It's because people have been playing MMORPGs like they are single player games for the last 6 years. MMORPGs cannot offer the same experience of SPRPGS because the world cannot be focused around every single person.
MMORPGs have one major advantage over single player RPGs that make up the difference for some of us, and that is the ability to play with friends and meet new people. The more and more developers get away from MMOs strong point (social) and focus on their weak point (RPG), the more and more people are going to leave the MMORPG community.
I love Skyrim for what it is, a single player RPG. It excels at what its supposed to.
Now we just need an MMORPG to follow suit.
Well said! Also, i cannot understand wht people are hating it simply because its a console game.
Skyrim is so successful because its a completely immersive experience, one that MMORPGs have not seen since EQ1. Its so easy to lose yourself in that world.
It is pretty fantastic so far as a single player game goes. Its world is extensive, detailed and very unique regardless of the fact that is mostly a mountainous area. It is the most alive I have ever seen a world. Each NPC has a life, they all matter.
My MMO recipe for awesome is...
Take Skyrim.
Increase world size even more. (it is already pretty big).
Throw in building your own cities.
Add in 5000 or so other human players per server concurant users.
Slap on a PVP FFA full loot sticker as well as destructive enviroments.
Enjoy.
Everything but the last one and I'd play it.
Same. PVP FFA has ruined MO and DF, it's time to say goodbye to an extremely niche mechanic.
FFA pvp didnt ruin MO or DF. Bugs, glitches and shotty developers ruined those games. No skill cap for DF, unmeaningful pvp. A sorry excuse for a company working on MO. You can't say one mechanic ruined either of those games. DF and MO are very bad examples of what should be a FFA pvp sandbox game.
In an MMO you need all of the player styles. Killer, Explorer, Achiever and Socializer. To many MMO's today have focused on only one aspect of that list. Its mostly been the Achiever, with dabbles in the other three.
I miss the days of when PK' and Anti-PK's inhabited the same servers. When a PvE non PVP player got ganked, he didn't go crying to forums and complain about how he just got ruined by a group of people. He sent a message or went to find that Anti-PK guild and let them handle it. Usually ending up in a good PVP match, that the PVE only guy took part in as well because it was, wait a second... fun and meaningful. He was fighting a non scripted full of suprises challenging fight to obtain his gear/items back.
MMO Developers and Gamers alike have lost sight of what an MMO should be.
Skyrim has taken all those aspects of player styles and created something great.
The explorer has caves to dive through and wierd/strange eviroments that appeal.
Killers have a great combat system, strange, unique, and a lot of the times difficult fights to go through (I play Master Mode so I dont know about how difficult other modes are). Not to mention the random encounters from Dragons and the like.
Achievers have the great progression tree's, the crafting, loads of different gear, a good indepth story. Strange weapons and armor (that all look fantastic I might add).
Socializers have the amazing NPC interaction. The world feels completely alive. If you tore your own character out of the mix, it would continue on regardless of you being there. NPC's react differently to your playstyle. Its only issue is there is no human interaction.
Not to mention the added things. Side quests that are deep, a lot of thought went into each quest. Books, taverns with bards. Random oddities in the world that have no meaning, but get you thinking on what happend in that particular area.
If a MMO developer took the things that Skyrim has done and expanded/tweaked them to fit a Massive enviroment with loads of players it would become the ultimate MMO extremely quickly.
Like Enezeal said in another thread. Skyrim is a slap in the face to MMO gamers, it demonstrates what we could have but don't because of the incompetance of developers and publsihers that have plagued us in todays market.
"In the immediate future, we have this one, and then weve got another one that is actually going to be so were going to have, what we want to do, is in January, what were targeting to do, this may or may not happen, so you cant hold me to it. But what were targeting to do, is have a fun anniversary to the Ilum shenanigans that happened. An alien race might invade, and they might crash into Ilum and there might be some new activities that happen on the planet." ~Gabe Amatangelo
Will someone step up and make an enormous MMO out of a beautiful world like Skyrim? Hope so, but make mine Sci-fi, Horror, super hero, or post apocolyptic please!
