If you play any massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), then you’ll probably understand the concept of latency. Especially if you’re from Australia, latency can be a huge issue. We sat down with Rich Lambert, the Creative Director at ZeniMax Online Studios, and the one responsible for Elder Scrolls Online (ESO). Here’s what he had to say about gaming across the world, new content coming, and more.
What is latency and why does it matter?
Even with a super-fast internet connection, latency is still a problem if servers are on the other side of the world. Latency is the time it takes for data to get from one point to another. In gaming terms, that means the time it takes for a user to input a function (such as pressing a key) and the time it takes for that input to be received by the server.
If the server is located in another country, such as North America or Europe where both Elder Scrolls Online servers are, this can be a problem. Why? Because it takes a long time for the input to get from the player’s computer to the server. In real terms, in Australia, this can be anywhere from 800-200ms.
While this doesn’t seem like a big deal, when you’re playing content that is really complex, has a lot of users, or is really intense, the latency time between when you press a button, and when your character performs the action, can prove fatal for your in-game character.
Lambert said if he had a magic wand and wasn’t limited by computational power or physics, latency would be the one thing he would fix. Why? Because it means gamers that are further away from the servers can have the same experience as those who are located close to servers. This would “completely change” the in-game experience for a huge number of gamers.
Despite this challenge and the “limitation of light”, Lambert said “there are a number of Aussie guilds that have flawless Conqueror”. Lambert here is talking about groups of players and the achievements they obtained.
Could Tales of Tribute be an esport?
Tales of Tribute is Elder Scrolls Online’s in-game card game. Last I spoke with Lambert, we chatted about the potential for Tales of Tribute to be an esport, similar to Magic: The Gathering, or Heartstone. Whilst we haven’t seen it take off in a huge way outside ESO, in-game, Tales of Tribute competitions have been huge at the guild level.
“We’re seeing a lot of [Tales of Tribute competition] at the Guild level”, and there’s a huge fan following. Lambert mentioned that he was at an ESO event in Germany recently where there was a Tavern setup. “People actually printed out full-on decks and bought them along. And they were playing there with their friends”. Whilst Lambert said it’s not the easiest way to play, it’s definitely received a lot of “community attention”.
Lambert said with paper copies “the game is a lot slower, and you don’t have the computer counting things, or moving things around for you […] we wanted a faster paced, shorter game” and so physical cards aren’t really something that’s on the table. Admittedly, Lambert said all their prototypes were on paper but it makes for such “a long game session”.
The in-game leaderboard for Tales of Tribute has received a lot of love, particularly at the guild level with plenty of guild competitions going on. “The leaderboard is something everyone strives to be on because there are some cool rewards you can get and having your name on there shows you’re the number one player for that week”.
Time to play games
Unlike many developers who build software, or chefs who cook food, Lambert still finds plenty of time to play games. He said “I’m in there [on Elder Scrolls Online] at least two or three days a week. We get together, we go run some veteran content […] and have fun”. Lambert said he’s been on the Tales of Tribute Leaderboard before, and always likes to pick up an achievement here or there. He said his most favourite achievement is from Maelstrom Arena:
So the first time I did it, I got my flawless run, like perfect run, so no death. I was shaking, like my hands were literally shaking while I was doing the last arena because I had worked so hard to try to get there. And I had always stuffed it up somewhere on that last arena, and I finally was able to get it.
Rich Lambert, the Creative Director at ZeniMax Online Studios
I like yelled out something, I’m sure because my wife actually came in and thought I had hurt myself. And she’s like “what” and I’m like “I just did this thing” and she’s like “oh”. She just didn’t understand. It was a huge moment.
Now Lambert has most of the achievements in the game, proving he still makes lots of time for games, and shows he really loves the content he creates.
ESO’s latest expansion: Gold Road
Lambert said he loves playing content once it’s live on the server, “because that’s really the first time I get to see it done. Yeah, with, like, the final voiceover work with the actors”. Lambert explained that their creative work features a lot of “robotic voices” and software to “help do the timings for theatre scenes […] but there’s no emotion in that at all. And so when you get to go and play through that quest where it’s like a real person talking like it changes the emotion.”
This resonates well with many technology creators and founders when they finally see their product “in the wild.”
The new expansion, Gold Road, brought a brand new scribing system to Elder Scrolls Online. Lambert said the community is “loving it”. Lambert and the team said they were very cautious to ensure they don’t “completely destroy the game” and ensure “balance” is maintained. He said now players have “this awesome flexibility and and they really have loved the styling portion of it, where they get to change the colours of their abilities, so that’s going over really, really well ‘cuz ’cause our players are all about fashion”.
Lambert said new scribing is coming with new updates, with the latest update dropping last week. There are plenty of new abilities, buffs, and ways players can choose to play the game. With each new update and expansion Lambert said they will “continue to add more stuff”.
Balancing game development and what the people want
It’s well-known in technology and business that when you build or create something, people will always have asks. So how does one balance the vision your company has, and what your community of users or—in this case, players—wants. Lambert has some great tips if you’re in this position. He says for Elder Scrolls Online “what we try to do is over the course of the year, deliver something that kind of each of our cohorts of players. So we group them: solo PvP’ers, veteran players, PvE’ers, the role players, the housing units.
They all want things and so over the course of the year, we try to make sure we deliver something for each. And then while we’re figuring out like each of the major updates that we’re doing, we’re trying to look for what quality of life things that we can get in there?”
This is solid advice to anyone running a business, a technology company, or even managing a team. Look at your user base or customers, are they segmented? If so, how? What can you do to deliver at least one new thing to each of your audience segments each year or each quarter? Lambert said it’s also a matter of figuring out how much effort each feature is going to require, and working out priorities.
What’s next for Elder Scrolls Online
There’s always something new and exciting for ESO and Lambert said now is no different. There is new content that was released last week, with Update 44 including new Battlegrounds and new companions. The Halloween Witches Festival in-game event is currently running, with lots of changes to get tickets. Lambert admitted the story to-date is massive, having celebrated their ten year anniversary of the game this year.
He said there’s lots of exciting things on the horizon and players will just have to wait and see what’s next.
