[pb_vidembed title=”The Elder Scrolls Online – Announcement Trailer” caption=”” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6m9-Dret0U” type=”yt” w=”480″ h=”385″] And so passes the last refuge of quality single-player RPG series. First KotOR, and now Elder Scrolls.
I guess I just don’t get the point of MMORPG’s. I’ve played quite a few – Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, City of Heroes, Champions Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Star Trek Online, Star Wars The Old Republic, and others, if you count open betas and the like. But every time, I acquire only an overwhelming sense of pointlessness.
I mean, in relation to my impact on the persistent world, I’m identical to everyone else in real life; why would I want the same experience among video games? Not everyone can be a hero, and if you’re not a hero, then there’s no great story. If there’s no great story, then what’s the point in escapist, interactive fantasies?
Is it talking with your friends? Possibly. But let me ask: have you ever heard of the telephone? Or a hang-out? And I don’t mean that thing on Google Plus where you all use your webcams at the same time.
Perhaps it’s spending time with friends doing fun stuff. I don’t imagine that’s possible in any other form, such as, you know, in person.
It’s like people have decided that real life isn’t good enough, so they made escapist video games – many of which are quite awesome in single-player forms. Then, when they realized that their lives were lacking in certain necessary components (because they did nothing but play video games), they converted their escapist video games into escapist multiplayer video games, which gradually – and sometimes, not so gradually – morph into “real life in X universe.”
I wish you luck, Bethesda Softworks. I really do. It’d be neat to see an MMORPG that’s not just Second Life in Space, or Second Life in Middle Earth, or Second Life in Tamriel. At least Second Life is honest. But if BioWare couldn’t do it – and trust me, they couldn’t – then I’m not sure you’ll be able to do it, either. Especially since Skyrim turned about half the quests in the game into “real life”-esque quests, which are more like a job than a story.
But good luck, all the same.