In Oblivion the one thing I noticed was how many items there were that had no use at all but seemed to be there purely to fill out the game world with items. this can surely be rectified in Skyrim. In Oblivion for example the pickaxe did nothing, it weighed 6 encumbrance points but was worth literally 0 gold in Skyrim it will probably be used for mining. But there are loads of others...

- Hourglass for example didn't do anything and was worth 0 gold, surly this time they could give it a use for example helping to make potions with alchemy.
- Shovels should be used for being able to dig for treasure or digging up graves (necromancy)
- Cloth for making clothing (hopefully a part of blacksmithing)
- Rake, Scythe, Hoe etc (for the farming supposedly in Skyrim)
- Skull and bones (used in alchemical formulas and necromany)
- Tongs (for repairing armor - could be used with repair hammers to have more effect, also involved in blacksmithing)
- Quill/Inkwell (for writting notes in your in game diary - I know there's not but there should be one by which you can remind yourself of anything you have to go back and do finish looting a dungeon for example, that you couldn't do previously because you reached your encumbrance limit, or places that you find certain ingrediants etc)
- Boquet of flowers (improving the disposition of a female character towards you if for example you need information)
- Vase (used for decorating your house if you choose to buy one)
...... There are loads more besides these, I have just given examples

Basically I want all items to have a use rather than being completely redundent. Especially the items that are in the game worth 0 in gold, they aren't even useful for stealing and making money from, how is a pickaxe worth nothing anyhow. It would just be that extra attention to detail that shows they care.

If every single item has a use than there will be less items. In my opinion the more items there are then there will be more items with uses. The more the merrier.

(I voted last option)

No item should be valueless but not all items need a use.
It adds to the verisimilitude of the world that there are items that are basically just there for background, but are fullly interactable.
How many games let you take the plates off a table?
These things were there in all three elder scrolls games I have played and I like them.

The uses you've listed make sense. It's not all that important, but it seems we'll be able to use more items now that we can participate in all these animations/"jobs" like farming etc. If they provide us with animations for eating and all those miscellaneous things, cutlery for example might have a use as well, rather than just decoration.

(I voted the second option.)

I don't know if every item needs an actual function per se, but I think that junk items should have some value - like the discarded Dwemer artifacts and fancy silverware in Morrowind. It was useless, but at least you could sell them off for some nice money. It really made me feel like a "treasure hunter" pawning off all of these miscellaneous items, a feeling which declined with Oblivion where Bethesda mostly just gave you your money flat-out or through equipment drops.

:violin:

I put "Most things within reason should have a use." This is how I feel it was in Oblivion. Sure, I'd love for gaming companies to have the resources to be able to make a game world seem almost as tangible as the real world, but it's unreasonable to expect it to be so. Swords cut, hammers smash, and armor protects, everything else is pretty much icing on the cake.

Meh, I don't have a problem with miscellaneous clutter. A lot of it's there just for decoration and doesn't necessarily need to serve a purpose. I'd rather they focus on more important things than making every junk item have a purpose.

useless items were fun to throw around, or i liked to stick em all in the cheydinhal stream in TESIV oblivion, i dont know why.

YES LOL i didn't even read what he said. just yes. im tired of useless items.accidently picking something up and saying to myself... is this something i'll need in the future ie. bones, poop, shoe laces, hammer (not a repair hammer)

Nah I am fine with clutter items that cannot be used and does not serve any purpose other than being aesthetic. It would be cool to have animated items though, like a hourglass which can be flipped over and you can see the sand go down or a clock which actually tell you the time and its arms moving.

I usually dropped them off mountains and then chased them.

After writing that it makes me sound a bit... strange.

"Atmosphere" and "set decoration" are valid purposes.

I like to decorate my houses with skulls..

I mean, it's nice for items to have a use... but what can you do with say, a napkin, or a vase? Yet, I still want the freedom to pick those items up and take them with me, for if I want to put them in my own house or something.

junk is what makes the game lol

In Morrowind, I was immediately impressed by the fact that in the Census Office, there were multiple dining materials, with different values for each. That was something I missed in Oblivion, where everything is either "silver cup" or "cup." I want frivolity, dammit.

a couple of things you suggest make sense, but I hope to god nobody in the history and future of elderscrolls takes this idea to heart. I like random items that add to the atmosphere/scenery of a game and are tangible. ash statues had no real value but they are cool/fun to collect. Plus who wants to shoot a fire ball at a table with plates, forks and maybe an hourglass and everything stays in place like its glued there or be able to move them but no pick them up...? That's elderscrolls blasphemy my friend lol

If you don't like the item because you can't sell it than just keep walking and don't pick it up :whistling:

Yes, the damned crystal balls should allow me to see the future. . . or at least see what certain NPCs are doing from afar.

The second option sounds cool, "Most things within reason should have a use". I did always hate finding something that could have a practical use and I thought "hmm, I should keep this for a bit" and it never had a use... Not that it was annoying or anything, it's just be cool to have a reason to hold on to clutter other than to make my house look pretty.

One question though, how does making clothes fit into blacksmithing?
Cloth for making clothing (hopefully a part of blacksmithing) -from OP

There really doesn't need to be a use for dining ware or decorations, well maybe they should be enchantable, but really they can just exist, and nothing should be valued less than 1 coin.

I miss Morrowind, where everything had some value, even if it was only 1 gold piece. It fueled my kleptomania.

Why not?

because it caused my game to freeze 100 too many times, when selling them to the fence.

Thieves need clutter to make robbing houses worth their time. Everything needs to either be useful OR have monetary value, so it can either be used or sold.

Why must it be one or the other? Why MUST every last object in a house have 1+ value in order for it to be worth a thief's time?

Last time our house got broken into, they left tons of stuff. Ostensibly because not everything is valuable on the black market.