I haven't played a lot of computer games (because I didn't have a decent computer until quite recently), but now I play Skyrim a lot, and to some extent also Oblivion. Open-world RPG is the only type of game that actually appeals to me, and I've been thinking about what the ultimate game would be like, for me. Thought this forum would be a good place to post it since it's also about future Elder Scrolls games, which means, what we would like in a future game.

What would your ultimate Elder Scrolls game be like?

Personally, I'd want the game to be even less of a story and even more of a world, with no main quest but plots and factions and things to discover rather than "quests" to complete. As some have said, a world that acts and reacts based on the player's choices.
The Elder Scrolls games already have this to some extent. For example, I can choose to be a travelling merchant, selling things I find along the road, or a hunter, or I can choose to be an adventurer who's exploring dungeons, looking for rare items, and I can choose which side I'm on in the Civil War - or not taking sides at all.

If we take this a little further: On top of choosing your race, gender and looks (and class & birthsign; that's something I'd like to have back, at least the permanent birthsign), you could also choose who you are and where you start. For example, you want to start as city guard. This means you'll start with a guards' uniform and weapons, you'd have a bed in the barracks, and the other guards would act differently towards you than if you start as some kind of civilian. You could ask guards to follow you, and you could arrest civilians. Being a guard means you'd have to deal with thievery and drunken brawls and the occasional bandit raid, and you would discover the plots and conflicts and dangers in your city as a guard. If you want to try something else you can quit your job and if you misbehave you can get fired.

You should be able to join, but also destroy, most factions... and as some have suggested, if you join one guild, another guild becomes your enemy, and you can cooperate with yet another one. If you're asked to become the leader of a certain faction, there should be a "no thanks" option.

Instead of a map where locations have to be discovered, and a little marker that points at your goal, you'd have a "full" map with all the important locations, but several of the smaller loctaions hidden - they will be added to your map when you discover them. Some "roles" could even start off without a map and have to find it or buy one.

I'm not one of those who favors mods for hunger, cold and the like, but I'd like to see more clothing and armor variety, so you can dress appropriately according to weather.

So yeah, personally I'd like to see even more RP and a little less G, and more realism but in terms of possibilities rather than restrictions. (I like that there's food in the games, and I like that I'm not forced to eat it.)

...Guess my "ultimate game" would appeal to a rather narrow audience.

What would you like to see in future Elder Scrolls games?

..sorry, I see there's already a thread where this should have been posted.

It sounds like you'd enjoy Morrowind, and perhaps Daggerfall as well. It's not everything you're asking for by a long shot, but closer to it than the later games. Your membership in some factions could affect relations with other factions, and rule out a few completely. Completing a few quests affected dialog and other options later in the game. You couldn't choose to start with a profession and equipment, but your starting skills and attributes defined who and what you were to some degree, without preventing you from doing otherwise if you were willing to work at changing.

The variety of armor, clothing, and equipment was far beyond what's available in the later games, and you could layer robes over armor, and armor over clothing.

There was no quest arrow, and some, but not all, quests would mark your map with a location; others provided sketchy (or even wrong) directions, and it was up to you to find the place from or in spite of that, or get better directions in some cases.

Repairs on weapons and armor were an ongoing "realism" feature, where you could either practice or train the skill, or pay to have the work done.