A huge civil war has been waged over the course of my playthrough in Skyrim. The pretext: The Empire, acknowledging their defeat on the war agaist the Dominion, have banned the worship of Talos as a demand made by their conquerors, which affected the citizens of this land who are dependent on the Empire. On top of that, there are issues regarding customs, traditions and the right to live as one's wish in the land of the nords. The defeat suffered by the empire combined with the ban on certain traditions generated tensions throughout Skyrim polarizing the region into pro-empire loyalists and separatists who wish to form an independent state.

Unfortunately the plot revolves mainly around the religious area while others subjects are barely touched. It's hard to believe, as a gamer/spectator/reader that only one ban act will cause such a massive uproar. Indeed, many societies that exists or existed were led to this disruptive behaviour through not one, but numerous causes. Right now I can think of, citizens enslaved or forced to work only to generate output to the main land, the state of mass surveillance, liberties been restrained, extreme cultural differences among regions in the same country, inequality between citizens, huge forced foreign occupation and so on.

Knowing that, one of the biggest fuels to mass riots are undernourishment and poverty. The condition of despair and affliction of not knowing how to feed your child while others, favored by the current political context, have much much more may break into a revolution. Even so, in TES V, this is hardly the case. Taking a quick look at the citizens it is safe to say that there's no starvation nor porverty in the land and the civil liberties have been restrained only to the point of banning the worship of a god, which would make the conditions to an uprising highly unlikely.

I understand it's not the intention of the game to be deep in its plot, nevertheless a more believable world would act as flavor to the game. Slums have been seen in the two past installments, while, in addition, slavery and rebellion was a side-story in Morrowind - which unfortunately didn't receive much attention from the developers. Poverty serves not only to enhance the narrative of a fallen state, but to improve the player's notion as to who's important and who's unimportant. Poverty can add layers to the comprehession of this complex society without the addition of a single dialogue line; in fact, seeing employees acting as handyman to wealthy citizens adds the kind of depth the game's lacking.

Speaking of which, I rarely saw any employees of any kind, either as handyman or others and when I did, I was unsettled that in most cases they sleep in the same place where they work. This does not help to blur the line between the wealthy and the rest. A line that is actually a gradient, in which there are the rich noble who can afford to give a bed to his servants; the shopkeeper who can barely make a living with his business and need his clerk to help him; or even the servant himself, that has to wake everyday moments before dawn to go to his employer in order to make a living. It's a shame that the game has been so shallow in the crafting of its society while being so good at its visuals and architecture.

I must say i'm aware that there are beggars in the game, but this does not make poverty a systemic issue, neither does it add any complex social problem. The addition of poverty in the game would favor, not only the consistency in the plotline, it would also add moral questions as to who the player may choose to help. Will he spend his time in the land of Skyrim helping those in need, or will he prefer to climb a social ladder to become a noble himself? Will he be the catalyst of a revolution coming from the poor, or will the help maintain the status quo of those who are already benefited in his society?

I guess the title is misleading. It's not about poverty, it's about narrative. It's about believing in the game. It's about immersion.

In Skyrim, Markarth is a good place to find class disparity. The Warrens are slum-like, and (if I recall correctly) some residents will express resentment toward the upper-class. The Forsworn, who were evicted from Markarth and who turned to banditry, could be viewed as an underprivileged group rebelling against the privileged.

In Windhelm, the Gray Quarter houses refugees from Morrowind. It is another good place to find class disparity.

Riften has some canol real estate that looks somewhat low-class.