Elder Scrolls going online? Maybe

by Jason Dobson on Nov 2nd 2007 2:25PM

Hot on the heels of a massive investment from Providence Equity Partners in Bethesda-parent ZeniMax Media's newly opened MMO-focused studio, word has reached us that the company has registered the domain name elderscrollsonline.com, throwing some weight behind the idea that Bethesda's popular RPG franchise could someday finally break free from its single player shackles and frolic the n00b-infested waters of the MMO.

It's true that many have often referred to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as an MMO without all the stupid. Still, the truth of the matter is that while we openly admit that The Elder Scrolls works well as a setting for an immersive single player experience, the world itself is nothing short of generic. The last thing the gaming world needs is yet another tepid swords and sorcery MMO, and the idea of having to lead an intricately armored horse to the pond to drink once a month seems more apt to turn our stomachs rather than our wallets.

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Tags: bethesda, Bethesda-Softworks, domain, elder scrolls, ElderScrolls, oblivion, PC

Reader Comments (38)

Elder Scrolls for president!

Elder Scrolls is a flip-flopper.

I vote yes to The Elder Scrolls becoming an MMO. An RPG that causes the Everquest Franchise to lose players is alright by me!

Love that Jestor!

The game was basically an MMO, just that it wasn't online.

Heh, yea, was just basically an MMO without all the annoying players. Personally I say no to it being an MMO because I don't want to pay just to be able to play with hundreds of players I don't like, but yes to it being multiplayer, up to 20 on the same server maybe.

If they turn Oblivion into an MMO and do a good job with it, I may never get anything accomplished again.

Would buy diamond-covered horse armor?

I agree. No MMO please. This game is great because you can pick it up anytime and escape social burdens of life, not go from one social circle to the next. You can go do whatever you want, explore, loot, anything you want really, and no standing in line waiting your turn to kill a monster in the woods for a quest. No crowds of idiots standing around monster spawn areas waiting for goblins to appear so they can level.

Now I sound like just a general MMO-hater, but in either case, those things would just crap all over the wonderment that is elder scrolls. Please don't do this Bethesda. I hope this domain is either for some kind of online community type thing, or an elder scrolls MMO that's a separate deal from the main series altogether.

SP FTW

I'm totally with you.

Yea, being social these days is vastly overrated

I dont want to see it go MMO. There is a dearth of single player RPG's anymore. I would hate to see one of the biggies disappear into that pit of suckitude that is the MMORPG. Now, Im not against having an online component. I like the Baulders Gate series ability to play co-op with a friend online. I just dont want the grinding and lack of focus that a MMO brings to a rpg.

Oh great. So instead of being a great hero of prophecy that saves the kingdom, you're just some idiot who has to kill four hundred wolves to get a piece of armor. Fantastic.

Fail.

"Elder", "scrolls", and "online" are all plain old words. Anyone can therefor put them together and register a domain name. If someone did they could ask a few grand from Bethesda for the domain name. Bethesda may just be safe keeping the domain name.

Could you play the mind-numbingly tedious Persuasion mini-game with other PCs online? Because that would rock, being able to make faces and deliver empty threats at each other all day.

we need a damn Lego MMO.

"Where did you get that sweet catapult?"

"I built it"

There IS one. Do a quick tag search for the post that announced it.

Holy Crapsickles!

I'd buy it. I'm sure a shitton of other people would do. I say go for it. (especially since there was a mod for the PC version where they tried to make it online, no idea how it turned out though)

That's different I think, the mod was more to make it coop for the campaign... if the next Oblivion game supported co-op or the MMO environment like Guild Wars I would be happy.

If they are talking about another WoW, I'm not so keen... Although where you have to aim your arrows, time your shield blocks and make skillful use of your sword (as in Oblivion) would be totally awesome in an MMO.

Like, there's no need for hundreds on one game server, a maximum of 20 playing in the same game-world is perfectly fine. Think kind of like Two Worlds, but without the suck.

Limited co-op/PvP - in the vein of Diablo II (man I sound dated) - would suit Oblivion and be awesome. But I don't have the time nor the money to be playing an MMO, and I think that holds for a lot of other people.

