Is ESO an MMO?

Tai-Chi · June 2017

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

I agree with @josiahva at #13 in that ESO is a MMO and not just considered to be one.

I also agree with what @Paulington says at #4 of this thread. Quote - "It's massive, it's multiplayer and it's online"

To that, I will add.
More accurately, ESO was advertised as a MMORPG. The "RP" (Role Playing) part being an integral part of the game as well.

Many players erroneously believe that all content in MMOs should be played in a large group and that Solo content has no place in such games. That is not true. I think ZOS has tried hard to cater for most play-styles and preferances.

Bombashaman · June 2017

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

Stovahkiin wrote: »

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

Well you need to convince Firor about that. He thinks it's something different even if it fulfills the criteria of MMO. And I believe he wouldn't lie.

The point I was making on that other thread ( https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/4279769#Comment_4279769 ) was that people try to nail their vision of MMO on others. Should those who RPG in this game (follow the story and "interact"), bash people who just play the game because of PvP or just want to dress their toons pretty and prance around? I mean, this is also RPG.

ZOS says they don't want to consider this game as another "traditional" MMO. So why should we?

vyndral13preub18_ESO · June 2017

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

Bombashaman wrote: »

Stovahkiin wrote: »

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

Well you need to convince Firor about that. He thinks it's something different even if it fulfills the criteria of MMO. And I believe he wouldn't lie.

The point I was making on that other thread ( https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/4279769#Comment_4279769 ) was that people try to nail their vision of MMO on others. Should those who RPG in this game (follow the story and "interact"), bash people who just play the game because of PvP or just want to dress their toons pretty and prance around? I mean, this is also RPG.

ZOS says they don't want to consider this game as another "traditional" MMO. So why should we?

What is odd is he says it is different. But it isn't. It is pretty much like every other MMO out there. Well I guess technically you could argue all the other mmos don't have Elders Scrolls so it is different. But as far as game play elements and things people expect in an MMO? ESO has a bunch of them. And they keep adding more. Or removing the ones that set them apart.

Sibenice · June 2017

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

Bombashaman wrote: »

Stovahkiin wrote: »

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

Well you need to convince Firor about that. He thinks it's something different even if it fulfills the criteria of MMO. And I believe he wouldn't lie.

The point I was making on that other thread ( https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/4279769#Comment_4279769 ) was that people try to nail their vision of MMO on others. Should those who RPG in this game (follow the story and "interact"), bash people who just play the game because of PvP or just want to dress their toons pretty and prance around? I mean, this is also RPG.

ZOS says they don't want to consider this game as another "traditional" MMO. So why should we?

Just because ZOS doesn't consider it a traditional MMO does not make it any less an MMORPG.

As others have said it fits the acronym perfectly. It's Massive, it's Multiplayer, it's Online and it's a Role Playing Game. It may not fit some sub genres of MMOs as it's not really the theme park style which is the more popular one right now, but that doesn't make it not an MMO.

The whole point of MMOs from the start was to give you a big world filled with story and other people and let you do as you wished within that. WoW has just as much single player content as ESO, if not more. It also has people who only pvp or only collect cosmetics or only pet battle. And I don't think I've ever heard anyone debate that it's not an MMO.

Also. Who is Firor and why should I care?

Bombashaman · June 2017

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

Sibenice wrote: »

Also. Who is Firor and why should I care?

ESO game director. https://www.pcgamesn.com/the-elder-scrolls-online-tamriel-unlimited/the-elder-scrolls-online-MMORPG

overclocker303b14_ESO · June 2017

dusk194 · June 2017

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

I guess i'll say it again here. Its one thing to want to complete content by yourself as a solo player, but its entiy different to complain that you're finding other players while your completing Solo content such as quests. Your expectatios should be grounded within the confines of an MMO archetype. Not based of experiences in other solo RPG's.

vyndral13preub18_ESO · June 2017

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

overclocker303b14_ESO wrote: »

Seems legit.

Bombashaman · June 2017

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

overclocker303b14_ESO wrote: »

ESO Roleplayers?

Bombashaman · June 2017

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

dusk194 wrote: »

I guess i'll say it again here. Its one thing to want to complete content by yourself as a solo player, but its entiy different to complain that you're finding other players while your completing Solo content such as quests. Your expectatios should be grounded within the confines of an MMO archetype. Not based of experiences in other solo RPG's.