***Raises Plunger in salute to bethesda and Skyrim!***
All my opinions are just that..opinions. If you like my opinions..coolness.If you dont like my opinion....I really dont care. Playing: ESO, WOT, Smite, and Marvel Heroes
FFA PvP is a terrible mechanic because it restricts the game to only the 5-15% of people that like FFA PvP. Most people would never try Darkfall or MO becayse they are FFA PvP.
However if they did FFA PvP but put in a SEVERE detriment to PKing then it could work.
Like say, if you PK someone and get reported to the local authorities, they can capture you, permanently remove all your gear, items an dmoney, and put an enchantment on you that removes your ability to attack or use magic for an hour of ingame time, and release you in the capital city where players could gank you with immunity, or just do the Nelson ha ha at you.
Now its possible you kill someone and they dont report, or that you manage to evade the authorities, but chances are if you just go around ganking all day you are gonna be caught.
Of course there should be 'frontier' zones where none of this applies and its every man for himself with no rules, but those would be a small, dangerous, and rewarding area of the game.
yeah you don't need FFA PVP in a sandbox in fact it should not be added at all, while it gives gankers the "freedom" they desire to grief and gank whoever and whenever they want. it restricts my and others freedom to just roam and explore where and when i want.
sorry but my freedom is much more important than your freedom to make players like myself miserable.
they just need to do like SWG and have factions where you can go overt and be open PVP to those of the opposite faction.
it should tell you something when they holy grail of FFA PVP UO became more popular when they released Trammel.
It's because people have been playing MMORPGs like they are single player games for the last 6 years. MMORPGs cannot offer the same experience of SPRPGS because the world cannot be focused around every single person.
MMORPGs have one major advantage over single player RPGs that make up the difference for some of us, and that is the ability to play with friends and meet new people. The more and more developers get away from MMOs strong point (social) and focus on their weak point (RPG), the more and more people are going to leave the MMORPG community.
I love Skyrim for what it is, a single player RPG. It excels at what its supposed to.
Now we just need an MMORPG to follow suit.
I disagree with it being Heroic (people who've actually pursued the Story line have probably already finished it or are having Severe technical issues). Personally, I haven't even gotten to Whiterun/Whitehold or whatever the 1st big city is, been completely content and happy to wander about and do Non-Heroic stuff like Hunt, Smith, Chop wood and live in the world per se. Judging from I've seen of other Posters in Skyrim forums, Nexus forums and MMORPG.com forums is that I am far from being alone in that regard. Granted I have been having serious technical issues and haven't been able to play very much because of them (Clear that I need to go to that Whiterun/WhiteHold or w/e for its market not because I care anything about the Story).
The main reason I see Skyrim being so successful among MMORPG crowd is simple: It scratches an itch/supplies a demand that no present MMO does as effectively as Skyrim does. Why? because the Industry hasn't been maintaining that area of the MMO market for the affected consumer base (Indie companies have been doing Niche variants mostly centered on PvP). Apparently, MMO Industry thinks that customers will buy MMO's simply because they are MMO's. Ie. Themeparks are dominant and popular but they aren't representative of the entire MMO market.
If a supplier fails to supply the demands of their customers then those customers that aren't satisfied will look elsewhere for what they are demanding. Thats what your seeing, it has nothing to do with the style of the game other than its comparable to whats in shortage in the MMO market.
Point: The success of Skyrim while it might be very good for its own merits, it is also largely inflated due to simple Economics [Supply & Demand], Customer Service and Business [Maintaining Market Consumer base, Researching Market demands, Maintaining Market presence for sub-markets within the overall Market]. Skyrim is a stark contrast in style to most other titles being released or significantly different in quality to comparable style titles.
It's because people have been playing MMORPGs like they are single player games for the last 6 years. MMORPGs cannot offer the same experience of SPRPGS because the world cannot be focused around every single person.
MMORPGs have one major advantage over single player RPGs that make up the difference for some of us, and that is the ability to play with friends and meet new people. The more and more developers get away from MMOs strong point (social) and focus on their weak point (RPG), the more and more people are going to leave the MMORPG community.
I love Skyrim for what it is, a single player RPG. It excels at what its supposed to.
Now we just need an MMORPG to follow suit.
