Interview The Elder Scrolls Multiplayer Would Lead to a Lesser Game

[Dire Roach]

Eschewing multiplayer is what makes the Elder Scrolls games unique amongst all the other MMORPGs.

 

[CrunchyHemorrhoids]

It's not like they already have a couple of MMOs in the oven over at Zenimax Online studios that would lose money if there was a multiplayer component in a TES/Fallout series RPG.

No, they're eschewing multiplay because it would harm the quality of the single player game. God bless Pete, his heart is in the right place

 

[Coyote]

Don't use reverse logic. He didn't say multiplayer doesn't necessarily lead to a better game. He said: multiplayer = worse game. Which is most likely nonsense.

Wait, so that is what you're trying to say here?


I mean, are you seriously denying that 1. programming multiplayer takes time and 2. time is limited?

There's also the issue of features that are enjoyable in single-player but wouldn't be in multiplayer. Can you imagine something like Planescape: Torment with multiplayer? It simply wouldn't work well; you'd have to sacrifice some of the elements that make it unique in order to make a multiplayer mode that didn't seem like a half-assed, last-minute addition that was only done so the publishers could list it as a feature on the box. (IIRC, they actually made a conscious decision not to include it even though it would be very easy to do - since BG already had it - for this very reason.) In theory, they could add it without detracting from the game, since anyone could pick up the game and play it the exact same way as before, but in reallity, any competent dev would almost certainly change the nature of the game in order to accomodate the addition of multiplayer. So yes, I do think that multiplayer = worse game in some cases.

That said, I doubt the addition of a multiplayer option to Skyrim would detract from it much, since, as Dire Roach suggests above, the TES games already play like single-player MMORPGs. Oblivion even emulates the retarded dialogue of the MMO experience!

(Edit: That's not to say that all of the TES games would work well with a multiplayer option, though. Prior to Oblivion, the devs didn't try to balance various playstyles as much, and if they added multiplayer they might want to balance it and fix "broken" systems like the alchemy and enchantment from Morrowind, which could make it less fun to play.)

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

Not every game needs multiplayer and ones shoe-horned in suck.



Every time I hear about a game and the multiplayer question is asked when there's really no need for one I die a little more inside.

 

[arathhunter]

Of course, he is correct.
Alright, then show me a GOOD RPG (Meaningful C&C, good story, non-grindy elements) that is multiplayer. Not a fucking Action RPG extra light on the RPG elements like World of Moneycraft, I mean something like a multiplayer Fallout 1. Tell me, where the fuck are these games? Oh that's right, they are still stuck on the table using die and paper and notebooks with lines of details that would confuse the fuck out of the average mouth breathing Kwan. RPGs are a relative niche genre and simply don't work in a multiplayer fashion like an MMO game. Why do you think so many developers are making action RPGs lite on the RPG elements?

Well... I don't know about the rest of this, head numb and all, but there is a Fallout 1/2 Multiplayer game. FOnline:2238 or somthing, Great game, Made a Village there pre-wipe for Newbs. it dosent have the FO1 or 2 quests, few quests and such, but its more PvP at the moment, Town Control and such, its only beta, but its amazeing.

 

[villain of the story]

'sup Drog.