I would like to see an knock out option where eventually one of us gets knocked unconcious. Then you would have a certain amount of time before they got back up to perform a death move to kill them if you wanted to. I think this could be used to give you even more ways to influence the game. maybe a knockout would cause a different outcome or quest path than killing someone would. Maybe the consequences from a guard seeing the fight might result in a different confrontation or fine.

barfights might even be allowed and betting to take place as long as nobody was killed.

Or maybe this would only be an option for fist fighting and could add a new reason to use that skill.

There might be a potential to explore this idea without shipping it over to the Ideas for Skyrim section.

I think it'd be impossible to knock someone out with a sword, axe or any sharp object...

A blunt instrument would make more sense, but I feel like theres a greater chance of them being killed too.

Hand to hand is probably the best way to implement it. In Morrowind, it was possible to temporarily knock someone out...but only for a few seconds until they got back up. Its during this time you could continue to wail on them until they died.

The same mechanics could be used in Skyrim, but instead of having a short duration it could be a permanent knockout. i'd see it as a somewhat passive approach to killing.

knockout moves and kill moves were present in Oblivion. I'm not sure knock outs make much sense outside of maybe barfights or stealth ambushes.

Add kicks to combat. Using a kick instead of a killing blow with your weapon makes your enemy unconscious instead of dying.
I also think it should be possible to kill people while they are unconscious.

Are you sure? I don't recall there being one... Are you thinking of knock down? When you use a power attack to knock down an enemy? Or maybe you're thinking of attacking an essential NPC until they are unconscious. Doing the same to a regular NPC would kill them.

Well knocking out people has always been present if using a heavy enough weapon or fists - or basically if you knock em hard once their fatigue is depleted.
Thing is normally your just going to KILL them before getting to that point. And if you do knock em out/down ... takes about 5 seconds and they are back up again.

If knocking out an NPC would last longer - say 2 minutes? And only get back up with no fatigue again so you can just knock him back out - if your looting his hosue for example. It would make using fists for one, much more useful. Allthough it would be nice to have certain type of weapons/attacks target specifically the enemy's fatigue or whatever is needed to do a knock out. Again I know fists did that but it just took too long for it to be effective....

EDIT: was basically thinking of knock downs but having those be knock outs would work. (2 mins not 2 secs!!!) Obviously it would remain a knock down not a knock out when used on the player.... allthough maybe guards could knock you out, bringing you automatically to jail... ahh the possibilities...

Yes to knockout, but not to show mercy, that's just silly. Knockout should be a stealth related thing imo.

Honestly I think that knocking down an enemy is good enough. Better yet, make a paralyze spell. I believe that gameplay wise, if you can do this to a NPC, they can do it to you. To see you get "knocked out" just to see game over would be unfair wouldn't it?

Why would a knockout = game over?

Does it mean its game over for the NPC if you knocked it out? No..after the conflict, they continue to exist within the game.

Who says the NPC will be so merciful? What if they decide to kill you instead? I guess then you shoulda used a weapon!

Whats the use in a challenging game if there are no consequences (death)

I was thinking more along the lines that there might be quests that all you have to do is knock out an NPC instead of kill him and sometimes you would have to kill him. I was also thinking that maybe if you somehow got into a fight with an NPC even if they started it, if you knocked them out or maybe have to knock them out say 3 times, they would then leave you alone...unless you picked on them again.

LOL I'd say if the NPC knock you out, they would probably kill you...that or have their have their way with you, take your stuff and leave you in a pool of freezing water knowing that they took your kidneys or something...yeh...

I think this is an worthy element in aspect of role-playing. While no NPCs would be un-killable, there would be an warning during the tutorial; for example, one of NPCs tell the player that murdering has certain potential consequences including ruining your destiny (messing up the quests). Once he's through that stage, all non-hostile NPCs would be knocked out once defeated. A knocked out NPCs will be loot-able for next five minutes, and can be killed by being attacked again within that period.
Gothic used this system. If the player gets into a fight with an NPC, he does have that option to knock him out cold and killing him by attacking again. In same way, they could also knock him out, loot him and leave. If he gets defeated by hostile creatures/NPCs, he'd be killed. While fighting somebody and knocking him out would have little or no consequences, actually killing him would count as a murder and cause penalties.
If implemented correctly, no quest related NPCs would be permanently killed by accidents, creatures, or other NPCs. (They could still be killed by player's choice if he does decides to mess up).

I hope you mean that there would still be some sort of pop up warning you are about to kill a quest related NPC otherwise I'm the type of person that would accidentally kill a quest NPC that I didn't realize was one.

Edited: but I would like the game to keep up with if I had already completed all quests for that npc I'm about to kill to not pop up that warning

Well depending on the circumstance, once you've been knocked out, the screen could blur and fade to black. Depending on where the attack was, you could either end up in a jail cell (if it was an unprovoked city fight) or perhaps you end up in the wilderness. For instance, if you were knocked out in a thieves cave, perhaps you'll wake up in a random wilderness cell/area far away..

The idea behind it is that instead of killing you and having a bigger price on the NPC's head, they decided to knock you out and ditch your body in the wilderness where (they supposedly think) you will not be able to find them again.

Voted yes, and was surprised by the results considering how often I see the desire to wipe out entire towns with an oversized fireball... I would love it if I was able to reach high level and completed main quest with a minimum of kills, if that was suitable for the character. NPCs fight for their honor. Bandits fight for your valuables. Why would they risk killing you off? If someone actually *wants* you dead, why not send a properly trained assassin instead?

I think that the ability to knock someone out and remove an item from their inventory would add interesting options. And it needn't be a matter of mercy. It could be purely a matter of not wanting to damage your rep.

I could see this being implemented as a form of pranking (or more seriously disciplining) guildmates for fun (or for breaking the guild rules)