What is your role in the game?

Do you pretend to be your character? Do you pretend to be a spiritual advisor? Or are you just an observer?

I am in that last category. I do not pretend to be my character, nor do I pretend to be some sort of guide. At times I do think of myself as Akatosh, with the ability to rewind time a little when things go sour for my character.

I am not my character and I do not want to see the world through my character's eyes. I am my character's follower. We are a party of two. It's a lot like a marriage: we bicker over where to go, what to do next.

My conscious, active involvement comes before and during character creation. After that, anything goes. Like a top I spin across the floor, what happens after that is largely beyond my conscious control. I may have intended my top to travel in a straight line, but it's just as likely to bump against the leg of a chair and go spinning off in a direction I never intended.

So it is with my role playing.

I am a 3rd party member. I travel with my character like a spiritual advisor, of sorts. I communicate with them... yes, that means I actually find myself talking to the screen. I guess I could be viewed as a follower but playing more of a "spirit" role allows me to feel more in place when I do actually switch into FPP.

That and by controlling them it's accepted as being nothing short of a possession... lol

guess im some horrible person that constantly forces my character into near death situations hourly for no real reason beyond that my characters are so weak for a while.

I'm sometimes the character... but even then somewhat disconnected. I guess I can never really immerse myself in so far that I truly am the character. But I can feel they're emotions, hear their thoughts and fears. Almost like I am an advisor, or an observer. Kinda like a friend that tags along and gives them advise. "No you don't wanna pick that up. That's a quest item and we don't want that stuck in our bag." or "Oh... no lets not go in there. Your only lv 5." Or I'm that friend in the group shouting out insults as you win. "Oh yeah who's the boss!"

Bit of both an observer and adviser, one more than the other on certain playthroughs.

For my main Dragonborn, I was an observer, then an adviser, and eventually he himself became an adviser for other characters as my surrogate in the game world, so eventually I was all three.

Most of the time I prefer to be an observer, though.

Now, I will admit that I come very close to seeing myself in the shoes of my stealthy sniper infiltrators in FO.