I want to thank the MS execs that prevented me from getting hooked on Project Blackbird that would have been released in 2028 by ZOS.

Let's go back a bit and let me explain.

It was not until ZOS that I could even tolerate the MMORPG genre. It was 2007. I had played Morrowind to death on the Xbox for a few years and loved it, but I was looking for something new. Folks had mentioned World of WarCraft, and my son wanted to try it, and I sure did play the heck out of Warcraft 2 back in the mid 90s. So, sure, let's try it. We had two Macs that could run the client. After a couple hours, I could not believe people liked that kind of game play. Boring quests, boring combat, plus a chat room. Geez. Never touched an MMORPG again. The 2014 launch of ESO did not move me. Taking Elder Scrolls and slapping miserable WoW game play over top of it? No thanks.

Fast forward to 2016, I'm enjoying Witcher 3 on PS4 minding my own business when I see the marketing for the ESO Morrowind expansion. Gawd dammit. I have to try it, right? And of course, I got hooked on the advances ESO made over WoW. MMORPGs finally had game play that didn't stink. And I've been playing ever since with two 1 year breaks thrown in there.

So, looter shooters. Back around 2013 a buddy of mine was couch surfing and he loved playing this game called Destiny on whatever Xbox console I had at the time. He'd be up all night playing it. I tried it out, and I didn't get it. So, like, co-op Halo on-line? Didn't Halo already have that? Then, years later, Josh Strife Hayes gets me to try War Frame. I was trying out PC gaming so I gave it a shot. OK. So like a more polished and slick version of Destiny with better lore and action, but still, co-op Halo online. But folks cared about 1000+ varieties of guns for some reason? Yeah. That was it. I will never play another looter shooter.

Or so I thought. But this guy Matty, I think is his name, on YouTube just dropped a video summary of Project Blackbird that ZOS was working on, and holey moley. From the sound of it, that game would have totally flipped me on the looter-shooter genre. I'd have to try it just for the frickin lore! A tidally locked planet with a scorching vs ice and a thin habitable zone. The details on factions. I would have totally started with those psychonaut secret stealers race/clan/species. And combat engineer role, which I know is supposed to be tank, but with all the other elements being so creative, I bet it was a lot more involved than today's fantasy tank role. And frickin' Blade Runner themes, my move fav movie of all time?! Yeah, Another decade of my life would have been devoted to playing this game. And that does not even account for the verticality aspect of the game play. Like, I was just thinking yesterday that my fav zone for exploration is Elshwry because of the verticality of the design. And that one zone in GW2 where you get the glider is my favorite zone over there in that game.

So, anyway, thanks MS execs for making sure I don't get pulled in that trap of dedicating another decade of my life to a new genre and sci-fi world. The next ten years, I will not fall as nearly behind on the dirty dishes as I have these last 10 years with ESO.