Inappropriate for the Lore Forum, unfortunately, but what I'm wondering is, how much does the lore of the Elder Scrolls universe affect your gameplay experience? Do you try to make the most lore-friendly characters as possible? Or do you make an Argonian named Bob with modded-in angel wings and an AK-47? Or somewhere in between? Or both?

I mostly ask because I'm curious as to how our local lore-buffs spend their time playing the games and how the in-depth knowledge of the ES universe affects their characters and gameplay, while also being curious as to how much the average player considers lore while making a character.

Personally, I try my best to make the most lore-appropriate character as I can. I always take the race of my character into consideration when naming him/her. I keep track of a lot of different characters that I consider canonical to the series, so that, for example, when I hear "the Nerevarine," I think of my main character from Morrowind, and I try to write storylines for them that I feel fit in the most appropriate way for their quests. I typically don't download mods for Morrowind or Oblivion unless they're lore-friendly, unless I'm just messing around and not playing "seriously." Even when messing around, I have only very rarely gone on killing sprees or have done something that breaks the integrity of the game or Cyrodiil.

How about you?

I would have to say something in between, as much as i love the lore i just cant stop messing around :tongue:

I'm very lore-friendly. I couldn't go out and make a character who had the back-story as the son of Talos or carry a sword the size of the horse I was riding that would break both of my arms if I attempted to wield such a weapon in the real world. (shudder)

With Morrowind, my knowledge of the Elder Scrolls was limited. So I stumbled into the world with my first character very ignorant. Oblivion was a different matter, as I was much clued up on the world and it's lore, I was much more effect in both character development and choice by the lore.

Like it's become niche for the Elder Scrolls to start in a prison, I always start off as an Imperial with the second running theme that they are of Colovian ancestry. With that, taking into account recent events and lore, I develop a back-story for the character(s). In Oblivion, I was a very loyal servant of the Empire and devout towards the Nine who pretty much embraced his destiny. When I think on my Skyrim character, he's morphing into an unwilling participant of his destiny and due to the destabilization of Cyrodiil and with the slow decaying of the Empire, he isn't as overly fond of the it, though he still has a degree of loyalty to it.

Really, my own method sounds similar to your own as I too try and make a good lore-appropriate character.

I am VERY Lore-Friendly, to the point that all characters I make need to fit best for the story with their personality and playing style. Also, in every game my main character is of different race.
Mods that break lore are a BIG no-no to me.

I try to stay as lore-friendly as possible with mods and my characters, with a few exceptions. For example, particularly good, but lore-unfriendly quest mods, like Simyaz's Tears of the Fiend are must-haves for my playthroughs.

I try to keep my playthroughs Lore friendly, I give my characters a name that fits into thier race and imagined background. I play a character to fit in with my interpretation of Lore. Any Nord I play will have an initial distrust of the Mages Guild because of the final battle between Galerion and Mannimarco. My Orcs are not beasts, and try to prove the brutish stereotypes wrong, with a big Axe. I like realistic weapons, clothing and armor. I hate the Iron Greaves and Chainmail Cuirass for a female character in Oblivion.
I will try "futuristic" mods, but I have never used them for more than two builds of a game.

It really depends on the character. Sometimes I play characters that I just mess around on and go on huge killing sprees and such. Sometimes I play a character who does every guild and quest. Sometimes I play a character that would never be in the fighters guild and thieves guild or dark brotherhood, unless of course they are infiltrating a guild. But actually now that I think about it I guess for me it revolves more around the roleplay than the Lore.

I LOVE lore and it's a HUGE part on the games for me, but i don't restrict my character based off of it. Hell, if it's in the game then it's NEW lore. and i don't need to worry about Mods cuz im on a console

EDIT: it does end up effecting my character though. My last one couldn't sleep outside for fear of being smothered by moths at night, this was just a fun idea I had rather than a limit i consciously imposed upon myself.

I'm flexible to an aesthetic degree I suppose. I like my vampires traveling at night and resting during the day. I like the TES lore, but the added stories, lands, personalities, and backgrounds to the multitude of mods added to my game have increased the gameplay greatly. So for me, all of that becomes my lore, considering it is my computer and my gaming immersion.

That said, I shy away from mods or modes of playing that just bring the feel back to the world around me. No contemporary items (guns, T-shirts, sneakers, corvettes, or mods that add personalities from late era Earth based people.), and no "Looney Tunes" items made specifically for major humor (duck sounding footsteps, a sea of Fargoths, etc.)

Would that I could mod in any way, because there are so many great fantasy universes that would translate extremely well to the Morrowind or Oblivion style of gaming, like Terry Brooks' Shannara, McCaffrey's dragons, Donaldson's 'The Land', even the Forgotten Realms. I am sure given enough time and interest, those modders that hold high the canon will make visual versions of the current Infernal City in gameplay.

I am, by no means, a lore-buff but the lore is what keeps me so interested in TES. So I try to stay as lore friendly as possible when gaming.

