Right, so I kept seeing people asking for all sorts of features that, while making the game a little more life-like, are there to simulate (what I personally consider) the more tedious aspects of life, like having marriages, children, low-key jobs like fishing and farming and a bunch of others.

And before anyone jumps the gun, no, I'm not saying Skyrim should be more limited in scope, linear and/or completely focused on the main quest, side quests and such are a very important aspect of fleshing out your character. Though, admittedly, I'm a little surprised at how deep many people would like to role play.
I'm more of a story person, in that the reason I play singleplayer games is the same reason I read books and watch films, for somebody's take on one or more themes. The way I see it, RPGs have this special characteristic of allowing the player to put himself in the protagonist's/antagonist's shoes and do things the way he or she likes, but ultimately, fleshing out the character is there for suspension of disbelief (which is massively important) and that is still subordinate to the actual story. At least some people here seem to place the player character above the actual narrative, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that, I'd just like to hear their takes on the issue so that I don't just conjure up theories to myself.


Anyway, what do you focus on most? The story or your character?



And no middle grounds, they're near impossible to define in this case, and everyone sways even one tiny bit in one direction or the other.

I usually have a well developed character in mind, but I don't go out of my way to "live" that character's life. I focus on the story as if the character I imagined were experiencing it.

I play TES games by creating characters then loosing them on the world and just seeing what happens. I almost always start with a very vague notion of the character - something like "Orc mage" or "female Bosmer with a battleaxe" or "Redguard swordsman," then I just put the character together and start going. Over time, I come to "know" them and to understand how they'd react to this or that situation. The details of their lives - attitudes, beliefs, fears, preferences, interests, etc. - all come out over time, and whatever it is that they end up doing is then their "story."

To me, the only preset "story" of the game is the main quest, and it's telling that I don't do it far more often than I do. If it's appropriate to the character, then that's what they do. If it's not, then they don't.

So the game's story is always secondary to the character's story. Whether the two overlap just depends on the character.