Doug McBride was a big Myst fan. When he went looking, oh, about eight months ago, for a mailing list to join to get information on the then-forthcoming Myst sequel Riven - and to connect with other Myst/Riven fans - he was surprised to find that there wasn't one. So he started one himself.

　　Gordon Currie had a similar idea; he started a Web-based message board for fans of Myst and Riven.

　　It wasn't long before Currie and McBride found out about the other's efforts and met - e-mail to e-mail. They decided to pool their efforts, and ere long, established The Riven Guild, a "one-stop shopping source" for all sorts of Riven and Myst information. The site includes links to Currie's web board, Gordon's mailing list ("The Riven Lyst"), FAQ files, image galleries, and contests and giveaways.

　　The Riven-loving duo approached Cyan to get permission to use the word Riven in its site's name and URL. Not only did Cyan give them the thumbs up, but also the company is supporting the site with prizes and monetary assistance for what has been, to McBride and Currie thus far, not just your run of the mill hobby - "but an all-consuming one," said McBride. They have been selling Myst- and Riven-related books and merchandise through the Amazon.com online bookstore, but McBride says they're about to start selling those items in conjunction with Cyan.

　　They've already attracted the attention of the Wall Street Journal and CNN; their site attracts 110,000 hits a day, according to McBride. And Virgin Records - the company producing the soon-to-be-released Riven soundtrack album - has come calling in recent days.

　　Are the two ready to quite their day jobs? (McBride is a police dispatcher and reserve police with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, while Currie is a 3D modeler with Viewpoint Datalabs.) Not quite. But their experience at setting up this one-stop online shopping mall and information clearinghouse shows just how deep the public's curiosity of Riven-related news goes.