The point on the other thread was that OP got e-mail from ZOS with "reasons to play Morrowind". The main clue was "perfect story for solo run just like in Skyrim", but Morrowind didn't deliver it as it really wasn't like a game Skyrim, there were other toons around.

One way to make both camps happy without instancing a whole area would be to make graphical setting which sets all the other players and their effects invisible. Other players could still kill critters in front of you or take nodes etc, so no advantage would be given. They would just be invisible. And as the setting would be client side, no additional server traffic. That would be as close to "solo run just like in Skyrim" as it would get.

Enslaved · June 2017

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

Mashille wrote: »

This.

Sibenice · June 2017

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

Bombashaman wrote: »

Sibenice wrote: »

Also. Who is Firor and why should I care?

ESO game director. https://www.pcgamesn.com/the-elder-scrolls-online-tamriel-unlimited/the-elder-scrolls-online-MMORPG

Lol.

That article told me one thing. Whoever wrote it doesn't really know what he's talking about. I mean... "enormous Morrowind expansion". I also don't see a source for the quote he has from the dev. Not that it matters. Having scaling does not remove leveling or make the game not an MMO. It's all just PR talk to make things sound different. Some guy in the comments for the article says it well.

"There's no reason to split semantic hairs over whether or not ESO is an MMO. The article itself is suspect.

First of all, it was written by someone who has read a lot of ESO press over the last few years, but hasn't actually played the game. There is no such thing as "player enforcers" in the Justice System. It was suggested as an idea two years ago, then it was shelved for being prohibitively difficult to implement. It has never been a feature of the game -- not live or on the PTS.

Secondly, Matt Firor is clearly a PR person, not a developer. Some of the things that come out of his mouth are either so frustratingly vague as to be useless or so ill-informed as to be alarming. Firor claims housing can't have storage because it would be prohibitively difficult from a development standpoint, ignoring how the infinite crafting bag was NOT originally a feature of the game in 2014. Frankly, I can't see his face or hear his name without thinking "No ETA." Firor is all about selling you what's coming next week so you'll ignore how the game is broken, today.

And let's not kid ourselves -- the first 12 months after PC release was simply the Beta for console release. Players know this."

grim_tactics · June 2017

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.

You know, it's funny you mention that.

I was very active in the forums during my TES3 days. Contributing to user created fan fiction/lore, discussing everything that I could with others at the time.

I remember seeing threads about making TES an MMO and making Morrowind it's own stand alone MMO at the time. There were even user created screenshots of what it would look like, but the comment I remember being thrown out the most was.........

"No! If they made a TES MMO they'd just screw up a great game."

Now here we are. I'm not saying they did, I'm leaning more towards the idea that they are heading towards a place that COULD screw up a great universe/world.

Megabear · June 2017

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

....

Ghost-Shot · June 2017

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.

That's like when they say Morrowind isn't an expansion, but we still want to charge you expansion prices for it. But its definitely a chapter, not an expansion. Rich said so.

old_mufasa · June 2017

Maybe we need to make a poll asking people who make polls if there just polling for the sake of posting a poll... all hail the mighty poll!!

Bouldercleave · June 2017

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

You simply can't take Matt's statements at face value.

Internally not calling it an MMO is to get the developer's mindset to think outside the traditional box ( ie Guild trader system vs. global AH).

Externally presenting it to the consumer is nothing more than a marketing ploy to make us believe that it is something different than the traditional MMO.

This is 100% an MMO by definition. RPG is a different story, as that is far more subjective.

Are the basic tools and lore there for RP? Yes (emotes, Guilds, etc)
Is it RP friendly? Kinda
Is it developed with RP in mind? In my opinion - Not at all.

Bombashaman · June 2017

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

old_mufasa wrote: »

Maybe we need to make a poll asking people who make polls if there just polling for the sake of posting a poll... all hail the mighty poll!!

I love polls, I mostly just read threads with some kind of polls

Zalicius · June 2017

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

Bombashaman wrote: »

Sibenice wrote: »

Also. Who is Firor and why should I care?

