Nothing beats a good first person experience.

Once in OB, my Dunmer spell sword wandered into an old fort full of skeletons and a lich. I battle my way up the fort to the top where the lich was. We clashed and fought and as he started walking backwards he fell off the ledge of the crumbling fort. I was close on him and leaped off with him following him down.( I had crazy good acrobatics) As we fell I gave him one last swipe and saw the "life" drain from him as I hit a stone pillar shortly after leaping off the ledge. He kept falling and I watched until he smacked into the ground.

All from first person. I felt like an adventurer.

Also a great reason why these games are so godly. You kinda make you'r own adventure. That's the exciting part.

i play 99% of the time in 1st and only play in 3rd to get a better idea of the land terrain.

I always play 1st person (although I might switch to 3rd person to look at my character once in a while, like probably everyone else does - but that's not playing). It's one of the main reasons why I love ES games. Most other RPGs are 3rd person. To me 3rd person is both an immersion killer (it's not me/my imaginative character walking around, it's just that computer figure walking around on my monitor) and a chore to play (what benefit is there if my character hides 20% of the screen - and even the most important part of the screen). And all this only to make sure you can constantly adore the backside of your character? That's why I don't play RPGs that are 3rd person exclusive. If ES will ever become 3rd person exclusive I won't even look at it, even if they make the best game in the series and offer the finest mod tools in the world.

I mostly play in first person, though if the 3rd person camera is greatly improved in Skyrim I could very well start playing in 3rd person more.

The first person perspective is actually the only reason I bought Oblivion, I thought it seemed so cool to have an FPS with a sword instead of a gun. I bought Oblivion and played all TES-games since then I consider myself a hardcoe TES-fan

First but I switch to third for looking at my character and walking around cities and what not. I just like seeing them.

Same here. Shame too because TW2 could have occupied me until Skyrim dropped.

I use third person wherever I can. All the games I play are RPGs and Bethesda's are the only ones I have that even offer first person perspective. I think it has to do with how I role play. I don't see my character as me. It's a character I create. I'm not the character; I'm the character's author. I also generally refer to my characters in the third person, so I guess it just better suits my narrative perspective. I generally only switch to first person in Elder Scrolls games when I have to because the third person view is inadequate (for picking up clutter and the like).

I mix it up between the two and don't prefer one or the other overall, but usually use third in melee and first for aiming bows or spells.

I use a mix, but always 3rd person for combat, in 1st person I'm always getting stabbed in the back or walking off a cliff or cornering myself. There's just no situational awareness in 1st person. In Fallout I'm a guns user so I only use 3rd person once in a while, but for melee combat it's a must.

I feel like a minority! I played Morrowind, OB, and FO3 in third person, only switching to first person to shoot bows. My reasoning is I always found the first person view didn't have any weight or gavitas to it. I always felt like I was floating. Whereas with third person you can really feel the weight of your character as they walk. Don't get me wrong, love first person still, but I use it more for looking around in rooms or picking stuff up. Both have their uses!

I like to use 3rd person when I run around in the open because I get a better peripheral view and I can see how my character looks. Then I switch to 1st person for anything like activating items, collection of ingredients, combat, etc. When inside dungeons, I'm always in 1st person.

I like having the mix of both.

Largely third person. I'll occasionally switch to first find items on the ground, or to make a very long-range ranged attack, but not often enough to really call it a 'mix'.

Always first person. Third person tends to make me nauseous and it's difficult to enjoy anything when it makes you sick to your stomach.

In Oblivion I use 1st person the most at 75% or more, I only use 3rd person in cities or at "home" to look at my character walking around/interacting with my companions. Combat is too awkward in 3rd person and I like exploring dungeons in 1st person anyway. If Skyrim has made really good improvements to 3rd person I could see myself using it more like 50/50.

^Yeah, I don't get how playing in 3rd-Person = being difficult.
In Morrowind, back when I had a good PC, I would download many better body and clothing mods to make my character look good, so I would often play in 3rd-Person to look at my character, who I am roleplaying as, all the time. (If I remember correctly, it didn't matter if I hit something or not--the stats took care of that, lol!) In Oblivion, however, the combat is too focused on being too precise to the point where I am forced to go into 1st player whenever I am combating anything. =( I didn't really like that, even if I love playing First-Person-Shooters. I DO go into 3rd-Person/Vanity mode to see my character from time to time.

So, you could say I use both---because I HAD to, in Oblivion, anyway.
I just want to be able to look at my character in the game-world. Otherwise, WHY would I spend HOURS altering her face, lol!
It looks like Skryim may have an "over-the shoulder" 3rd-person view for--hopefully---more accurate 3rd-person combat. It'll be like playing RE 4/5 or Infamous or Uncharted 2, which are games I also liked. =)

3rd person never broke the immersion for me, it actually added to it. Go into third person next time you need to walk with someone or the next time you are sneaking behind them. It reminds me of a movie and is really fun to use. Also combat in third person is easier some times. You can see to the left and right easier and unless your using a dagger you shouldn't be in too much trouble.

Exactly like me

Pretty sure it will be 1st person as that is the way I've always played TES games. I am curious how well they are going to fix up 3rd person view though.. It's always been just awful.

Definitely 1st.

This. I jsut find it cool to actually see your characters once in a while since I usually put so much time in creating them

I play a mix. I have a phobia of things popping out at me, so TES is a little too immersive in the sense that it would trip that phobia xD I realize there are detect life spells and the music changes for combat, but I still get really jittery. So I play in 3rd person when I'm dungeon diving or out in the wilderness, and switch to first person when I'm fighting or in town.

In both Morrowind and Oblivion I fight in 1st person. Only natural way for me. However when im running around or travelling I sometimes check myself in 3rd person. I also use the "check round the corner" 3rd person trick when im sneaking, however cheaty that may be (if you dont you will have to walk right out into the corridor to see if anyone is over there...).

The majority of my gameplay in both Oblivion and Morrowind was in 3rd person, I only used to switch to 1st person when looting or for ranged combat with a bow or magic, but I like the view t be like 'watching a movie' rather than 'through my eyes'.

And the fact I suffer from motion sickness with the head-bob in more recent games. even though I dont get motion sickness at anytime in real life away from 1st person games lol.

I switch a lot between 1st person and 3rd person, but I think I use 1st person most of the time.