Here's the Wiki page for Matt Firor, the main man behind Elder Scrolls Online.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Firor

I don't want to say that the man has no talent but i just don't want the Elder Scrolls
to be just another notch on this list of MMORPGs here that did not make it.

Seriously who has ever heard of "Aliens Online"????
Is this the sort of man that we want to make the Elder Scrolls into an MMO?

No offense Matt, but im not sure im comfortable to have you take charge in this project.
Back away from this franchise man. Tell your bosses at Zenimax that this project CANNOT be done.

We will respect you all the more for it.


Biography

Matt Firor's first foray into online gaming was a failed attempt in 1987 to license the Scepter of Goth BBS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD. The second, more successful project was the co-founding of Interesting Systems with Rob Denton and two others, in 1990. At ISI, Matt was co-designer and lead content developer for ISI's multi-user BBS game Tempest (later renamed Darkness Falls).

ISI merged with Adventures Unlimited Software to form http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythic_Entertainment in 1995. Firor stayed at Mythic from 1995–2006, where he was the producer of most of Mythic's titles, including the worldwide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMORPG bestseller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Camelot and its first two expansions.

Matt was VP of Product Development at Mythic, where he was - along with COO Rob Denton - responsible for the management of all of Mythic's development projects. In 2005/06, he led up Mythic's internal Console technology team which assessed the future of MMORPGs on next-generation console platforms.

In June 2006, Firor left http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythic_Entertainment to found http://www.ultramegagames.com/, a consulting company specializing in online gaming services.
August 1, 2007, Matt was hired by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZeniMax_Media Inc., parent company of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda_Softworks, to head http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZeniMax_Online_Studios.
Firor is currently the president of ZeniMax Online and running the division. He and his team are working on The Elder Scrolls Online.^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Firor#cite_note-0}

Here's all the games that he did:

• 1991 Tempest (Darkness Falls) (Content/Design)
  
• 1996 Rolemaster: Magestorm (Producer/Design)
  
• 1996 Splatterball (Producer/Design)
  
• 1997 Darkness Falls (Producer/Design/Content)
  
• 1997 Rolemaster: Bladelands (Producer)
  
• 1998 Aliens Online (Producer/Design)
  
• 1998 Starship Troopers: Battlespace (Producer)
  
• 1998 Godzilla Online (Producer)
  
• 1999 Silent Death Online (Producer/Lead Designer)
  
• 1999 Darkness Falls: The Crusade (Producer)
  
• 1999 Splatterball Plus (Producer)
  
• 1999 Darkstorm: The Well of Souls (Producer)
  
• 1999 Spellbinder: The Nexus Conflict (Producer/Design)
  
• 2001 http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/ (Producer/Design)
  
• 2002 http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/expansions/si/ ( Producer/Design)
  
• 2003 http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/expansions/toa/ (Exec. Producer)
  
• 2004 http://catacombs.darkageofcamelot.com/ (Exec Producer)
  
• 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_Online (Director)

I don't like the direction of this mmo, but the haters are getting desperate.

Matt made DAOC dude...

Godzilla online...Now thats a game I have never heard of.

I don't know the man personally, so I don't think I'm at liberty to comment. I don't look at his resume favourably due to the other people at Mythic Entertainment; after Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, I don't know how Jeff Hickman sleeps at night.

That being said, Mr Firor had nothing to do with Mythic in recent years. He joined Bethesda to work on this in 2007, which was a long time ago.

Not impressed.

He has better backing, better funding, better people, Better technology, and more time. Im not saying TESO will be a success, as only time can tell that, but theres a lot of room to work with so things can be fleshed out.

Fleshed out.. Im beginning to hate that word. When will people realise that the most complex of games are the best.

I trust this Matt Firor, because he has said he wont break or contradict the lore, where so many other developers might have sight "[censored] it, ill do what i want"

I'm not troubled by his resume, only the direction he seems to have taken this particular game. But it seems blind to blame a single individual anyway.

You're rude, and you are clueless. The game is probably 70% done and you ask one of the people working on it to step down, without even seeing what they've produced yet? Seriously, dude.

So he made several smaller MMOs before landing the big job with DAoC and then TESO - what is the problem? If anything, this shows that he has a huge amount of experience with the genre. He knows the pitfalls, how to manage the teams, what to expect, how to get the budgets covered, and how to deliver a product.

