My Recent Experience with Bethesda and Zenimax Online Studios

Today I was going to post an article going through my expectations for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG due to be released in 2014. I sent them a message asking for any information on some certain aspects of the game that I was interested in discussing and the possibility of a beta key to get a feel for the game. In response I received this email:

Greetings and well met, Wise One Patrick!

 

Thank you for contacting The Elder Scrolls Online Team! We are always excited to talk with our fans about the game.

 

I commend you for your bravery of asking for a Beta Key. My parents taught me you'll never know something if you don't ask. Sadly, I can not guarantee you a beta key. You see the selection process for testers is out of our hands here.

 

You see, in one of his crazy fits, the Mad God Sheogorath launched a siege upon the studio with a fleet of mudcrabs and purple butterflies. Luckily, no one was injured (severely) but in the confusion he got away with all of the beta keys! Now only he is able to choose who receives keys and last I heard he chose by tossing the applications down a set of stairs and seeing which ones fly the farthest...

 

We have convinced him, though, start start giving more keys out though. Our upcoming beta events will be getting larger and larger towards launch, so there's still a chance he might decide to grant you a key! You will be under an NDA agreement though, so you would not be able to blog about your game play or even tell your readers that you are in the closed beta tests. I'm sure you understand, we're trying to save our best secrets for launch so as not to ruin the new game play experience for anyone.

 

I can help you out with your questions though! I think the answer to your gameplay inquiry can best be summed up in this video the studio released of some live gameplay footage from QuakeCon 2013. I always feel watching it first hand is better than someone explaining it second hand. :)

 

http://youtu.be/_oWuw-mo_MQ

 

I hope that helps with your blog article! I highly recommend checking out more of our videos on our YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/ZenimaxOnlineStudios as well the articles on our website, https://www.elderscrollsonline.com, for more insight into the design of the game.

 

Stay thirsty for knowledge, friend!

Taryn

The Elder Scrolls Online Team

Let's be honest, I'm a small time blogger, I get very little recognition and most companies, even the indie ones, ignore my messages all together. This is a large company messaging me back with what appears to be a personal response. Obviously the thing about the beta key could be completely generic but it is a nice touch. IT literally made my day that this is something that the big companies still do and I'd like to commend the man who did it.