I disagree with it being Heroic (people who've actually pursued the Story line have probably already finished it or are having Severe technical issues). Personally, I haven't even gotten to Whiterun/Whitehold or whatever the 1st big city is, been completely content and happy to wander about and do Non-Heroic stuff like Hunt, Smith, Chop wood and live in the world per se. Judging from I've seen of other Posters in Skyrim forums, Nexus forums and MMORPG.com forums is that I am far from being alone in that regard. Granted I have been having serious technical issues and haven't been able to play very much because of them (Clear that I need to go to that Whiterun/WhiteHold or w/e for its market not because I care anything about the Story).
The main reason I see Skyrim being so successful among MMORPG crowd is simple: It scratches an itch/supplies a demand that no present MMO does as effectively as Skyrim does. Why? because the Industry hasn't been maintaining that area of the MMO market for the affected consumer base (Indie companies have been doing Niche variants mostly centered on PvP). Apparently, MMO Industry thinks that customers will buy MMO's simply because they are MMO's. Ie. Themeparks are dominant and popular but they aren't representative of the entire MMO market.
If a supplier fails to supply the demands of their customers then those customers that aren't satisfied will look elsewhere for what they are demanding. Thats what your seeing, it has nothing to do with the style of the game other than its comparable to whats in shortage in the MMO market.
Point: The success of Skyrim while it might be very good for its own merits, it is also largely inflated due to simple Economics [Supply & Demand], Customer Service and Business [Maintaining Market Consumer base, Researching Market demands, Maintaining Market presence for sub-markets within the overall Market]. Skyrim is a stark contrast in style to most other titles being released or significantly different in quality to comparable style titles.
Yep, have to agree here, with what I have marked in red, most of my time in game has been pretty much centered around a certain area and 3/4's of my game time has been doing nothing "heroic" - my character can get into plenty of trouble just outside the door of Whiterun. The hills are crawling with dangerous creatures - wolves, sabre cats, ice wraiths, bandits, assassins, those rat thingies, etc, etc. Plus there is alchemy, herbing, and the hides my character gets from animals can be turned into leather to make armor. I can spend hours just knocking about looking for the right ingrediants to make potions. Can't wait until the toolset comes out - I will be making some cahnges to the game and I may never play another MMORPG again - ever.
It's because people have been playing MMORPGs like they are single player games for the last 6 years. MMORPGs cannot offer the same experience of SPRPGS because the world cannot be focused around every single person.
MMORPGs have one major advantage over single player RPGs that make up the difference for some of us, and that is the ability to play with friends and meet new people. The more and more developers get away from MMOs strong point (social) and focus on their weak point (RPG), the more and more people are going to leave the MMORPG community.
I love Skyrim for what it is, a single player RPG. It excels at what its supposed to.
Now we just need an MMORPG to follow suit.
I disagree with it being Heroic (people who've actually pursued the Story line have probably already finished it or are having Severe technical issues). Personally, I haven't even gotten to Whiterun/Whitehold or whatever the 1st big city is, been completely content and happy to wander about and do Non-Heroic stuff like Hunt, Smith, Chop wood and live in the world per se. Judging from I've seen of other Posters in Skyrim forums, Nexus forums and MMORPG.com forums is that I am far from being alone in that regard. Granted I have been having serious technical issues and haven't been able to play very much because of them (Clear that I need to go to that Whiterun/WhiteHold or w/e for its market not because I care anything about the Story).
Yep, have to agree here, with what I have marked in red, most of my time in game has been pretty much centered around a certain area and 3/4's of my game time has been doing nothing "heroic" - my character can get into plenty of trouble just outside the door of Whiterun. The hills are crawling with dangerous creatures - wolves, sabre cats, ice wraiths, bandits, assassins, those rat thingies, etc, etc. Plus there is alchemy, herbing, and the hides my character gets from animals can be turned into leather to make armor. I can spend hours just knocking about looking for the right ingrediants to make potions. Can't wait until the toolset comes out - I will be making some cahnges to the game and I may never play another MMORPG again - ever.
I have to admit, I feel the same way. Being disenchanted with MMO's myself, I find that Skyrim meets all my sword and board needs. While other feel that the combat is lacking, I find it fun and engaging. Playing it in a slower mode has helped me enjoy the game more. Since there isn't anyone around to tell me that my gear is gimped, or too low level to get the gear I need (paradox, isn't it) I am free to do and go whereever I want, or can find my way into.
