Ever since I started playing Morrowind, I realized that TES isn't JUST a game. Yes, you could go around killing, looting, swimming, running and gaining levels. But there was so much more, all the lore, books, factions, ruins, history. The more I played, the more I got absorbed in this world. I wanted to know more. About people, cultures, politics, astronomy, fauna and flora. Basically, I wasn't playing a game anymore. I was living in a game. I'm so glad that Bethesda gave us more provinces to explore. Cyrodiil in Oblivion and now Skyrim. I traveled and explored much more virtual world of Tamriel than real world!
So who else feels like this? Do you still see TES as just games to pass the time? Another game to beat and then put it on the shelf? Or it becomes your permanent stay?

To the outside viewer, yes they are just games, and we are the nerds who are just wasting our time playing them in some of their opinions. But to us? TES is more than just a game. TES can become a lifestyle, influencing our lives in certain ways.

This is true of any good game or RPG actually, not just TES. The game can show us things about our lives which we might not have thought of. With the Tomb Raider series, for instance, I've learned the following...

any object...money, jewelry, that note you don't want your boss to see, that treat you don't want your kid to have before dinner. Anything can be potentially hidden in plain sight and not be found. Go ahead and laugh; at times these traits can actually be useful in real-life. This sounds as if I've merely learned to be more deceitful, but sometimes it's important to be able to to keep things to myself. those of us who have kids or nosey neighbors/relatives know waht I'm talking about. :laugh:

With TES I've learned little stuff here and there along the way, too, stuff I would never normally think about. I've researched various ingredients which appear in Cyrodiil for instance, like St. John's Wort, which actually assists the combat against depression (or it's supposed to).

One day I was in a natural food store and saw some St. John's Wort on the shelf. On a whim I bought some and tried it. Its role as an anti-depressant can be debated, but I did find it does have a beneficial effect. Kinda like coffee without the jitters in my case, but others who have tried it have had different results.

I've also learned how to use shadows to figure out where I am without needing a compass. I don't go hiking very often anymore, but if I ever somehow did get lost, my knowlege and habits from Cyrodiil and Skyrim could potentially save time and keep me and anyone with me from disaster.

In Skyrim, I've actually been in the habit of using the physical tan map which comes with the game. I only use the 3D map to plot initial destinations. This is a skill which could potentially come in use someday if the GPS in my car stops working for some reason. Not that I drive long distances anymore very often, but still, the potential is there.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You don't "beat" an Elder Scrolls game, you live it.

Amen my brutha. Amen :jammasterjay:

"Just a game" has never been a statement I've had a lot of time for.
Any leisure pursuit can be dismissed as unimportant and a waste of time by those who don't share in it but my interests are more important to me than my work and come a close 2nd to family.

Yes. When playing Skyrim, I feel like I'm not sitting in my room playing a video game. I'm in another world, I feel the environments, the characters, and LIVE the stories. I haven't felt a higher bond to my character in any game before. TES is a gift to us that lets us be someone else for a while.

Why must we try to put so much importance in labels? TES is a 'game', like all others, it's simply more expansive and includes a larger variety of content. A book is book, even if it's small or big or the dictionary. A movie is a movie, even if the series pictures a fully realized and developed world.

Yes, TES is a game, and it's a damn good one. If it's more to you than just escapism, then that's fine, but anyone can have the same experience with any other game.

Bob Dylan speaks the truth.