Is ESO an MMO?

dusk194

I've been arguing a point of technicality with several other players in a recent post and i would like community feedback on the topic. I'm honestly curious about the communities opion on this topic, as I love playing MMO's as my prefered game type.

Mashille

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

FlyLionel

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

FPS.

Paulington

It's massive, it's multiplayer and it's online. I'd say it fits the definition pretty well regardless of what some folks may say.

You could argue that it's very different from standard MMOs in the sense that it's not themepark, but it's still an MMO as far as I am concerned.

Shardan4968

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

I thought it is RTS...

Sigtric

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

Pretty sure it's a space dating sim

dennissomb16_ESO

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

Runs like virtually every mainstream MMO on the market. Players mostly solo quest/level (like all MMOs), certain amount of group play in open PvE (world bosses), group dungeons like all MMOs, Raids for larger groups like typical but not all MMOs, active trade (in this case guild traders vs the auction house style of typical MMO) PvP zone for battles of all sizes (MMOs vary here from this style to open world PvP).

Basically everything that ticks the box for MMO is here

Dymence

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

???

DMuehlhausen

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

grim_tactics

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

If the Massive part stands for the massive queue times then yes. I'm constantly 200 and something in queue on weekends.

DaveMoeDee

Reminds me of pointless debates over whether Mass Effect or any other game is an RPG.

Except this has an obvious answer. Of course it is. We share servers with a ton of people and can group with any of them at any time to do content together. Any confusion is due to people expecting it to be like certain MMOs in certain ways. I really don't have a point of reference because I have never played any other MMOs.

Saying it is an FPS is not answering the question, as you can obviously have an FPS MMO if you aren't restricted to 16 people on a single map for a 15 minute round. Battlegrounds as a stand alone game would not be an MMO. It would just be an online multiplayer game. Cyrodiil could be debated. But ESO as a whole is not questionable.

Keep_Door

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

I dont understand what there is to argue about......

josiahva

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

ESO isnt "considered" a MMO, it is a MMO.

psychotrip

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

I mostly play ESO as a solo experience (I prefer it to unmodded Skyrim) but it's definitely an MMO. While some can argue that it's less an MMO because of the focus on solo content, I think there's room in the gaming space for a game like ESO. I play a lot of MMOs. Some very group focused, some not. ESO is definitely the latter, but I don't see that as a problem.

drakhan2002_ESO

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

This poll is somewhat biased toward "No"...but that's my opinion.

Sigtric

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

Many folks get hung up thinking multi-player in MMO means grouping up. This is not the case. It means multiple players in the same game world. Grouping may or may not occur.

Artis

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

Next poll should be "Do you have Internet?"

Bouldercleave

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

I guess the question is:

If you are arguing a technicality, WHAT is the counterpoint? How and why would this be NOT considered an MMO?

billp_ESO

I remember playing the original Morrowind, and how we all wished we could play with a friend or two. I think ESO did that very well. ESO does a pretty good job for a solo or a small group.

The first M in MMO stands for Massive, meaning over 1,000 players at one spot at a time. ESO doesn't do very well in this case.

dusk194

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

No, I agree it's an MMO. And argued that it was an MMO RPG. I was told multiple times it was not and that i'm of the wrong opinion. So I am curious if my concept and definition of an MMO is wrong or behind the times.

Sigtric

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

billp_ESO wrote: »

I remember playing the original Morrowind, and how we all wished we could play with a friend or two. I think ESO did that very well. ESO does a pretty good job for a solo or a small group.

The first M in MMO stands for Massive, meaning over 1,000 players at one spot at a time. ESO doesn't do very well in this case.

Exactly 1000?

Argah

I think the question you should have asked was "is ESO a console game or PC"

Of course it's an MMO by definition but a PC type... No, not really.

For console yes.

Bombashaman

ESO is not an MMO, and focuses on solo play with some group content available

I just leave this here:

ESO isn't really an MMO in the traditional sense anyway:

"To answer your question about comparing ESO to other MMOs: ESO is not really a traditional MMO, so we don’t use that term much around the office – and it is this distinction that separates it from other games. If you want to play it solo, like you did with other Elder Scrolls games, you can do that. If you want to play it super-grindy with dungeons, Trials, and group bosses as the core of you experience, you can join up with others and do that too."

And made it even clearer in a recent interview last week:

“We don’t even use the term MMO with The Elder Scrolls Online anymore, because really it’s not,” game director Matt Firor says. “MMO was a term coined in 1997 with Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Dark Age of Camelot – we are not that game.”

