The Elder Scrolls Online designed to be sandwich incompatible

If the team at Zenimax Online has its way, you won't be eating your lunch while you're playing The Elder Scrolls Online

“We want monsters to be a challenge to the player every single time you fight them, not a speedbump for the player. We don’t want fighting monsters to be boring or you can eat a sandwich or do five other things while fighting a monster,” gameplay designer Maria Aliprando told PC Gamer.

“We want to reward you for executing moves and fighting against monsters as well. So when monsters present their dynamic behaviours we don’t want to confuse you with UI all over the screen; we want you to be in there fighting with the monster at the moment.”

The reference to UI is telling; elsewhere in the article staff explain that a console-friendly UI is important for attracting those unfamiliar with MMO conventions, and that heavy UI distracts from the fun of the game's mass PvP battles.

“I think a lot of the previous generations of MMOs a lot of the game is looking at that UI and playing it," lead gameplay designer Nick Konkle said.

"Technical restrictions were such that we couldn’t have that sort of fully immersive battle experience because people weren’t where they were, where you would see them, they were somewhere else. But we wanted to create an immersive experience because that’s the modern game, that’s the modern RPG,” he added.

“One in which I look at the world, not at my hotbar. Not at numbers that are flying up."

The Elder Scrolls Online is due in 2013 on Mac and PC.