Skyrim - The Remedy For An Overly-Connected Age

Couchpotato

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Contributor Paul Tassi of Forbes published a new article about Skyrim.
With 20 million sales, you would think Skyrim would have spawned at least some measure of serious competition, but it simply remains untouched, the high king of the open world sandbox genre. The power of a focused, high-quality single player experience should not be forgotten by developers, even in this “social” age. We don’t always need to connect with others, to share worlds. Sometimes we want to exist as the king of our own little universe, and not let anyone else in. That’s what Skyrim excelled at above all else, and why it remains immortal today.
More information.
 
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Brilliantly, brilliantly put.

And we need more games like it.
 
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Another article that completely ignores reality.

First of all, the game was released in late 2011 - and since that time, we've had games like Kingdoms of Amalur, Risen 2 and Risen 3. The Witcher 3 is right around the corner. All are large open world singleplayer games with significant freeform/sandbox gameplay. Right before Skyrim, we had games like Two Worlds 2 and Dragon Knight Saga.

So, while all of those games are arguably not "better" - there's plenty of competition when you consider the time it takes to make these games, and the commitment required to pull it off successfully.

To ask why there are no other games as big and successful as Skyrim, little more than 3 years after release - is to openly reveal you know nothing about what it takes to make games like it.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is the first big AAA game that's DIRECTLY affected by Skyrim, so it's obviously going to spawn more influence - it just takes time.

Also, a HUGE part of Skyrim's success is directly related to the modding community - as well as the modding community of the past TES games.

That's hardly "unconnected" - and you can't pretend that it's a bad thing to open your game to other people.

The unconnected nature of Skyrim is not necessarily the reason why it's successful, and there's no reason to use your own xenophobia to argue that multiplayer is a bad thing.
 
Well, I guess Skyrim is a remedy, after spending a few hours with it you'll be so bored you don't want to see your computer and might go out instead of spending time on facebook or some other silly connection app :D
 
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Well I cant say I didn't already predict the same member replies as usual. So I also predict Joxer will make a few comments later on about the game being a bug-fest.
Brilliantly, brilliantly put.

And we need more games like it.
I agree Aubrielle. Whats really amazing is Skyrim despite being almost four years old it's still selling well on Steam. Most RPG games cant even sell that well years later.
 
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I agree Aubrielle. Whats really amazing is Skyrim despite being almost four years old it's still selling well on Steam. Most RPG games cant even sell that well years later.
2015 Mar - Present day
2011 Nov - Skyrim Release

3 years and 4 months.
 
Thanks for the correction. I updated my post to say almost four years instead.:biggrin:
 
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I did notice how skyrim sells well, but it now sold in 75% sales and probably different bundles and such.
 
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Thanks for the correction. I updated my post to say almost four years instead.:biggrin:

You have a flexible relationship with the word "almost" - but whatever floats your boat ;)

As in, I could give you 4000 dollars, and you'd feel like you were paid almost 12000 dollars.

You should have a much easier time finding a job, really :p
 
Well I'm done dealing with you for today. So goodnight Dart.:sleep:
 
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I'm probably going to open up a fifty page debate by saying this, but...

Xenophobia, Dart? I never thought of myself as xenophobic. Introverted, definitely. And I love having at least a few games where the entire world is just for me. If that makes me xenophobic, well....okay! Whatever word you like. I like a big, private space to relax in.

If I want to play with other people, there's gobs and gobs of multiplayer games that are open to the world and the energies of other people. And if I want to mingle with hordes of strangers, there's always Guild Wars 2 or some other MMO. :)

The thing to remember is that we're all different people. There's even some really weird eccentric people like me that like quiet and solitude. Freakish in the extreme, I know. ;)
 
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Xenophobia, Dart? I never thought of myself as xenophobic. Introverted, definitely. And I love having at least a few games where the entire world is just for me. If that makes me xenophobic, well….okay! Whatever word you like. I like a big, private space to relax in.

Did you write the article?

The thing to remember is that we're all different people. There's even some really weird eccentric people like me that like quiet and solitude. Freakish in the extreme, I know. ;)

Liking solitude and arguing that the age is overly-connected are two different things.

I'm a huge fan of solitude myself.
 
Well, I think a lot of people like quiet and solitude, especially up here in the north, and I don't think there is anything freakish about it!

As for the age being overly connected, it depends on how you look at it, sometimes the overly connected world might collide with peoples wish for solitude and quiet.

Also I think I finally understand why you people like Skyrim, it is almost like the monks meditating, sitting and starring into nothingness turning of the brain and just relaxing.
 
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I also have to agree that I bought Skyrim and its been over 5 year since I've played an MMO. So I'm definately part of the solitude audience. I also bought Amalur, and Risen 2, and Two Worlds 2, and at least like the first 2 titles. I'll agree with you Dart to say its not enough that its a single player game. Its like saying World of Warcraft was so successful, because its multiplayer. The gaming industry sure thought so, and noone has made a title even remotely as successful. It just shows there is a place for all these types of games and when marketing types at a publisher say "single player is dead" or "open world is the future" they have no clue why people buy games.
 
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Gothic...

+1 for actually making me LOL for serious. :)
 
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Even if you fail to understand that interacting with other people is entirely optional in most cases, there's no demonstrable connection between Skyrim being singleplayer only and its success. Well, there might be - but there's nothing in the article that provides any kind of support for that claim.

What I'm reading is obviously based on a person who is sick of multiplayer games - and who, from that position, reaches out and embraces a fantastic game that happens to be singleplayer only, confusing that solo aspect with the actual reason for its success, which is that it's simply a great game.

In short, an incompetent piece of journalism with no rational support of any kind.

Probably great for other people of a similar disposition :)
 
Dart...is something going horribly wrong in your life? Or are you just more bitter than when we spoke last?
 
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@aub

I think it's more likely that I'm the same as always, as are you :)

As in, I tend to use my brain first - and you use your heart first.

Not saying my way is better - it's just that I prefer to be rational when arguing stuff.
 
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