Newcomers to Fessic’s Blog, especially those unfamiliar with video games and computer Role Playing Games, may look around for a bit and find themselves wondering…
Just what is it about this Morrowind game anyway. My favorite game of all time perhaps? Was I a member of the development team? It isn’t as straightforward as that. Maybe we should start with the basics to give you a better idea of what it’s all about…
Back in 2002 Bethesda Softworks released the third installment in a series: The Elder Scrolls, called Morrowind. It’s a fantasy themed Role-Playing Game which came out for the PC (then later for the XBox). In or around 2005 I discovered this game and was immediately hooked. There was something about Morrowind’s vast, open game world that had great appeal for me. It was the feeling of entering a living virtual world that granted your character virtually unlimited freedom to explore, engage NPCs (Non-Player Characters) and follow (or not follow) the main storyline. Furthermore, the game world is populated with a broad range of factions, each with their own agendas. The disposition of faction members shifts relative to your character’s relationship with each guild ~ and it isn’t always obvious to which faction a given NPC belongs, which makes for an interesting dynamic.
But that was only one side of the coin. The development team had also included a built-in Construction Set, enabling players to create their own content for the game. It was around this feature that a vibrant community quickly took shape, and evolved into something quite remarkable. Modders, as they were called, were able to upload their creations to a central repository where they would remain freely available to other players, who could then add the new content to their own game. This model opened up immense possibilities for virtually limitless variations of the already expansive core game. Given the previously mentioned non-linear way in which your character is engaged with the game world this made for an amazing degree of potential customization. And that, for me, was the true appeal of the game.
In a way it became a kind of exercise in crafting (through the work of so many talented modders) my own idealized version of what the Morrowind world should be ~ the result being a near fully realized virtual fantasy world. As it turned out I spent far more time browsing through, downloading and testing user-created mods than actually playing the game. All along the way I kept thinking that once I’d assembled just the right combination of mods the game would be ‘complete’ and I could finally embark upon the main quest. What I eventually realized it was the process itself that held the greatest appeal.
And so my own version of the game continued taking shape. Along the way I had spent many enjoyable hours cataloging various user-created mods, quests and other custom content that I soon felt compelled to share with others. The “Morrowind” folders you see here are the fruits of that energy ~ and hopefully a small but worthwhile contribution to the community spirit of fellow gamers who have enjoyed the same fascinating game world.
It’s been many years since I’ve have the time (or the means) to play Morrowind. But for a brief period in my life this was indeed a special game that, for its part, became a hobby unto itself. It would be difficult, even in the modern age I’ll wager, to find a better example of what makes video games such an enjoyable pastime for those wishing to escape into another world.
A Special Note to Parents and Casual Gamers:
While Morrowind does, in my view, deserve a place among the more innovative titles in video game history I am reluctant to recommend it to newcomers for the following reasons.
1) The game is technically challenging, even for those accustomed to tweaking a computer game installation. For this reason many have recommended the Xbox version of the game, but for me this defeats the purpose entirely as the near limitless player-created content of the PC version is what sets this version apart. By ‘technically challenging’ I mean that to play a fairly stable version of the game requires much more than the usual download > patch > play routine of most modern games. And to get the user mods working properly and in relative harmony requires no small amount of study, trial & error.
2) Morrowind bears a “Teen” ESRB rating for mild violence, a common aspect of Fantasy Adventure games. The manner in which it’s implemented is acceptable (in my opinion) for sufficiently mature gamers. What I would draw your attention to are some other aspects of the game that I personally try to avoid. These include things like deliberately pursuing a path of evil or engaging in vampirism (which was introduced in the Bloodmoon expansion). It can sometimes be difficult to discern the point at which a game, novel or movie crosses over a certain line in terms of content or emphasis, at which point a person is left to follow their instinct. With Morrowind, it comes down to the core of the game itself. Being ‘open-ended’ means a player can choose how to engage this fictional world given certain constraints, and opportunities …as in real life. Cautious parents needn’t be shy about passing on Morrowind, if only to avoid some of the third-party content floating around, or even the game’s core content if it seems too heavy or complex for young players to understand.
3) In reference to the above mentioned rating for Morrowind, Bethesda made the unfortunate decision to release the sequel (Oblivion) with content that earned it an “M” rating for heavy violence and hidden nudity. Given that I do not believe any game ever needs to contain M-rated content, I cannot endorse The Elder Scrolls canon beyond the specific installment that is Morrowind, and only then for experienced and mature gamers.
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