this "holiday season" as part of GameTap's standard $10 monthly fee.

[Update 1: fixed ship date error.]

Myst Online: Uru Live will let thousands of players convene in Myst ages to solve puzzles. Touting the persistence of the world as a major feature -- light switches and doors stay how you leave them -- Cyan Worlds thinks the collaborative nature of Myst will make a unique Massively Multiplayer Online game.

Two years ago, Uru Live was canceled just before its initial launch under Ubisoft. Now, after developing it for a total of six years, Cyan Worlds is working with its new publisher, GameTap, to prepare the game for a "holiday" release. Uru Live will be offered as part of the monthly $10 GameTap subscription for the U.S. audience, but GameTap will release Uru Live as a stand-alone subscription in other parts of the world. (GameTap is not yet offered outside of the U.S.)

We recently spoke with Myst co-creator Rand Miller, while Producer, Mark "Moke" Dobratz demonstrated the game. They talked about how Uru Live supports the collaborative sensibility of Myst players, how the game will let you have individual experiences within its MMO structure, and plans to let users build their own ages.

[Update 1: Fixed ship-date error.]

Myst fans who weren't stymied by installation problems and frequent crashes in the Uru spin-off games were left lamenting the cancellation of Uru Live back in early 2004. The opportunity to build virtual neighborhoods and engage in multiplayer exploration of the Miller brothers' wondrous ages was taken away when Ubisoft decided there were not enough projected subscribers to support an online service.

Enter GameTap. Last week at E3, Ted Turner's on-demand gaming service announced they will team with developer Cyan Worlds to give Uru a proper online home this holiday season. The decision was due in no small part to the active Uru Live community that nurtured the franchise after the plug was pulled two years ago. Read more about these fan-created services in the CNET article, and for more information on the game itself, visit Uru Live where you can sign up for the beta.

Now, maybe Ted can do something about Duke Nukem Forever.

[Thanks to Daniel at CNET]