Thoughts on the Future of Gaming

I'd like to see a single-player massively multi-player online game.

Wait. What?

Yes, that's right! A SMMO! How does that make sense, you may ask. And I'm glad you did. So, I use the Elder Scroll games as my template. Generally, you're the savior of the world. Well, let's change that, now you're just an adventurer, not the promised one.

Your goal would to be to explore the massive world, that's what adventurers do! Just like all the Elder Scroll games, it'd be huge with caves and hidden things all over. Plus, you'd have the factions and people around the world to give you quests. Cool. That's Elder Scrolls as normal; however, the catch is, you're not the only adventurer out there.

Everyone else that plays the game would also be an adventurer in the world. You just wouldn't actually see them. They'd take quest and build renown, and you'd hear NPCs talk about this player or that one.

We could even have quests where they could help escort lower leveled characters. For the brief duration of the quest, they'd appear in your world (if you were the escortee) and help you get to your desired location.

Players could also create quests for their fellow players. Say you need 20 bear pelts, but you have to go to work and don't have time to collect them but want to create some armor when you get home. So, you set up a quest and place it. Another character could come along and pick it up, do it, and collect whatever reward you promise for it. When you get home, the reward you set up for the quest is gone and you have your pelts! Woot!

Of course, to avoid abuse, you could set a time limit for the quest, so the player can't hold it forever and only one player at a time could accept it. Then, if the timer runs out, the player loses the quest and you could even set up a timer on it to prevent the same character from picking it up again. Don't want someone continuously picking up your quest and not completing it!

Anyway, there are some other ideas that can go into the SMMO game, but I think you get the basic idea of what I'm going for. I think it would be amazingly fun! It would also make a game like Skyrim or future Elder Scroll games feel even more alive and add reply value!