Little known fact: Todd Howward is actively searching for the Ark of the Covenant.

By occult do you mean stuff leaning toward satanism or black magic?

Probably a little bit. The Elder Scrolls contain some necromancy, the Dark Brotherhood, daedra, etc. I think most fantasy related things do in some way.

To answer your topic title: probably not. I don't believe Bethesda as a whole studies the "occult". But there are probably some developers who find an interest in such things and have let their interest creep into design choices.

i am talking about both sides of magick black and white but by occult i mean esoteric knowledge

Ah, I see what you're getting at. I have no idea. Like I said in the previous post, maybe a few developers are interested in such things but I don't know.

Ask vsions

It would be cool, though, to have things like this in Skyrim. Not direct references to real world occultism but maybe some stuff unique to the Elder Scrolls.

Wait, why the hell are you using Mass Effect as an example? Mass Effect is developed by Bioware a completely unrelated company. Also, Call of Cthulhu wasn't developed by Bethesda, and H.P. Lovecraft does not count as occult. He wrote his stories as fiction, he wasn't trying to preach them to people as real. I think that's all the misconceptions in this thread so far.

The lore was initially based on popular RPGs of the early 90s and fantasy novels.

The "occult" definitions people give sound (i did skim over the thread so please forgive me if im wrong) like people are saying that anything considered magic/witchcraft is occult and evil/satan worshipping. First of all wiccans (some consider it a branch of paganism while others consider it completly different) are one of the most known religions for using magic and witchcraft. Many people belive wiccans and pagans worship satan, WE DONT Most pagans do not belive in someone like the devil while Some (including myself) belive there may be some evil gods (a minority) most dont belive in the bible's satan. Witchcraft can be evil as preforming a spell such as one that gives bad karma is evil and some pagans and wiccans (including myself) belive in the 3 fold law of karma (which many belive isnt controlled by a god or a goddess but is the natural consequences of your actions, if you drop a hammer on your foot what happens?) which is that what you do will come back 3 times worse (if you do evil) or better (if you do good) Anyhow I dont wish to start a flame war i just want to get the facts straight about occult. anyhow i do agree with the earlier guy as the topic would have been better if it was somewhere suggested if there will be more occult themed stuff in skyrim

who is vsions?

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/user/648687-vsions/

The occult... ahaha I doubt it.

yes- they do. lol. H.P. Lovecraft

they have plenty of references :chaos:

It only makes sense to learn about something you want to put into a game, in order to make it convincing. Look at Mankar Cameron and the Mythic Dawn. Pretty freakin' occult to me. That doesn't mean they follow occult practices in real life, though.

exactly i just wanted to know what they studied

other RPGs and fantasy novels/films

Yes like, magic, elves, orcs, enchantments, Dark gods, different planes, ghosts, necromancy, alchemy and many others things

Yes, they do, specifically Thelema... :facepalm:

To answer the question; the designers, if not the coders, certainly do. They have to. Among other things, I write; mostly in the fantasy genre. If I use magic, unless I am prepared to create =and explain= a magical 'system' out of whole cloth, then you have to use one of the existing systems. Or kit bash two or more. And you have to do your research; otherwise those who have studied will point out each and every error and mistake. However, I doubt very seriously if they ever go much above what I call 'Hollywood Magic'. If you have ever actually researched the occult, you know that movies grab whatever looks good or scarey, throws in fog, low frame lighting, and 90 days post production work. I've yet to see an accurate high magic ritual portrayed on screen, silver or otherwise. You've never seen a proper Satanic ritual, as it is basically anti-Catholic in nature, and there are things and materials used that can't be shown without a full blown advlt rating and a lot of backlash from one or more churches. The same with most wiccan rituals; from the outside, far enough away to avoid disturbing things, they are usually pretty boring; and Hollywood hasn't even attempted to master the skills needed to show a skyclad ritual without making it all about the boobies, baby! and how they can hide the dangly guy bits so as to not get that issue flung at them.

However, aside from doing just enough research (or using the research others have done), I seriously doubt there is -any- occult study at the corporate level. One must have a soul to dabble in magic, after all........

great answer just wondering if you ever watched The Ninth Gate pretty good movie with alot of occult references
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142688/