What do you think it is about the world of Myst that is so engaging, even to people who have never played a videogame before?
Playing a Myst game is primarily about exploring different environments at your own pace, taking time to consider actions and consequences and simply just looking around. It's probably especially appealing to those who normally don't play action-based computer games. Most action games require at least a certain familiarity with game controls and gaming conventions, and have some sort of learning curve. I think that requiring that sort of expertise and having the game be at least partially based on twitch response and reaction times tends to intimidate a lot of non-gamers. In the same vein, for the most part the Myst games are not extremely demanding in terms of computer hardware, so the game is available to a wider range of game players that way as well.

In terms of its appeal, I think that aside from the visuals, it has a lot to do with the story and characters. Creating the graphics which initially attract the attention of the player is only part of the job. In the process of playing the game and watching the story unfold, you come to care about the characters and what happens to them, and how your actions will affect them and the outcome of the story.

Can you describe the new technology being developed for Myst III, and how it changes the way players experience the game?
As I mentioned earlier, I kind of see Exile as an evolutionary step towards a real-time, fully immersive, graphically realistic adventure game which has all the immediacy and freedom of movement of real-time games, but which also maintains the standard of visual and design excellence that games like Myst and Riven have established. While we constructed the worlds in high resolution as if for a typical pre-rendered adventure game, we also incorporated our proprietary real-time engine in order to provide a more interactive mode of gameplay. The real-time engine allows the player to pan around a node in 360 degrees, which creates a much more convincing sense of "being there" than a simple static postcard view provides. The engine also allows various animations and video to play in the node while the player looks around, which also adds to the sense of realism.

Next page: The meaning of “Exile” and Myst III’s five Ages