Like in Oblivion and Morrowind, this game is really going to shine when the SDK breeds so many great mods. Rumor has it that there are some really big mods in the works. For now I am going to mod only for aethetic purposes. I am waiting for a darker night and darker dungeon mod like Cava Obscura and Darker Nights for Oblivion.
It is pretty fantastic so far as a single player game goes. Its world is extensive, detailed and very unique regardless of the fact that is mostly a mountainous area. It is the most alive I have ever seen a world. Each NPC has a life, they all matter.
My MMO recipe for awesome is...
Take Skyrim.
Increase world size even more. (it is already pretty big).
Throw in building your own cities.
Add in 5000 or so other human players per server concurant users.
Slap on a PVP FFA full loot sticker as well as destructive enviroments.
Enjoy.
Disagree. FFA PvP is and always will be a niche crowd and hardly anyone would play this game. Instead what should happen is 2 things:
1. Have 2 different rule set servers: White PvE only servers with consentual flagging and Red PK faction based server.
2. Faction PvP could consist of Stormcloaks vs Imperial or even mages vs rogues vs melee.
Playing: GW2 Waiting on: TESO Next Flop: Planetside 2 Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.
It is pretty fantastic so far as a single player game goes. Its world is extensive, detailed and very unique regardless of the fact that is mostly a mountainous area. It is the most alive I have ever seen a world. Each NPC has a life, they all matter.
My MMO recipe for awesome is...
Take Skyrim.
Increase world size even more. (it is already pretty big).
Throw in building your own cities.
Add in 5000 or so other human players per server concurant users.
Slap on a PVP FFA full loot sticker as well as destructive enviroments.
Enjoy.
Disagree. FFA PvP is and always will be a niche crowd and hardly anyone would play this game. Instead what should happen is 2 things:
1. Have 2 different rule set servers: White PvE only servers with consentual flagging and Red PK faction based server.
2. Faction PvP could consist of Stormcloaks vs Imperial or even mages vs rogues vs melee.
Sadly, even the sandbox crowd can't agree whether or not they want FFA PvP, yet they expect a AAA developer to make a game that will fulfill all their dreams.
As a person that loves mmorpg's and single player rpg equally, my perspective is this:
Skyrim has an Immersion Factor that most mmorpg's lack. Feels like a living breathing world.
+10
I like how the NPC's can actually run out of money and you can invest your own money in their if you have the perk. Same type of real economy that was in Oblivion, but feels better here. Maybe they perfected it.
I will agree with the OP's analysis. I would like to add that Skyrim tends to feel surprisingly like an MMO in that it feels very much like an alive, persistent world that continues to go on even after you log off. I find myself making multiple characters as I would in an MMO, and they each have their own story and have gone off into their own parts of the world. I also tend to be in Vent with other friends who are playing Skyrim at the same time. We all feel like we are in different parts of the same world (as we often would be in an MMO,) and we entheusiastically talk about things we've discovered and experienced.
This is probably largely a function of how solo oriented MMOs have become. The fact is, while leveling and experiencing the story content and character progression (the cores to the RPG experience) through the quest systems of most MMOs, it's a solo experience. Unless you and a friend decide to absolutely not play your respective characters unless the other person is also online, one will inevitably get ahead of the other on certain quest chains, throwing your whole co-op experience out of whack. Hopefully leveling systems like those in GW2 will help alleviate this issue that plagues MMOs somewhat. And hopefully Anet and other developers would continue to improve upon these systems in the future, because there are sure to be some flaws at first as well.
Skyrim is what a sandbox MMO would be like if the rest of the players all played the game in the exact same way you did.
Which is the problem with MMOs and particularly sandbox MMOs - other players can add SO much to the enjoyment of a game but they can also add SO many negative things to the game.
Of course Skyrim is the perfect sandbox because it is YOUR sandbox, and when we talk of adding in multiplayer or making it a MMO we assume it will still be our sandbox and people will follow our rules and play the way we do and everything will be just as perfect as it is when we are playing it alone...
But we all really know that isn't true.