Personally I am thrilled to see what they have in store for us.

Actually i have seen what they have done, (albeit only leaked screenshots, the game looks like RIFT btw).
And i wanna say that it looks EXACTLY like ANY wannabe WoW-Killer on the market.

And yes, i am desperate. I don't want this beloved franchise to die because of this mmorpg.

Basically these two posters summed up my feelings on this. I think at this point people are just trying to nit pick every single thing because they didn't get exactly what they wanted. The funny thing is how I have seen this all before. I'm not saying this is going to be the next wow or anything, but the majority of negative responses remind me of Warcraft rts players when they announced wow. It makes me laugh kinda.

Seriously though Matt has major credit amongst mmo players for his work on Dark Age of Camelot, especially among the pvp crowd.

People are worried that this MMO will break lore, ruining the immersive feeling of the single player games

They've already messed up the Elder Scrolls games' gameplay style.

- Third person view only.
- Turn based hotkey style combat
- Xp levelling system (k, Arena had this, but still)
- Strict class system
- Statuesce NPCs, no living world.

These points ruin basically everything that makes TES games unique.
Now, it could be called a spinoff.
But if they mess up even the lore, how can they call this an Elder Scrolls game?

Lore and Gameplay are different, im just going to pretend this abomination was never born

I don't deny that Dark Age of Camelot is pretty famous (though honestly i have not played it so i can't comment much)
but why did it die? Why is WoW the king now instead of DaOC? Surely there must be some reason behind it.

I am not afraid to say out loud that i am VERY FEARFUL at this announcement.
This is a very beloved and respected franchise with a VERY long and rich history and its handed to someone who made something called "GODZILLA ONLINE"??

I know what i have to do.
I will go home this evening after work, and prepare a long heartfelt letter and send to Zenimax Online/Bethesda
to beg them to reconsider this decision.

Whether if my letter has any impact or not, i feel it my sworn duty as a fan to at least let them know how i feel.

Because at the end of the day, if the franchise really dies because of this decision,
i can proudly say that i have fought the good fight even though i lost.
I will not live in shame knowing that i did nothing to stop it.

Which is why it's set a thousand years before Skyrim. These guys are fans and professionals, who also happen to have close ties to BGS and Todd Howard. Why on Earth would they mess up the franchise?

I can't say whether the game will be good or bad because we have no info yet, but all this rage is just ridiculous. Some people remind me of those spoiled, annoying kids who are sometimes portrayed in movies, like Dudley from Harry Potter.

Money, nuff said

This 'decision' you speak of was most likely made 5-6 years ago. Like I said, the game is probably almost done. All you will accomplish is insult people.
In fact, your behaviour is insulting to me. I'm an old fan of the series, and I expected TES to have mature, advlt, and reasonable fans.

You really think after developing the game for freaking 5 years they didn't consider the things you're going to tell them in the letter? They're not going to randomly throw this enormous and undoubtedly profitable venture down the drain because some fan was paranoid that it would magically make the TES series dissapear.

I am an old fan too, but my love started from Morrowind.
Bethesda almost went broke after the travesties that were Redguard and Battlespire until Todd Howard saved this franchise with Morrowind.

I don't want them to repeat the same mistake again.
Im sorry, i guess im not in the right state of mind to comment logically. Very affected by this announcement.

But yea, the letter will be written. It will be sent. and i hope to the Nine Divines that it will be read lol

Bethesda will never go broke again. Ever. They had hardly any fanbase and hardly any money at the time. Now Skyrim is the number one selling game on Steam or something like that. They are immensely wealthy and immensely popular. All your letter will do is help cement the idea that fans are obsessively irrational and kneejerk reacters. It will have no effect on them releasing this game. This is fact.

Being the clever guys they are, Im sure they have considered the things im gonna say.
But i just wanna say it, just to at least get it off my chest, just in case they have forgotten. (i hope not)

Sorry i sound so rabid lol, just very affected by this announcement.
Sorry again Matt, really this post is not directed as a personal attack against you.

The Ultima games say hi.

You can never tell how an MMO will affect a franchise, and when a AAA title will turn into nothing more than a forgotten legend.

I'm not saying that this will happen, though, as I have no way of knowing. But the possibility is always there.

Perhaps if the MMO meant a significant delay in the release of the next game, but it should have no effect as they're made by different studios. Even if nobody likes the MMO, Skyrim will not be a distant memory.