Elder Scrolls MMOG In Development?

Gamespot reports on the rumours swirling around the possibility of an Elder Scrolls Massively Multiplayer Online Game. They began when ZeniMax formed their very own Massive development company, ZeniMax Online. The company subsequently hired Matt Firor, formerly of EA Mythic, as its head. Now, the discussion online is centering on the registration of a URL that hints at big things to come for Bethesda's world. Pete Hines, spokesman for Bethesda, has a perfectly rational explanation: '"We are tired of people squatting on domains related to our games or simply not being able to get them if we needed them (note oblivion.com, fallout.com, and many others) and decided a while back we'd get these to keep it from happening again ... People are grabbing domains like these and trying to extract money from us for them, or using them for some other purpose.' Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that the URL registration confirms the existence of an Elder Scrolls MMORPG. However, with others holding the Fallout and Star Trek MMORPG rights, the RPG franchise--famous for having MMORPG-size open worlds--is the only truly proven property in Bethesda's catalog."

Better for it to be MMO or stay as is

[usul294]

I have played Morrowind and Oblivion as much as possible, doing every guild's quest, etc. etc. It'd definitely be cool to have more life in the Elder Scrolls games, and to have lots of people participating. On the other hand, it'd be a bit odd if every adventurer in the tavern has an unknown past, and was a prisoner set free for mysterious reasons on a one-person quest to save the world from evil. That's the back story to all these games, and I suppose that would have to change, because 20,000 people on a quest to rid the world from evil is a different dynamic, though it is certainly possible, especially if it involves a war with 2 sides, and plenty of co-mingling, as well as soldiering (think Imperial Legion quests with big parties). The idea definitely has potential as well as possible pitfalls.

That'd be cool...

[Enoxice]

...if they could pull it off correctly. TES games tend to have much more freedom than most MMOs. In MMOs you basically have a few choices no matter what class you are: grind, instance, quest, PvP, GvG, Raid, etc. In TES games you can do pretty much anything. A TES MMO would be perfect if you could: become a thief/bandit, a pickpocket, break into people's houses, buy/operate a shop, become a noble/politician, etc.

OTOH, TES games are good because they have more freedom than an MMO without all of the 12-year olds to piss you off, and without the need to find a guild to adventure with, and things like that.

Basically, I'd be interested in a TES MMO if it were pulled off with more of a TES spirit than YAWoWC (yet another world of warcraft clone).

I have one word for you...

[Cathoderoytube]

Chaos..
If the MMORPG stays true to the actual Elder Scrolls games it's gonna be nothing but mass looting and murdering (that's assuming everybody plays the game the same as me though...)
Why buy that 1000 hp armor when you can just pick it up and make a run for it? If the shop keeper calls the guards you just bring up your friends list and get them to help you out.
I imagine though the Elder Scrolls folks will castrate those game play elements that made the game so much fun. So it'll be basically the same as every other MMORPG out there, just one big cash grab. I really didn't care too much about any of the characters in the game. It was more the element of YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO. Like if you wanted to go kill the king with you bare hands, knock yourself out. I just don't see that happening in any sort of online game. EVER.

TES games are also horribly broken

[SmallFurryCreature]

There is NO economy, you can steal to your hearts content and amass a fortune without ever having to spend a dime. This is barely acceptable for a single player game, but in multiplayer it would simply be unworkable.

They would have to do a lot of work to turn say Oblivion into an MMO. For one thing, just how long it took them to develop it, huge land? My ass, it is tiny by MMO standards.

The thing about thinking of cool things for an MMO is to then try to fit them in the game, this includes thinking on how they affect the economy, how they can be exploited, and wether they are still fun to do after six months.

Take pickpocketing, how much loot should be dropped. If you are really good should be you be able to pickpocket the king? Instantly turning you superrich? Then how do we provide you with a money drain. Once you pickpocketed everyone, what do you do next? Won't this be out of balance with other players who have to form huge armies to storm the castle to get the same loot?

LOTRO has pickpocketing for burglars, one of the things they did was to give burglars a seperate loot table, so they would NOT be stealing the loot you get from the kill. Subtle detail, but can you imagine how other players would feel if all the mobs had been picked clean?

Re:Does the World Need Another MMO?

[mahlerfan999]

Given the littered battlefield of failed MMO's why do people keep dipping into this pool. I know WoW makes a ton of jack but has anyone else really made another winner like that recently? Isn't it possible that all the MMO geeks are full up and that the rest of the world isn't waiting for another MMO to jump into because the MMO experience doesn't appeal to them. Frankly they can keep tweaking the formula until Hades freezes over but the problem in MMO's is the first (M) because I don't want to play with the masses.

There's no nice way to say this-- you're completely wrong. MMOs are highly popular. You act like WoW is the only popular one, and the rest are failures. Sorry, no there are many successful MMOs and the genre is probably the most popular in PC gaming. Is it "possible that all the MMO geeks are full up"? Nope. If you "don't want to play with the masses" then you are not the typical gamer, and your attitude towards MMOs does not reflect the gaming community. You can complain about lack of innovation as you did, but people whine about that in every genre of pc and console gaming, it's not a novel complaint that can only be leveled at mmos.