Other players, random strangers will always do something we don't like or get in our way or gank/grief us or steal our quest mobs or camp our dungeons or ruin our economy etc. etc. etc.
We like Skyrim because it is a great sandbox game and because we have all the control.
People (in general) don't like giving up control to other people.
We want to do things our way when we want to do them.
People like themepark games more then sandboxes (people in general, not people on this website) because other players have LESS control over OUR game play experience.
I dont agree with the OP. If you play MMO's for the social aspect play IMVU or any other chat room.
Skyrim is succesful because of the freedom that we currently do not get in MMO's.
Take the world and character progresion from Skyrim, add territory control and its the game Darkfall and Mortal shouldve been.
Can you imagine all those caves and holdings being clan controlled? You fight over them cause they allow you to mine the precious recources making it WORTH to fight over. Guild leader can upgrade it etc etc... omg *drool* > back to Skyrim..!
Comments
yeah im really missing the social aspect of MMOs ....
"dude your gear sucks get good"
"damn your dps is terrible l2p"
"omg my warrior alt needs that purplez ... *ninja*"
"chuck norris ...... "
"pandas ..... "
"according to the gearscore you can't come to the raid sorry but get good"
"omfg heal faster FFS you brain dead MFer (of course it was spelled out)"
yeah i really miss that
The conversation i'm having with the NPC's are on average better then the most people i spoke to in MMO's
A few things what makes it so great ... large open world with loads to discover and do ... lively ... skill system instead of levels.
Sadly that is very accurate in my experience. A Skyrim type mmo would be fine but I think the other players would really ruin it.
Skyrim is so successful because its a completely immersive experience, one that MMORPGs have not seen since EQ1. Its so easy to lose yourself in that world.
Developers should take note of the success of Skyrim and how it is an all immersive game-a sandbox game if you will.
There are too many MMO's out there that are "cookie cutter" types of games with vivid grahics designed to lure you into the game.
FFA pvp didnt ruin MO or DF. Bugs, glitches and shotty developers ruined those games. No skill cap for DF, unmeaningful pvp. A sorry excuse for a company working on MO. You can't say one mechanic ruined either of those games. DF and MO are very bad examples of what should be a FFA pvp sandbox game.
In an MMO you need all of the player styles. Killer, Explorer, Achiever and Socializer. To many MMO's today have focused on only one aspect of that list. Its mostly been the Achiever, with dabbles in the other three.
I miss the days of when PK' and Anti-PK's inhabited the same servers. When a PvE non PVP player got ganked, he didn't go crying to forums and complain about how he just got ruined by a group of people. He sent a message or went to find that Anti-PK guild and let them handle it. Usually ending up in a good PVP match, that the PVE only guy took part in as well because it was, wait a second... fun and meaningful. He was fighting a non scripted full of suprises challenging fight to obtain his gear/items back.
MMO Developers and Gamers alike have lost sight of what an MMO should be.
Skyrim has taken all those aspects of player styles and created something great.
The explorer has caves to dive through and wierd/strange eviroments that appeal.
Killers have a great combat system, strange, unique, and a lot of the times difficult fights to go through (I play Master Mode so I dont know about how difficult other modes are). Not to mention the random encounters from Dragons and the like.
Achievers have the great progression tree's, the crafting, loads of different gear, a good indepth story. Strange weapons and armor (that all look fantastic I might add).
Socializers have the amazing NPC interaction. The world feels completely alive. If you tore your own character out of the mix, it would continue on regardless of you being there. NPC's react differently to your playstyle. Its only issue is there is no human interaction.
Not to mention the added things. Side quests that are deep, a lot of thought went into each quest. Books, taverns with bards. Random oddities in the world that have no meaning, but get you thinking on what happend in that particular area.
If a MMO developer took the things that Skyrim has done and expanded/tweaked them to fit a Massive enviroment with loads of players it would become the ultimate MMO extremely quickly.
Like Enezeal said in another thread. Skyrim is a slap in the face to MMO gamers, it demonstrates what we could have but don't because of the incompetance of developers and publsihers that have plagued us in todays market.
