Haa haa, I'm The Gadester. I like it.
Or the more esoteric form is G^dst^r. I like that one too. Nick names are fun. I like what you said, Wyrdster about games being just a main quest. No not a main quest, just a singular game. So true.
My first sandbox was GTA: VIce City. Believe it or not, this was my first...probably 2 years before I discovered Oblivion! I was at some guy's house and he had GTA: San Andreas. I'm not a big fan of violence but I couldn't help it. I asked the guy "hey, can I try that?" and so he hands me the controller.
I said "hey, what'll happen if I hit that guy?" pointing towards some guy on-screen, and my friend says "go ahead!" So I did.
you all are gonna think this is weird, but I couldn't believe how real it seemed. The guy on screen was now totally pissed at me, and starts chasing me! What I loved was the
spontaneity of it all. It was a little adrenaline rush being chased by that guy, and a lot of fun! I had to have this game!
I got Vice City instead of San Andreas, though. I just like the whole 80's thing. Vice City has "missions", just like Oblivion's quests, but one can ignore these missions, and instead just drive around, mess with NPC's, get in trouble with the law, and EXPLORE. OMG I couldn't believe the exploration possibilities. There's stuff EVERYWHERE in those games.
So it's like this. In a way, I already had the mind-set foi Oblivion, and didn't even know it at the time. There are quests, but we don't to get involved with them at all if we don't want to.
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