I doubt they'll do it, but I think it would be great if they had an autogenerated map with major features when dealing with a worldspace's map. Anyways, the way I see it...

Reasons to autogen:
1) All modded content would appear so that people can see mod stuff on the map.
2) Worldspaces that don't have explicit maps will now have some sort of map without extra effort.
3) No need for modders to either include a 'tweaked' map with their mod's features on it, or a third party to create such a map with common mods that may or may not actually be installed by the one using the map. All they'd have to do (if necessary) is put some useful map markers in place so features are properly popped up on the autogenerated map.
4) Special markers -could- be included that translate into features on the map that aren't easy to interpret by a map autogenerator without help.

Reasons NOT to autogen:
1) Prettier. You can't beat a hand generated map for embellishments and polish, with flourishes and minor details.
2) No extra markers needed, because all the features are already on the picture, even if it doesn't include modded features. Modders can create their own maps exactly as they want, after all.
3) Saves time / resources making a map autogenerator that makes a map that isn't horribly ugly, or that labels features in a way that's readable (or at all).

It's not likely they'll have an autogenerated map... but if they could, would you want it? Would you not want it? What do you think? ^^

I think that they will have a mix of it like in Oblivion and Morrowind, the local map was generated, but the larger map was actually made

I'm actually pretty sure Skyrim is entirely Hand Crafted, like Morrowind and Shivering Isles.

Machines are not level designers, sorry. It's always the inferior option reserved for the lazy.

Exactly, go play Diablo 2 and see for yourself. Good concept, bad real world results.

I want as much hand-crafting in Skyrim as possible.

By map, I only mean the graphical representation of the world in your menu screens, not the actual -design- of anything that's in the world itself. ^^

Edit: Clarified the question to underline that I didn't mean autogenerating the *features* on the world map, just the menu map. ^^'

The world map we see in our status screen is a full zoomed out 3-d representation of the world. Now, I'm not sure if this means it is separate from the world or is actually the whole map zoomed out or not.

I thought at first too you meant world space.
But ive changed my vote when I realised.

Yes, I think a map such as you describe would be nifty.

If that's the case, my entire question's completely moot in an awesomely great way. ^^ No worries about the representation of the world map if it IS the world map, as is, tweaks and all. On the other hand... no cool labelled regions or locations, then? ^^'

Well, like I said, I don't know if the world map literally IS the world map zoomed out all the way, or a hand crafted 3-d representation. I guess we'll have to see.

yeah but at the time that game was kickin fun.. still IS fun. I think that as long as the gameplay is great it wouldn't matter as MUCH but I still voted for hand crafted because it adds much more personality to the game. Also, I think that the more hand crafting you have the more things will look different.. In oblivion it almost felt TOO big because nothing was really interesting about it aside from the landmarks that WERE hand crafted and placed individually.

Not true. Not with the advances in procedural generation.

Procedurally generated worlds are more realistic in their distribution of elements, and far faster. And, you can then tailor a procedurally-generated world by slightly modifying the seeds to give the desired results. Identical seeds create identical worlds, so they won't be random.

It was fun ten years ago, when it was the norm.

Button smashing generic landscapes. Wouldn't pass for a freeby these days.

Just changed the poll to clarify that I meant the *menu* world map as it's seen in the menu, not the actual world map itself. Sorry... I should have been clearer. ^^'

I suppose there's always the possibility of a combination of the two in their "Creation Kit." Maybe some sort of map generator based on terrain and other elements that lets you then go and add additional detail and customization options, While that would be cool, it is probably unlikely. I would guess that Bethesda would probably use a hand-made map for the world.

I'd want an autogen world map. I liked Morrowind's world map a lot better than Oblivion's static world map that never changed unless someone else or you made a custom version of it.

WTF?

pretty much this. the fifteen-year jump from Daggerfall to Fuel or even Dwarf Fortress is astounding. Fuel's procedural generation combined with a game that wasn't terrible would be great.

that said, i still prefer hand-crafted worlds. realistic world design doesn't hold a candle to stylized world design.

also this thread is about the map itself, like Morrowind's mod-sensitive map vs. Oblivion's static image. everything that's been described about Skyrim's map so far seems to be pointing in a direction closer to Morrowind, so it's probably safe to assume it'll function that way, though obviously much more visually impressive.

Oh, I see. I thought they were talking about the world itself, but they actually meant the viewable map. Okay then.

I posted much the same for FO3 & FO:New Vegas before they shipped. I wanted the expanse between the settlements to have been procedurally generated ruins, industrial parks and random wasteland ~(salted with special encounters that you most likely only found via direct exploration rather than fast travel). The idea was that the game could create miles of bleak terrain between points A & B, and if you were ambushed, set you down in the middle somewhere. This terrain could be walked, or Fast Traveled over (but at reduced chances of encountering anything good on the way).

I bought Diablo 2 and the expansion recently and I think it is entirely worth the full retail price. Just because it isn't fun to you doesn't mean nobody still enjoys it. It's a different kind of game than Skyrim, though.

He's saying that Morrowind's map had an advantage over Oblivion's map because it was an automated aerial view of the actual landmass of the game. If you were to add a new landmass or something, you would see it on the world map. Oblivion's, on the other hand, is a hand-drawn image representative of the default game. It looks nice, but it isn't representative of a game world where you have mods or something. If you were to add an island off the coast of Anvil, you couldn't actually see the island on the map (but you could see the map marker) unless you actually edit the image file itself to include an island as part of the image. This is also a pretty impractical thing to do when you have many landmass-altering mods running.

Skyrim's map remains a mystery. We'll need to see it in action before we can understand it. All we know about it is that it's a 3D map of Skyrim. It could be a reliable representation of the game world through the LOD layer or something, or it could be a hand-crafted model that is representative of the default landmass.

I liked Morrowind's approach better, while it certainly didn't look as good, when it comes to interfaces, I want function to be the first priority, not aethestics, Morrowind's map was better in that respect because even if I installed landscape changing mods, the map would still account for them, in Oblivion, if you used a mod that changed the landscape, you'd need to download a seperate map mod to get the map to match what the gameworld actually looks like, it's only reletively recently with the release of Dynamic Map that you can have the map automatically take your mods into account, and even then, it requires that the style of map you use and the mods you're using be ones the mod has been designed to account for, it just detects which of those mods, if any, you have installed and only applies the map components for the ones your using. So I'm hoping for a world map automtically generated based on the plugins your usuing, it makes things much easier for those who use landscape changing mods.

With Skyrim, though, it's been said we have a 3D map, so maybe the map is actually based on a low detail version of the actual in game terrain and can change based on your installed mods, I guess we'll see.