I like lore, I like learning lore, I like engaging with lore, but I don't base my characters on lore. It's the kind of thing that I'll be sure that I'm in accordance with, but not something that dominates my character. The lore is what makes the Elder Scrolls so great, and you can partake as much or as little as you want.

I'm pretty lore-friendly myself, and I love perceiving the games in a different way. Like looking up at the stars and knowing their origins with Magna-Ge, Secunda and Massa; just little things like that that's awesome. For Skyrim though I believe to be lore-friendly is to only play a human character due to the heavy themes of Lorkhan that will most likely be prevalent to the story. Hopefully Beth will include him without having your character be an aspect of some sort, but I would love knowing that I got my revenge on Alduin by being Shor.

Very lore-friendly, myself. I use mods which are mainly gameplay/visual tweaks and fixes, with some new lore-friendly content -- UOP, OOO, Mannimarco Revisited, Khajiit Night-Eye Toggle, an underwear-glue remover, and such (I'd like to add some of the Oblivifall mods, as well as Unique Landscapes and Better Cities, perhaps, but I'm having issues with Wrye Bash and I don't want to install them without Bain).

Only thing I really have trouble with is coming up with decent names that don't feel contrived (which is an issue I have with online forums as well, since my real name is too common and is always taken). My current Argonian character name I got from Tamriel Rebuilt's name generator (I think? some random name generator), and it's decent enough that I also decided to use it for my forum name since I didn't particularly like my old one.

With Oblivion, I went crazy with mods. But when I went back to Morrowind, I tried to get lore-friendly ones.

Hmmm, I create the most Lore-friendly characters as possible, and always consider it when naming them/ downloading mods. The only mods I use are CM partners mod, Acids Extravagant eyes, and that Capes one.... However I must disagree with you in one point... I often quicksave and go on a random killing spree, It is fun
I have never made a character backstory untill my one for skyrim, I was introduced to Oblivion and was unsure, so I had no time to actually think about the game and my characters story, and with Morrowind (just got) I just didn't....

I adhere to the lore.

I play on console so no modding for me. I also like too keep my characters realistic(except the insane power they have since they are http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Hero). I often look up names of the race I play. I have started a Dunmer Warrior in OB names Banden Redoran and his firstname comes from a NPC in MW, and the last name from his families house(RP relations). In RP-ing he is a very serius character and carry the traits a Redoran-member is expectedd too have.
So, yes I try to follow the lore as long as possible.

I'm really big into lore, but hardly ever actually use it in gameplay. My characters aren't wearing jeans and aren't named Pwnzor McPwn, but I don't go out of my way to make them fit the world.

In Morrowind, lore affects just about everything for me.

Lore is a major part of my gameplay. I am very picky about mods and will only download them if they fit in with the game world. I like to improve Morrowind, not change it.

All my characters make decisions appropriate for their race and status in the Morrowind world. I feel that playing according to lore makes the game [somehow] even more interesting than it originally is.

It ends up being different on the game for me.

In Oblivion, I have a lot of mods, some are generally lore friendly, some aren't. Some actually make it more lore friendly, like making the Imperial City the way it was described in PGE 1st Edition.
In Morrowind, I don't have as many mods, and are mostly lore friendly, with a few exceptions that I will remove soon because I don't like them anymore.

It's the same in Fallout, in Fallout 3, I have a lot of mods, not as many as Oblivion, but they are less lore friendly then Oblivion.
In New Vegas, I only have two to three mods that can be considered lore breaking, which I disabled about five minutes ago. Ironically, New Vegas has more mods then Fo3, because most are bug fixes or adding more Fallout 2 gameplay features.

What you said, pretty much sums me up

My Lore compliance is all over the place. There is Zarjeen, (hadn't met Dar-Jee before naming him XD) an argonian, who is very lore friendly, and my roleplaying character. At the other end of the spectrum, is Qymaen jai Sheelal, who is another argonian, albeit his name is the real name of... General Grievous. He has an Incom T-65, aka an X-wing, and a gun, and of course, the prerequisite lightsabers.

Quite a lot of the links in the FAQ are broken unfortunately, but it's still very useful.

This pretty much sums up my own approach to the lore and the game. I won't use mods that add items like guns or modern day clothing. I will however add something to the game-world - for example, the Pegas Horse Rance mod - if I can come up with a way to explain why the horses are there even though they aren't there in the vanilla game. I usually go with the reasoning that they were smuggled in for someone who was wealthy enough to pay for the import of such animals.

I also don't feel like I have to absolutely adhere to quests in the way cannon storyline plays out. The way I see it is Bethesda provided the game-world, the quest-lines and the characters...and a construction set that allows you to add even more choices/quest lines. So the destiny of my personal world is up to me.

My character joined forces with Dagoth Ur, and then with his help she very neatly embedded the Ministry of Truth into Vivec's Palace where it couldn't hurt anyone.

I broke lore and I'm proud.