Skyrim

The video game I played was Skyrim. Which is part of the Elder Scrolls series. Ive been an Elder Scroll fan for a long time. I played Morrowind, oblivion and even Daggerfall for DOS. The biggest feature of Skyrim is the open-world sandbox. Its open enough where you could do anything, but still limits you enough that it’s a comfortable balance. Skyrim has a storyline that you could follow, but it also allows you to follow other quests, or even let you proceed on your own. Essentially once you finish the introduction, you are free to progress as you wish. The biggest element of this game is Role-playing. Because you can determine what your character will look like, what he or she will use for combat, if they are magic focused or fighting focused. I remember there were people in the forums who would create elaborate back stories for their characters and post them as fan fiction.  The second you take control, your life takes on another life, where you can make choices without having to face real life consequence. You can be the opposite of what you are. 

In my case I became a Warrior/Scholar who goes by the name of David Steling. He was an Imperial, Caucasian male, who loved fighting, but also who stop to read every book he encounters in his journeys. I became a person I would never be!  Some players take it a step further to make sure their characters have weaknesses and strengths so their game play would be challenging. Some players even focus on real life needs such as sleeping and eating. They create modifications to make their game more realistic. Immersive games such as Skyrim also creates strong communities of modders. These modders create new worlds and bring in more creative content into the game, weather it follows the concept or not. In Skyrim’s case there is a strong story, and side stories, but the player can explore and create their own stories which they could share online or to friends. Video games are a great story telling medium, but recently its been more about letting the players makes their own choices.