ESO game director. https://www.pcgamesn.com/the-elder-scrolls-online-tamriel-unlimited/the-elder-scrolls-online-MMORPG

No idea what he's smoking. It feels nothing like a single player game. The game by definition is definitely an MMO.

altemriel · June 2017

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

Yes, this one thinks that this is a massive world open, full of adventurers, we can be real, so it is play, this one does not know about "role" play, maybe to roll on the ground, that khajiit likes to do often, so this one thinks it is a MMORPG to be precise.

With precision in her tongue
Maoimii

Acrolas · June 2017

"In any other game of this type, these would be called “expansions" – but ESO is a game unlike any other. Because ESO is not level-based, Chapters don't fit the general definition of an “expansion," which typically, in MMO-speak, means it is aimed only at existing (and usually high level) players. Chapters in ESO are different."

Basically, they're label-averse because they don't want ESO being compared to anything else besides ESO.
Because somebody might accidentally make a totally logical comparison to a logically comparative product and then they'd have a higher standard to work toward. Also, competition is hard.

But in a class of one, the smartest kid is also the dumbest kid... they're not doing themselves any favors in trying to isolate themselves from the rest of the industry they most certainly belong to.

Bombashaman · June 2017

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

Zalicius wrote: »

It feels nothing like a single player game.

Hmm, for me this feels a lot like a single player game. Except for the part of other player toons zooming around of course (less so in off hours). But then again, I don't PvP or group.

Good there is something for everyone, as it had been advertised.

vyndral13preub18_ESO · June 2017

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

Bombashaman wrote: »

Zalicius wrote: »

It feels nothing like a single player game.

Hmm, for me this feels a lot like a single player game. Except for the part of other player toons zooming around of course (less so in off hours). But then again, I don't PvP or group.

Good there is something for everyone, as it had been advertised.

Like most high profile MMOs...

Sibenice · June 2017

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

Bombashaman wrote: »

Zalicius wrote: »

It feels nothing like a single player game.

Hmm, for me this feels a lot like a single player game. Except for the part of other player toons zooming around of course (less so in off hours). But then again, I don't PvP or group.

Good there is something for everyone, as it had been advertised.

Just because you can play it like a single player game does not make it not an MMO. You can do that with basically any MMO out there.

Rickter · June 2017

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

As much as ZOS and Matt Firor try to cover it up or try to get us to think otherwise, ESO is in fact by definition and functionality, an mmorpg.

They just dont want it in the same category as WoW and every other mmorpg floundering in the market right now.

Like there just isnt anything else out there in terms of AAA theme-park block buster mmos. ESO was it. They are arguably the last dev company that can pull off what WoW did. No other company nor investor wants to invest in an MMORPG so I think there is a major publicity stunt to try and move away from the genre label in order to solidify themselves as a standalone platform.

Not going to work, ZOS. Please stop before you embarrass yourselves. embrace it. you are the last of the greats. and you guys are rocking it right now. just own it. you are an mmo developer. ESO is an mmo. ESO is the best MMO and its the last MMO.

Raeph · June 2017

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

ITT: Firor puts a hat on a duck, tells us it's not a duck. Most people say, "Look, a duck with a hat on". A smaller number of people ask, "Where'd the duck go?!!".

Meanwhile ESO looks like an MMO, walks like an MMO, quacks like an MMO... you get the idea.

Bombashaman · June 2017

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

Raeph wrote: »

ITT: Firor puts a hat on a duck, tells us it's not a duck. Most people say, "Look, a duck with a hat on". A smaller number of people ask, "Where'd the duck go?!!".

Meanwhile ESO looks like an MMO, walks like an MMO, quacks like an MMO... you get the idea.

What's the hat?

apostate9 · June 2017

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

dusk194 wrote: »

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.

Is it massively multi-player? Check.

Is it online? Usually.

So yeah.

Raeph · June 2017

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

Bombashaman wrote: »

Raeph wrote: »

ITT: Firor puts a hat on a duck, tells us it's not a duck. Most people say, "Look, a duck with a hat on". A smaller number of people ask, "Where'd the duck go?!!".

Meanwhile ESO looks like an MMO, walks like an MMO, quacks like an MMO... you get the idea.

What's the hat?

Likely the universal scaling changes with One Tamriel. Only other MMO I'm aware of that does that is The Secret World. Which coincidently also has a lot of single player content (often instanced).

zaria · June 2017

This one is just here for some innocent Awesome farming