ranking the myst ages by livability

information

each sections works under the assumption that there is a source of food and water, as well as places to use the restroom and sleep. with basic needs met, how would each of the myst ages affect your ability to function? would they be nice, or bad style?

the ages we will be looking at in specific, in no particular order:

channelwood age

selenitic age

mechanical age

stoneship age

the island of d'ni (also known as k'veer_

rime

these are all the places you can visit in myst, plus the extra area from realMyst.

the list

6. rime

an arctic area with electromagnetic storms and (to my interpretation) long snowflakes(??), it's certainly not the most hospitable, but it's also got crystals. who doesn't love crystals? the crystals can let you see other places, too. so i guess you could use it like TV. but you do have to deal with the aforementioned storms and freezing cold, so, you know, YMMV.

5. mechanical age

well, you wouldn't be lacking stuff to play with - there's toys! sort of. lots of things to fidget with, like the rotation simulator. there might even be a few books here, if you look around a bit. the primary downsides here are lack of foliage (again) and the skeleton in the torture room. but what is a torture room without some kind of dead body? certainly not a torture room.

4. channelwood age

yay! there's lots of room to walk around, and lots of trees! i bet it smells really nice here. although... the sound of water would be constant, which means you might find yourself needing to pee kind of often, and going somewhere quiet would make your ears ring. that said, it'd be fun to run around the treetop dwellings, plus you get to explore the brothers' cabins a bit.

3. island of d'ni

to be honest, being in a room with a bunch of books is not the worst way to spend your time. i imagine there must be access to sunlight, too, though the version you visit in myst has no visible windows. the only real downside i see here is that there's no nature here. i would miss plants so much.

2. selenitic age

the biggest complaint i have is that the selenitic age is noisy. it's full of sound puzzles. i can't imagine sleeping well here. you'd have to get used to all the noises. maybe you could sleep in the area with the water noise, but with the same effect as described in channelwood age where you'd need to get up to pee pretty often. i could see myself going a bit unwound trying to hear patterns in the sounds. you do get some variety in your scenery, i guess.

1. stoneship age

kind of a lonely one. seems like it'd be kind of cold, but not as cold as the rime age by any stretch. you'd also need to either find a way to auto-charge the battery in the lighthouse or go up there multiple times a day to recharge them so you aren't lightless. the study in the ship would be nice to stay in, i think, and you could make a habit of looking out through the telescope at the top of the island.