I tend to believe what the people who makes the game, say. Maybe naive. A fault of mine, I admit.

hmsdragonfly

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

Bombashaman wrote: »

I just leave this here:

ESO isn't really an MMO in the traditional sense anyway:

"To answer your question about comparing ESO to other MMOs: ESO is not really a traditional MMO, so we don’t use that term much around the office – and it is this distinction that separates it from other games. If you want to play it solo, like you did with other Elder Scrolls games, you can do that. If you want to play it super-grindy with dungeons, Trials, and group bosses as the core of you experience, you can join up with others and do that too."

And made it even clearer in a recent interview last week:

“We don’t even use the term MMO with The Elder Scrolls Online anymore, because really it’s not,” game director Matt Firor says. “MMO was a term coined in 1997 with Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Dark Age of Camelot – we are not that game.”

He meant that ESO isn't a traditional MMO, but by the definition of an MMO, it is still an MMO, just not the kind of MMO that we are used to.

Sigtric

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

Bombashaman wrote: »

I just leave this here:

ESO isn't really an MMO in the traditional sense anyway:

"To answer your question about comparing ESO to other MMOs: ESO is not really a traditional MMO, so we don’t use that term much around the office – and it is this distinction that separates it from other games. If you want to play it solo, like you did with other Elder Scrolls games, you can do that. If you want to play it super-grindy with dungeons, Trials, and group bosses as the core of you experience, you can join up with others and do that too."

And made it even clearer in a recent interview last week:

“We don’t even use the term MMO with The Elder Scrolls Online anymore, because really it’s not,” game director Matt Firor says. “MMO was a term coined in 1997 with Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Dark Age of Camelot – we are not that game.”

I tend to believe what the people who makes the game, say. Maybe naive. A fault of mine, I admit.

Unfortunately for Mr. Firor he doesn't get to change the universal definition.

It's fine for him not to want to call it an MMO, but it's still an MMO by definition.

zaria

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

Reminds me of pointless debates over whether Mass Effect or any other game is an RPG.

Except this has an obvious answer. Of course it is. We share servers with a ton of people and can group with any of them at any time to do content together. Any confusion is due to people expecting it to be like certain MMOs in certain ways. I really don't have a point of reference because I have never played any other MMOs.

Saying it is an FPS is not answering the question, as you can obviously have an FPS MMO if you aren't restricted to 16 people on a single map for a 15 minute round. Battlegrounds as a stand alone game would not be an MMO. It would just be an online multiplayer game. Cyrodiil could be debated. But ESO as a whole is not questionable.

True, however battleground work just like lots of the WOW PVP instances, except just two parts and queuing work in WOW.

dusk194

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

I got tired and blue in face fighting that arguement alone

zaria

Sigtric wrote: »

Many folks get hung up thinking multi-player in MMO means grouping up. This is not the case. It means multiple players in the same game world. Grouping may or may not occur.

This, groups prehaps more in ESO as in WOW as its common for world boss quests who was not an thing in WOW, also two man grinding.

One difference is that ESO has far more endgame solo content. Back then I played WOW it was just daily quests, ESO has the same number of dailies I think, however you can also take any character trough the one time quests at any level.
My templar who I play most is doing Calvin silver at cp460, did it on sorc back after launch, actually enjoy them more now as its no stress, they could be a bit harder however, then main reason for death is fall damage and second is AFK then mob spawn on you

Turelus

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

Is this because of Matt's interview?

The game is an MMO, it doesn't matter how much ZOS try to market it otherwise, it's an MMO.

dusk194

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

No, they used Mr. Firor's point to justify that ESO is not an MMO just like in here.

Originaly it was a lot about false advertising, and instanced story quests. But it quickly included what is and is not a reasonable expectation for an MMO, and then wether or not we were even playing an MMO. The origional intent about instanced story deserved its own thread, so i move the "ESO is/is not an MMO" argument to here.

The OP is here if you'd like to add to the solo story quest discussion:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/4279769#Comment_4279769

Stovahkiin

ESO is considered an MMO and has a blend of solo and group content

Bombashaman wrote: »

I just leave this here:

ESO isn't really an MMO in the traditional sense anyway:

"To answer your question about comparing ESO to other MMOs: ESO is not really a traditional MMO, so we don’t use that term much around the office – and it is this distinction that separates it from other games. If you want to play it solo, like you did with other Elder Scrolls games, you can do that. If you want to play it super-grindy with dungeons, Trials, and group bosses as the core of you experience, you can join up with others and do that too."

And made it even clearer in a recent interview last week:

“We don’t even use the term MMO with The Elder Scrolls Online anymore, because really it’s not,” game director Matt Firor says. “MMO was a term coined in 1997 with Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Dark Age of Camelot – we are not that game.”

I tend to believe what the people who makes the game, say. Maybe naive. A fault of mine, I admit.

M - Massively
M - Multiplayer
O - Online

ESO is massive. ESO is multiplayer. ESO is online. ESO is an MMO