"In the immediate future, we have this one, and then weve got another one that is actually going to be so were going to have, what we want to do, is in January, what were targeting to do, this may or may not happen, so you cant hold me to it. But what were targeting to do, is have a fun anniversary to the Ilum shenanigans that happened. An alien race might invade, and they might crash into Ilum and there might be some new activities that happen on the planet." ~Gabe Amatangelo
Will someone step up and make an enormous MMO out of a beautiful world like Skyrim? Hope so, but make mine Sci-fi, Horror, super hero, or post apocolyptic please!
***Raises Plunger in salute to bethesda and Skyrim!***
All my opinions are just that..opinions. If you like my opinions..coolness.If you dont like my opinion....I really dont care.
Playing: ESO, WOT, Smite, and Marvel Heroes
FFA PvP is a terrible mechanic because it restricts the game to only the 5-15% of people that like FFA PvP. Most people would never try Darkfall or MO becayse they are FFA PvP.
However if they did FFA PvP but put in a SEVERE detriment to PKing then it could work.
Like say, if you PK someone and get reported to the local authorities, they can capture you, permanently remove all your gear, items an dmoney, and put an enchantment on you that removes your ability to attack or use magic for an hour of ingame time, and release you in the capital city where players could gank you with immunity, or just do the Nelson ha ha at you.
Now its possible you kill someone and they dont report, or that you manage to evade the authorities, but chances are if you just go around ganking all day you are gonna be caught.
Of course there should be 'frontier' zones where none of this applies and its every man for himself with no rules, but those would be a small, dangerous, and rewarding area of the game.
yeah you don't need FFA PVP in a sandbox in fact it should not be added at all, while it gives gankers the "freedom" they desire to grief and gank whoever and whenever they want. it restricts my and others freedom to just roam and explore where and when i want.
sorry but my freedom is much more important than your freedom to make players like myself miserable.
they just need to do like SWG and have factions where you can go overt and be open PVP to those of the opposite faction.
it should tell you something when they holy grail of FFA PVP UO became more popular when they released Trammel.
I disagree with it being Heroic (people who've actually pursued the Story line have probably already finished it or are having Severe technical issues). Personally, I haven't even gotten to Whiterun/Whitehold or whatever the 1st big city is, been completely content and happy to wander about and do Non-Heroic stuff like Hunt, Smith, Chop wood and live in the world per se. Judging from I've seen of other Posters in Skyrim forums, Nexus forums and MMORPG.com forums is that I am far from being alone in that regard. Granted I have been having serious technical issues and haven't been able to play very much because of them (Clear that I need to go to that Whiterun/WhiteHold or w/e for its market not because I care anything about the Story).
The main reason I see Skyrim being so successful among MMORPG crowd is simple: It scratches an itch/supplies a demand that no present MMO does as effectively as Skyrim does. Why? because the Industry hasn't been maintaining that area of the MMO market for the affected consumer base (Indie companies have been doing Niche variants mostly centered on PvP). Apparently, MMO Industry thinks that customers will buy MMO's simply because they are MMO's. Ie. Themeparks are dominant and popular but they aren't representative of the entire MMO market.
If a supplier fails to supply the demands of their customers then those customers that aren't satisfied will look elsewhere for what they are demanding. Thats what your seeing, it has nothing to do with the style of the game other than its comparable to whats in shortage in the MMO market.
Point: The success of Skyrim while it might be very good for its own merits, it is also largely inflated due to simple Economics [Supply & Demand], Customer Service and Business [Maintaining Market Consumer base, Researching Market demands, Maintaining Market presence for sub-markets within the overall Market]. Skyrim is a stark contrast in style to most other titles being released or significantly different in quality to comparable style titles.
Yep, have to agree here, with what I have marked in red, most of my time in game has been pretty much centered around a certain area and 3/4's of my game time has been doing nothing "heroic" - my character can get into plenty of trouble just outside the door of Whiterun. The hills are crawling with dangerous creatures - wolves, sabre cats, ice wraiths, bandits, assassins, those rat thingies, etc, etc. Plus there is alchemy, herbing, and the hides my character gets from animals can be turned into leather to make armor. I can spend hours just knocking about looking for the right ingrediants to make potions.
Can't wait until the toolset comes out - I will be making some cahnges to the game and I may never play another MMORPG again - ever. 
