Elder Scrolls Online - Editorial @ Gamasutra

Couchpotato

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Gamasutra is hosting a blog article about Elder Scrolls Online, and F2P tutorials.

The Elder Scrolls Online assumes we are in a previous age

Bethesda have form for making dull, worthy intros. I often give talks based on the Design Rules for F2P Games. Rule 11 is “Kill the tutorial.” My primary example that gets it wrong is Fallout 3 (yes, I know it’s not a F2P game). I borrowed the game from a friend to see if I would enjoy it. I spent the first 45 minutes cursing the game for taking me through a dull, worthy backstory that showed me little about what I was going to get from the game, except that the designers were happy to play fast and loose with my time without showing me what the heart of the game was going to be like. That goes down as one of the least enjoyable First Time User Experiences I have had.

The criticisms of TESO suggest that its initial experience is not trying to show you why this game is worth sticking with: it assumes that you are going to stick with it. It doesn’t try to earn your love and respect. It assumes it. In the era of Free-To-Play, with boundless choice and designers setting out to demonstrate to their players why their game is awesome in the first few minutes, this approach is going to be very challenging for Zenimax.
More information.
 
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Most players these days want to kill dragons after 20 mins of play. This has to be one of the most useless articles I have ever read. OMG I have to spend an hour going thru tutorials and learning the game.

I spend more time on the damn toilet. This is what happens to a society when everyone gets a trophy for showing up. Anger rising :) Old man rant off.
 
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I didn't love FO3 but I did love the initial stage where you are 'building' yourself through the years, and that's the part the author is complaining about? wow
 
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I didn't love FO3 but I did love the initial stage where you are 'building' yourself through the years, and that's the part the author is complaining about? wow
I see this allot on the internet people just want to play the game right away.

I usually play the prologues, and then download a mod to bypass them. I mean it after ten replays you already know everything you need to play the game.^^
 
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I love the prologues and openings. Some of my favorite parts of the game. But I will admit after the first dozen times it can get old. Ferrets on speed have better attention spans then many people these days.
 
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