Yes, this might sounds crazy but, what about online persistent worlds? Like Neverwinter Nights have. I don't know if Skyrim has any netcode within but I know many people would like to see online servers to play in a roleplay custom world.

I have been player, DM and builder in two persistent NWN worlds and that was the best rpg experience ever. Now with Skyrim technology and graphics it would be freaking awesome to have this back to present day

Yes, I know this is utopian but, does Skyrim has a chance to jump online?

They tried to do something like this in Oblivion and Morrowind, but writing a database for such a huge game, which was not originally designed for it, is a pain. I think the issue was that the users would have to have the exact same mods/settings. Also some issues with NPC's and saving data.

So is not impossible, just hard to do heh

I remember in NWN you also have to have same mod/version/whatever like the server has and database was also a bit of pain but well, game wwas designed from the begining to be able to manage persistent worlds.

I knew about those projects for Oblivion and I thought Bethesda would change their minds about online worlds but well, microsoft and sony are so powerfull...

I believe the 11th Commandment was, " Thou shalt not include multiplayer components in The Elder Scrolls"

I think one of the biggest challenges with multiplayer in a game like Skyrim is that they would find a way to:
1) Make it so that one player's actions do not cause permanent detrimental effects to another (killing quest NPC's, killing the other player, etc.)
2) Make it so that one player cannot complete all the quests, therefore leaving nothing for other players
3) Make it fun to play both together with other players and alone

Now I've never played Neverwinter Nights so I don't know how they do things there, but it seems to me once you start adding in multiplayer content, the core gameplay starts to change dramatically.

Not to mention you'd really have to own a server to play it with anyone.

In one way I think Skyrim is the most multiplayer-friendly game in the ES series so far (ignoring Battlespire), due to the dialogues being more open and not so much of an eye-to-eye discussion between the player and the NPC's as in Morrowind and Oblivion.
But still, if one player runs off and completes quests without the other it would get messy. It might be fun if the multiplayer is "you and a friend" type co-op where you stick together, though.

Well, I'm talking about making an OWN WORLD with Creation Kit (or whatever tool) not co-op or something like that.

In Neverwinter Night you could create an entire world separated from the single-player game. This means you could create your own world with custom rules, quests, creatures, etc. Of course, if you want, you can just mod Skyrim world to your own.

Usually, the aim of these persistent worlds is to force pure roleplay and create a clean community out of powergamers.

About servers, yes, you need a dedicated machine if you want to host a large number of players but that can be made with donations (as most of serious persistent worlds do, see World of Avlis http://www.avlis.org).

I was going to leave things at thinking, "Oh, god, it's time for these threads," but you guys brought up an interesting point.

While Skyrim couldn't be a true online game, I've always figured co-op could work balance wise in Elder Scrolls games, provided the players didn't actively game the system and someone were willing to do all the work necessary to code it. When it comes to quests/quest NPCs, shouldn't one player be able to actively sabotage the other? It wouldn't be fair, but it would be consistent and the main sign of a moving world. Most quests would need to be tailored on a case-by-case basis, most of which can be accepted by all players at one time but when one person passes everyone else fails. To make teaming up actually fair, you'd want to implement a system where if he two/three/however many showed up together, you could either fight amongst yourselves about who gets the reward (the NPC refusing to give it out until you make up your minds, or maybe giving the reward to the nicer/more attractive/whatever else person), or you could say, "Oh, my friend here helped me," and you'd both get half, or you can both peaceably decide who gets the reward if it's an item and get the quest completed in your journal.

Not sure how the main quest would work, though. I'd guess only one could complete it, but you'd all still be Dragonborn.

Still, as of now all this is just wishful thinking; hopefully none of you are really looking forward to it because it's going to fall through.