Question: I know I'm many years behind the times; but I just played Myst for the first time this weekend on the PS3. I was absolutely disappointed with the ending; I thought the entire point of the game was to 'figure stuff out' but I don't feel as though I understand any of it.

Was it explained in-game and I simply missed it? I did complete the game so I couldn't have missed too much. But

**For starters:**
Who am I (the main character)?
How did I get to Myst?
Where am I from?

Do I need to continue playing/revisit all the worlds after completing the game to answer these questions? Or is it just left to the imagination?

Answer: 
I seem to remember that The Stranger finds the Myst book in the stacks at the Chicago San Francisco Public Library. I don't remember where I read this, but I think it was in the separately-published hint guide. 

How the book arrives in the Library is explained (sort of) in Riven: The Sequel To Myst. 

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>  Atrus, the man you meet at the end of Myst, once lived with his wife Catherine and his father, Gehn. All three were able to write Linking Books (books which link to other worlds). At some point, Atrus and Catherine realize that Gehn incorrectly believes he is creating the worlds in the books rather than simply opening doorways to already existing worlds. Atrus and Catherine determine that Gehn is a danger to the inhabitants of these worlds, and they decide to trap him on Riven, a world without the ink or paper necessary to write Linking Books. Riven contains a location known as the Star Fissure, a portal which (unknown to anyone) leads to Earth. Atrus and Catherine destroy all but one of the Linking Books on Riven, and then escape to Myst through the Myst Book, holding it over the Star Fissure so that when they link through, the Book will fall into the Fissure and be lost. Their plan succeeds and Gehn is trapped on Riven, while the Myst book drops through the Fissure to Earth, where it is eventually found and used by The Stranger.
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Atrus mentions this event in his opening narration:

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> I realized the moment I fell into the Fissure that the book would not be destroyed as I had planned. It continued falling into that starry expanse, of which I had only a fleeting glimpse. I've tried to speculate where it might have landed, but I must admit that such conjecture is futile. Still, questions about whose hands might one day hold my Myst book are unsettling to me. I know my apprehensions might never be allayed, and so I close, realizing that perhaps, the ending has not yet been written.
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Little to no detail is ever provided about The Stanger. This is intentional, as it allows the player to experience the world as themselves, rather than forcing the player to take on an unfamiliar and therefore less immersive role (such as a [space marine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_%28video_game%29), [theoretical physicist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_%28video_game%29), or [black Scottish cyclops](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNM4eFsX68Y)).
This information is explained in the games instruction manual, but can be found at [other sources as well](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst#Plot):

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> The game's instruction manual explains that an unnamed person known as the Stranger stumbles across an unusual book titled "Myst". The Stranger reads the book and discovers a detailed description of an island world called Myst. Placing his hand on the last page, the Stranger is whisked away to the world described, and is left with no choice but to explore the island.
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