The Elder Scrolls Online developers wouldn't call the long-running game an MMO because it's more a "virtual world" at this point
Aug. 21, 2024A not-so-MMO morning for ESO
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Developers working onThe Elder Scrolls Onlinedon’t really think of the long-running game as an MMO because, at this point, it’s more of a “virtual world.”
If the massively multiplayer fantasy RPG isn’t an MMO, then what the hell is it? “I actually view it like a virtual world and there’s lots of room for different thing to do in a virtual world,” Firor explains. “If you want to do an assassination simulator, go do the Dark Brotherhood stuff. If you want to have a hotel and go in and show off your house to your friends, you can do that. We literally have players that only do housing and craft furniture for their friends and only play the card game.”
The Elder Scrolls Online was apparently always designed with the intent to foster that feeling, “because the way the leveling system works in the game is that leveling is very personal to you,” Firor adds. “You can party with other people and your levels can be different and the game handles that, which means that there’s no vertical power chase in Elder Scrolls Online.”
Calling the offshoot an “online roleplaying game” instead gives the studio “enough space that we can define that how we want,” though if players call Elder Scrolls Online anyway, Firor is “not gonna fight it… it’s just that I don’t think of it like that.”
Disappointed to discover that your fave MMO is no longer an MMO? Why not check out ourbest MMORPGslist for more.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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