An idea recently came into my head I thought some people might attempt to do.

From interviews for Todd Howard we know that Skyrim's ending will allow you continue after the main quest. The idea that came into my head was, is there anyone out there who is going to roleplay till the end of the game then stop playing that character, as if the ending forced them to stop playing that character? I will not do this but the idea came into my head so I wondered if anyone would do this.

lolno

Why would I do that?

no doubt some will. i may myself, it depends whether i've done all i want to at that point on a particular char.

Some will. Soon as they hit what they feel is "end game" the game holds little-no weight for them and they move on.

I personally am not happy until i've maxed EVERYTHING in my major skills, or in the case of skyrim, my most used skills. That makes the game go far beyond the endgame for me. Also, by the time i actually FINISHED oblivions main story, i was like, level 35, and stompin some mean daedra ass.

That didnt keep me from going all the way to 55.

I so regret the number of high level TES characters I deleted because I felt "done" with the game--and inevitably I heard about something I'd missed and wished I had a character of high enough level to take a look. I really hope not to make the same mistake again. Starting additional characters is great, but you never know when you'll feel like taking a character on spin through a world you've enjoyed and holding on to at least one character strong enough to face anything they might encounter is a good idea.

Every time I played through Oblivion, I had fun exploring and ignored the main quest (I hate the gates so much -- they're so tedious!) until I felt ready to take on the story -- then I completed the main quest and started a new character.

So, YES, I like having a sense of completion to all my games (I could never do MMOs), and really I just enjoy the adventure, not so much leveling my character (certainly that's fun -- but only because of perks -- even in Oblivion the only reason I wanted to raise levels was to get the preset perks). So my end goal in playing is to have fun in exploration and combat, (and happen to increase levels as I go along) and then beat the main quest and end the game (or start over).

No, I will not stop playing the main quest.

My nord character will still be involved with the search for his kidnapped sister. (It's my story on why he crossed into Skyrim in the first place)

I wouldn't stop after the main quest anyway, as there will still be TONS to explore and main quest rewards to enjoy.

Well, depends on whether the main quest is the last thing I finish or not. If it is I'll likely just start a new char with a different playstyle. If not, I'll go RP after the end and do the remaining guild stuff/side quests/etc. ^_^

I intend to continue role playing each character until they have accomplished everything they wanted to accomplish. Usually this will mean finishing every quest accepted and tying up every loose end that's bugging them ...

... but not always. I had a character in New Vegas who only cared about revenge on the guy who shot her. Once she achieved that, the game was over for her. Who cares about Hoover Dam?

Probably I will have at least one character who is very curious about the world, and won't rest until all the dungeons are explored, or something like that.

It is nice to have the option to "retire" the character, unlike Beth's other series, Fallout where you always get the "go to the last mission place" every time you sign in that character.

I usually lose interest when I "finish" the game. So I'll do lots of sidequests before finishing the main quest.

I will create at least four characters. All of them will probably be created within the span of a couple weeks once I activate my copy of the game.

Of course, other characters may be created later, to take advantage of additional game play, or the possible addition of certain mods that may be created at later dates.

Once these characters are created, they will be role-played at my leisure, or inclination. As an example, I might play a mage type character for a period of time (e.g. hours), and then switch to a different character.

There may be times when the in-game progress of a particular character could be much more advanced than that other player characters.

This gaming philosophy would probably be continued when nearing the end of the main quest and beyond.

One of the main reasons for creating different characters is to be able to experience different aspects of gameplay, to include different factions, etc. Just the completion of the main quest will not necessarily mean the end of game play for a particular character.

Of course.

*In the very least, they have designed it with more perks than you can get under the level cap, so you would have to play a new character to try out the other perks. That's not the best of reasons, but its a reason. The best reason is for the experience to radically change with a changed PC, but I'm not sure that will happen in this game.

If that is what they want to do? Have at it.

Certainly not with my main character (to whom even the return of the World Eater means little, in the grand scheme of things), but with others, yes. Depending on how the main quest pans out, I'm likely to interpret and/or modify it in such a way that a character might even die upon, or as a result of, its completion.

When the main quest is done I don't see any point in continuing playing as the climix has already arrived.
Everything after that will just feel like small snacks but hardly anything decent to bite into.
So for example, I finish the main quest, then I finish a couple of sidequests I was doing, nothing special happens, no big closure, just emptiness.
Nothing to look forward to except more dungeons and other sidequests which won't give any special closure either.
So yes, I will stop playing after the main quest is finished and start a new character and save some quests and dungeons for my next playthrough.

Wouldn't it be awesome if there was an option for your characters to co-exist? Like for making someone with the sole purpose of RPing? Say you make a char that's good at making money. You can deposit that money in your other char's bank account (if there is one that is) and that way you won't have to waste precious raiding time on personality and mercantile and what not. And then maybe go with that char on a raid and what not and the other char's location and status would be saved. Proly the only problem with this would be if the other guy died...
Oh and to answer your question, I'll proly do all the quests then make another char.

ima play my character till i cants play him no mo