I have never been in any MMO before, and ESO will be my first (as signified by my username, if you know it). From the perspective of the gamesas forums, I see that TES players have a set of "cultural expectations" for their games. I see that MMO players have a different set of cultural expectations for their games. From the alpha preview reviews, I see that ZOS is directly keeping these two player cultures in mind as they develop their game.

No matter how the two cultures aspect ultimately affects/effects the development/technology side of the game, what interests me more is how these two cultures will affect/effect play at the human level, in the emergent culture of the new game. So, I'd love to hear your perspectives on how this may work. Some possible topics:

Is there a historical example where MMO fandom and another existing fandom have come together in a new game (perhaps a Star Wars or Star Trek experience?) How well or poorly did that work out from your perspective within either or both of the cultures? Did a new culture emerge? Was there a sense of lingering division between two sides?

If you are already MMO-steeped and TES-steeped as a gamer, what's your outlook on the coming game from that straddling perspective?

Is an MMO experience so dependent on the particular technology/execution that my even asking about this human side would be a ridiculous question (hope not)?

So, fire away at a noob with your thoughts, thanks! (Ideally the less MMO-specific jargon, the more gist I'll be likely to catch at first.)

I've played the single player installments since Morrowind, which is roughly around the time I started MMO'ing with Ultima Online.

From what I've heard and seen, they're doing a very good job trying to integrate the "single player only" crowd into an MMO universe. MMO's are a beast of a different breed, and with very good reason. Many, if not most single player aspects simply do not translate to an MMO environment. There are certain things that the single player crowd is simply going to have to adapt to. If not, this game may not be for them. I don't mean to sound snide, but it's the truth. Again, I am both an avid single player gamer of the Elder Scroll series, and an long time MMO'er.

I think the hardest pill to swallow will be the faction restriction. Having played DAoC, I've seen this in action and it's honestly nothing to worry about. I admit I'd like to be able to freely see all the lands of Tamriel I've never seen before, but you know what... I can! Just not with one single character. And that's fine.

On the other topic, I never really played WoW for more than a few months, but I did enjoy the single player games. I couldn't really say how the SP translated into the MMO, but I can say that it did very well with the original Star Wars Galaxies. That is... until Sony butchered it. Stepping into places you've seen and loved for so long such as Mos Eisley(sp?) and truly interacting/exploring was a real treat. I know we've already done all that with the Single Player games, but it will be nice to re-visit them as well as see new lands for the first time.