Its the communities term, not mine. just the words of Bethesda themselves, ignore it if you can't help putting some cynical and dark meaning behind it.

Two overall things, in order of importance, characterise the Elder Scrolls style of game for me:

• The freedom to play and experience the work of hundreds of talented plug-in authors from all over the world combined with the freedom to author, play and share my own plug-ins according to my own imagination.
  
• The freedom to choose a first-person perspective and to set and follow my own objectives when playing the game.

anolysing this further, there is one thing that stands out as a common thread through the diverse aspects that characterise the game. In a word, I think that what defines both the Elder Scrolls series and the Fallout series is choice. A case in point being that the availability of the Elder Scrolls Construction Set allows those of us with the full product (i.e. as licensed for PCs) to tailor the game to better suit what we want to get out of the game. I.e. Those who wish to experience only the story provided with the game are free to choose to do so, and those of us who so choose, are free to enjoy the range of master-pieces created by a diverse and extensive international authorship which, in turn, offers a richness of gaming experience that simply isn't even remotely possible on any other platform, whatsoever.

This extends the commercial life of any given Elder Scrolls or Fallout game well beyond anything else in the entire video game market. Thanks to this, and to the participation of the sector of the market that loves to author their own material or sample the offerings of a diverse international authorship, older games like Morrowind and Oblivion still have strong commercial viability to this day (while many very popular games of similar vintage have been long forgotten). Far from cannibalising any potential new game sales, I think that the extended currency of previous games only serves to make purchasing the new game a much stronger compulsion.

Moreover, I believe a feature which would allow users to travel, in character (and only if they wanted to), between all the series' game worlds they are licensed for (and have installed) would extend this freedom of choice, which, I believe has come to define the series. Moreover, such a feature would invoke greater incentive for people to want to purchase all the games of the series (if they did not already have them). By extending what most distinctly characterises this series, a feature like this could improve both sales and shelf life - both of which mean more profit, and hopefully more development of this wonderful material...

This freedom of choice, which actually defines both series, is why they have become the only sets of video games that I have ever seriously and rigorously patronised. In this way, it is the opportunity to author and share plug-ins with other fully licensed users that dictates whether I will choose to purchase an RPG or find something else to do.

Individuality! :wink_smile:

Home . Yes no other game gave my char a home, somewhere to stay, pile up stuff from yourneys. In games the hero is often o roug a pilgrim on endless path, but in TES it doesn′t have to be that way. You may stay and it feel outstanding. Being nevervarine in -morrowind was just as if was Nerevar him self.

And freedom of choice

for me, the exploration really makes the game series, without that its just another fantasy game with a cool backstory.

Oh also the first person, only sandbox game with first person that i like.