Just a general MMO question and one that will certainly relate to ESO. Why? Why is this a part of every MMO on the planet? After just recently playing Skyrim on the PS3 and stumbling across some ore to mine in the middle of nowhere, it got me thinking. No sparkles, no minimap location of the node, pretty well 'hidden' so to speak within the environment. Why is this the case in a single player game yet when we go near an MMO there is suddenly an abundance of hand holding and expectation that the players IQ level is struggling to surpass the highest number on a dart board. Sure it can 'sometimes' be toggled off and I understand that there may be new players but ... really?

I think it depends on the player. For both the console thing and the sparkling loot/node.

For me I grew up during the advancement of the internet age. So being a kid who's allowance could only really merit a copy of battletoads, who unless I saved for a year to get a passable computer back in the 90's; consoles was a great choice for me and allowed me to get into gaming meaningfully. Saying that only children play consoles or that console players are in a general sense worse though is just ludicrous. There have been dozens of times where I was on behalf of the structure of a guild, welcoming a new player to an mmo I was playing only to be surprised at how fast some took to the terms or developing their own playstyle. That persons experience didn't create a wall that their potential as a player couldn't overcome. I believe the same to be said for console players in a general sense.

One of the more popular mods for skyrim on the pc is glowing books and glowing ore nodes. The demand for that as a feature sky-rocketed that particular mods promotion putting it's downloads from steam/nexus in the thousands and tens of thousands. It's all about preference. Some people enjoy immersion, while others argue too much goes to the point of feeling like punishment in what should be an enjoyable experience.

For eso's case for what it's worth. They don't tell you jack. A tester friend of mine passed up tons of [censored] his first play through when I questioned him on how a specific feature of the game was working. One I KNEW was in the game and functional. To both our genuine approval and surprise there was no sparklies or quest explaining how to utilize and even test this feature.

It's not an MMO problem, it's a part of modern gaming. I can't count all single player games that assaulted me with a barrage of handholding features.

Developers don't think we're idiots. They just believe we can't stand failure; that we need a steady stream of victories to enjoy our games. And they try to guide us to ensure that we never get lost. The sad part? They're often right, there's a group of players who want to be guided and start whining if they aren't. Hopefully not the type of people who will play ESO.

Sparkly objects are more tricky.

In most games finding loot isn't an intelectual challenge, it only requires diligence. Sometimes you get bored with checking every nook and cranny three times to make sure you didn't miss anything. Sparkles save time. Better yet, they don't necessarily ruin the potential challenge: ever tried to play Skyrim with the glowing ores mod? I did. I still had to go off the path and explore the environment to find ores scattered around the province, I just spent less time examining every rock. The only problem is that some people feel it's detrimental to their immersion, so it should always be optional.

But then sparkly objects can also be the ladder you need to climb and things like that. They're no different from quest markers, so if the game forces you to depend on them it's just bad design IMO.

There seems to be a pressing need to cater to as many people as possible when developing an MMO. Thus they make things fairly easy to see. It isn't all that fun when things are too hard to see either. The best is a balance of the two but any AAA MMO needs to cater to the lowest common denominator in order to maximize their sales. They don't make things this way for stupid people, they make them accessible for regular people who don't game all that often. Casting their net wide is their best sales strategy.

Also, no, 'PC' gamers are not anymore smart than 'console' gamers. I have met a fair share of both and stupidity is completely relative in both cases. Isaac Newton believed in alchemy after all. Pretty damned stupid belief which got him killed. Natural selection took out one of our more brilliant mathematicians, because he was an idiot. Same applies across the board for both 'PC' gamers and 'Console' players. I do find it hilarious that many people that identify themself as 'PC' gamers somehow think themselves superior though. I am a gamer, the platform does not matter, just the games do.