However, saying that Elder Scrolls would be "yet another tepid swords and sorcery MMO" is kind of assuming they would remove all of the gameplay that defined Oblivion (i.e. actual real-time combat, not real-time menus).

Read My Lips!

"Massively Open."

Go play Test Drive Unlimited. That is how MMO should work.

While I thought Tamriel in Oblivion was fairly generic, Morrowind was rather detailed and factionalized, with all the social tension between dark elves (dunmer) and the other races, the struggle of the Imperials to establish more than just a foothold, the influence of the temple, the Daedric cults, the different houses of dark elves, the battle between the thieves guild and the other, local thieves guild whose name I can't recall, etc. There's a lot there.

Would I play an MMO there, though? Probably not. I just don't have much interest in MMOs.

Due to monthly fees and tedious tasks?

It took me almost 7 years to stop playing MMORPG's. I can relate to everyone else who complains about taking a fantastic game world like Oblivion and turning it into an exp grind where you have to deal with thousands of other people hell-bent on making your experience as annoying as possible.

I would like to see co-op play where you can invite 'x' amount of people to play together though. That would be very fun if there were tasks specifically aimed at requiring 'x' amount of people to successfully complete it.

It would be sad to see this great franchise go MMO, that's the bottom line.

And here I was enjoying playing though Oblivion's rich experience as a former FFXI player and not having to deal with other players. I figured I was one of few enjoying it that way. I guess not. ;)

That said: I echo the idea of multiplayer Elder Scrolls, but not massively multiplayer. In fact, I think Bethesda could easily create a multiplayer expansion to Elder Scrolls V that would allow those of us who want a single-player experience in V to play on our own while allowing others to play with some friends in harder multiplayer quests.

No way can it work as an MMO. The reason single player RPGs work so well is that you advance a story. You become important. If you kill some infamous vampire, people recognize you for it--and he stays dead. If you acquire some rare sword, you don't see 100 other people with it. You also don't have people running around asking for "buffs" or calling each other "n00bs".

Online Co-Op yes....MMO no. There's too many things I find annoying about questing on WoW to ever like the idea of putting Elder Scrolls through it.

The game is unstable as it is (broken quests, dropped items go missing, slow loadtimes, etc). Taking that game online would be glitch-city!

On the other hand, I would like to see some sort of multiplayer Arena section added into the current game. Basically you would enter the door to the Arena and be presented with a lobby system, from which you could select different game types (Deathmatch, 16-player Team Deathmatch, Swords Only, Magic Only, Level 14 characters only, etc.) You would just bring your character, with all his/her current inventory of items, spells, and abilities, and stats... and see how you match up to other players.

Just take Oblivion, maybe make it a bit larger/harder and allow me to IP connect with friends.

Judging by how many bugs they never fixed/will never fix in Oblivion, I'd think twice about subscribing to an MMO they made.

i believe people should note that it says online, not mmo.
why not have a co-op system, so that you and your friends can go dungeon crawling together?

You know what I`d really like to see? The ability to have different characters inhabiting the same world. Multiplayer wouldn`t hurt - maybe cap it at 4 or 5, like a party.

Something that is driving me crazy about Oblivion is that my husband and I are both playing through it, and even though we`re both playing on the machine... The worlds are totally separate. I`d really love to have things I did in play effect his game world. Not any official quests, of course, but if I sell something it would be really nice if he was given the opportunity to buy it.
Co-op play would also really be nice as we`re both playing the thing. Instead, he`s experiencing the mystery of people randomly showing up dead on the streets, and visiting dungeons to find everything already dead - even though there IS no link.

I meant "playing on the same machine" there.

Some form of Co-op play would be great. I agree.

Multiplayer games up to 10 or 12 players even would rock.

Or some form of Mii style ability to take your character over to your mates house and insert them into his game world for a while.

But as a MMO i reslly don't see the point either. It would have nothing distinctive.

PS/ Oblivion would ROCK on the Wii btw....

Sweet! We need another fantasy MMO!!!

I hope that soon oblivion will be online.it will probably sell more.

no mmo but maybe the choice between single player or online but hey i mean i got the x 360 version and two worlds worked out pretty good if u ask me but there is still alot of work to be put into this. so Bethesda no mmo yes free choice of different servers of 2-15 players

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Elder Scrolls going online? Maybe

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