Skyrim Online has achieved what many thought impossible. It's giving Skyrim players the chance to play online. Previous attempts to do the same with Oblivion and Fallout 3 ended in failure, but modder awpsoleet has managed to get a rudimentary alpha version of a Skyrim MMO up and running even before mod tools have been released.

The mod is currently extremely basic. Players can chat with eachother and see a representation of other players. The mod's description claims other players are represented by a 'spectral horse', which sounds hilarious, but the version I tested instead had unclothed player models in a standard animation pose, gliding around. You can attack and cast spells on other players, but they don't currently display any effects.

Despite all this simplicity however, the mod represents an impressive first step on the road to a true Skyrim MMO mod. We'll definitely be adding it to our Skyrim Mods list, and keeping a close eye on it.