I have to admit, I feel the same way. Being disenchanted with MMO's myself, I find that Skyrim meets all my sword and board needs. While other feel that the combat is lacking, I find it fun and engaging. Playing it in a slower mode has helped me enjoy the game more. Since there isn't anyone around to tell me that my gear is gimped, or too low level to get the gear I need (paradox, isn't it) I am free to do and go whereever I want, or can find my way into.
Like in Oblivion and Morrowind, this game is really going to shine when the SDK breeds so many great mods. Rumor has it that there are some really big mods in the works. For now I am going to mod only for aethetic purposes. I am waiting for a darker night and darker dungeon mod like Cava Obscura and Darker Nights for Oblivion.
Disagree. FFA PvP is and always will be a niche crowd and hardly anyone would play this game. Instead what should happen is 2 things:
1. Have 2 different rule set servers: White PvE only servers with consentual flagging and Red PK faction based server.
2. Faction PvP could consist of Stormcloaks vs Imperial or even mages vs rogues vs melee.
Everything you need to know about Elder Scrolls Online
Playing: GW2
Waiting on: TESO
Next Flop: Planetside 2
Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.
Sadly, even the sandbox crowd can't agree whether or not they want FFA PvP, yet they expect a AAA developer to make a game that will fulfill all their dreams.
As a person that loves mmorpg's and single player rpg equally, my perspective is this:
Skyrim has an Immersion Factor that most mmorpg's lack. Feels like a living breathing world.
/this
+10
I like how the NPC's can actually run out of money and you can invest your own money in their if you have the perk. Same type of real economy that was in Oblivion, but feels better here. Maybe they perfected it.
I will agree with the OP's analysis. I would like to add that Skyrim tends to feel surprisingly like an MMO in that it feels very much like an alive, persistent world that continues to go on even after you log off. I find myself making multiple characters as I would in an MMO, and they each have their own story and have gone off into their own parts of the world. I also tend to be in Vent with other friends who are playing Skyrim at the same time. We all feel like we are in different parts of the same world (as we often would be in an MMO,) and we entheusiastically talk about things we've discovered and experienced.
This is probably largely a function of how solo oriented MMOs have become. The fact is, while leveling and experiencing the story content and character progression (the cores to the RPG experience) through the quest systems of most MMOs, it's a solo experience. Unless you and a friend decide to absolutely not play your respective characters unless the other person is also online, one will inevitably get ahead of the other on certain quest chains, throwing your whole co-op experience out of whack. Hopefully leveling systems like those in GW2 will help alleviate this issue that plagues MMOs somewhat. And hopefully Anet and other developers would continue to improve upon these systems in the future, because there are sure to be some flaws at first as well.
Skyrim is what a sandbox MMO would be like if the rest of the players all played the game in the exact same way you did.
Which is the problem with MMOs and particularly sandbox MMOs - other players can add SO much to the enjoyment of a game but they can also add SO many negative things to the game.
Of course Skyrim is the perfect sandbox because it is YOUR sandbox, and when we talk of adding in multiplayer or making it a MMO we assume it will still be our sandbox and people will follow our rules and play the way we do and everything will be just as perfect as it is when we are playing it alone...
But we all really know that isn't true.
Other players, random strangers will always do something we don't like or get in our way or gank/grief us or steal our quest mobs or camp our dungeons or ruin our economy etc. etc. etc.
We like Skyrim because it is a great sandbox game and because we have all the control.
People (in general) don't like giving up control to other people.
We want to do things our way when we want to do them.
People like themepark games more then sandboxes (people in general, not people on this website) because other players have LESS control over OUR game play experience.
Want to know why Skyrim is so successful in the MMORPG crowd?
Because people like me already enjoyed RPG's long before MMORPG's and for me it has nothing to do what is stated in the OP
I dont agree with the OP. If you play MMO's for the social aspect play IMVU or any other chat room.
Skyrim is succesful because of the freedom that we currently do not get in MMO's.
Take the world and character progresion from Skyrim, add territory control and its the game Darkfall and Mortal shouldve been.
Can you imagine all those caves and holdings being clan controlled? You fight over them cause they allow you to mine the precious recources making it WORTH to fight over. Guild leader can upgrade it etc etc... omg *drool* > back to Skyrim..!