Volunteers Build Entire World in 20-Year-Old Game

When The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind launched in 2002, disappointed fans immediately started building what the game couldn't fit: an entire fictional continent. Twenty-two years later, they're still at it, and they've created something remarkable.

Thousands of volunteers across two connected projects, Tamriel Rebuilt and Project Tamriel, have spent over two decades handcrafting cities, quests, and landscapes inside this aging game. Together, they've built a virtual space roughly the size of Malta, the small Mediterranean island nation.

Most fan projects like this collapse within months or years. These survived because the teams learned to celebrate small victories instead of waiting for perfection.

"We've found that releasing content builds hype, it gives players what they want, and perhaps most importantly, it serves as proof of life," said Mort, who has designed quests for 13 years. Every time they release an update, about a dozen new volunteers join immediately.

The projects started separately when a player called "Ender" rallied fellow fans on a forum to expand the game's world. Other groups formed with similar dreams, and in 2015, several merged into Project Tamriel, reigniting the ambitious goal of recreating all the game's fictional provinces.

What makes this possible? Morrowind has no voiced dialogue, so adding new content doesn't require hiring voice actors or matching audio quality. Volunteers can write and implement new quests with relative ease.

The teams have released hundreds of hours of new adventures. Tamriel Rebuilt just launched its ninth major update, called "Grasping Fortune." Project Tamriel released "Abecean Shores" in late 2024, adding an entirely new coastal region.

The Ripple Effect

These projects show how communities can accomplish seemingly impossible goals when they break them into manageable pieces. Senior developer Tiny Plesiosaur, who works on mapping and planning, said the entire vision would overwhelm anyone viewing it as one massive task.

Instead, volunteers focus on completing the next dungeon, the next town, or the next questline. Each small contribution brings the team closer to their next release, which attracts more helpers who want to be part of something larger than themselves.

The most optimistic timeline puts full completion around 2035, but for most volunteers, that distant finish line isn't the point. They're here for the journey, the community, and the satisfaction of adding one more beautiful corner to a world they love.

Their dedication has transformed a single island game into a sprawling adventure that rivals anything professional studios have created.