We Are Embarking on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Interesting business facts about the video game industry: As of 2011, the average age of a video game player in the United States is 37. Roughly 58 out of every 100 players are male and 42 out of every 100 players are female. Video games are larger than Hollywood in terms of revenue.
From a business standpoint, the average American spends 28 hours per week watching television, but the average serious video game player spends 21 to 22 hours per week playing games and only 6 hours per week watching television, meaning games are a replacement technology with people who prefer them devoting the same overall time to entertainment as their non-game playing counterparts, who are steadily going into the minority.
The environments in Elder Scrolls V Skyrim are beautiful.
My brother-in-law told me about the Elder Scrolls games, which I had never played. The new Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released on 11/11/11 and I had it pre-ordered for Playstation 3 back in September so it would show up on release day. Given the insanely great reviews for the series, it seemed like a good franchise to take on faith, just like we did with Fable II, Uncharted 2, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, etc. The critics don’t always get it right but game players normally do. In this case, both are thrilled with as near-perfect ratings as you can get.
So far, I’m really enjoying the game with the exception of the camera angles, which are frustrating compared to some of the other big franchises. I tend to prefer to play in third-person and the camera doesn’t swing back far enough from my player to give me any perspective or appreciation for the landscape. It feels like I have to fight the system. Plus, unlike Dragon Age, which allows you to have a quick switch radial dial that is ingenius, here all you have is a “favorites” menu, which is far less fluid and flexible. On a positive note, the quasi sphere-grid system reminiscent of Final Fantasy X looks promising.
The only challenge? The release of Skyrim could not come at a worse time. This is the busy season; the time of the year when my attention is completely and totally spoken for nearly every hour of the day. At the same time, I’m in the middle of the six-month project. I don’t have time to invest hundreds of hours in an immersive, enormous video game. But I’m going to find a way. I woke up and played for three hours this morning before going to work. That’s one of the benefits of controlling your own time and being the guy who signs the checks, I suppose. I need to get a lot done today, but I’m already thinking about turning the system back on, again.
Any of you playing it? What race and stats did you go with? I’m a high elf specializing in arcane magic, as usual.
Update: I did it! I built a mage who is Level 100 Conjuration, Level 100 Destruction, and Level 100 Enchantment thanks to a strategy involving the use of alchemy.
Reader Comments (2)
Comments are presented chronologically, with replies indented beneath the comments to which they respond.
Gilvus
November 12, 2011
Played Oblivion (Elder Scrolls IV) and loved it. One of my students told me he was going to "slay some orcs" after turning in his test yesterday, so I assume he meant "play Skyrim".
Trace
November 12, 2011
It never ceases to amaze me, generally it is the most intellectual of individuals who take up gaming. I think it is mostly due to the fact that there is an inherent challenge associated with a truly good game. These kinds of people love to see progress being made, especially in an RPG. When the game is challenging, the story line is compelling, the concept is intriguing, and the characters all have amazing depth it all comes together to provide a great experience that lasts for hours, days, and when it's really good, weeks.
You get a great sense of accomplishment when completing a difficult challenge. You also get mental stimulation and the most bang for your buck in terms of entertainment value (both in total time spent gaming and overall quality). It amazes me how often people overlook games as a source of entertainment.
I may be considered an avid gamer by most, but truth be told I haven't laid a hand on my gaming system or even looked at a television screen since January of this year, I've just been far too busy. I don't allocate time for personal entertainment as much as most people do. But, I do consider my work and research as fun so I don't feel like I'm depriving myself. This year however I've been primarily concerned with learning as much as I can and DOING as much as I can so I can utilize it to my benefit in the future. Consider it a form of investment.
It was only recently that I started looking into investing. I've been sheltered from finances and business all of my life (well...as far as I know) and nobody ever really mentioned the potential benefits of investing to me. I don't know anybody personally who has had any outstanding success in investing and so I have only observed people from afar who have been extremely successful, like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. I didn't know how they became wealthy or how they utilized the market but I was determined to find out how it worked. So, I looked into investing myself after I could find no one with experience to teach me.
I ended up stumbling upon your site at About.com and read through all of the articles that were posted for Investing for Beginners (or at least most of them). I also started reading your blog and I check it daily for new posts. Now, I fully understand the potential benefits that investing holds and I have a better understanding of how the whole system works. I've already made up some rough plans for starting investing and my main goal is to become financially independent so I can have the time and resources to do whatever I want in the future. I'm not exactly sure where to start because it's one thing to read about how to do something in theory but another thing entirely to put it into practice. I'm still only relatively new to the subject and have spent only about 1 1/2 months looking into investing in assets and the stock market.
I feel like I've learned a lot already, but I know there's still metric %$#! ton that I don't know, and that in itself is a little daunting. I find it difficult to do a ton of extra research right now because I'm bogged down with school work in all of my advanced classes : (
Otherwise I would be reading many more of your articles!
I want to thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me and the rest of people who visit your site and blog! It has greatly enlarged my perspective and has given me a great goal to shoot for. I sent another message to you through your mail bag and I certainly hope that it gets through to you eventually so that you can fully comprehend the extend of my thankfulness and admiration toward you and your writing.
I hope I didn't make too many grammatical errors...English isn't my best subject... : P
I look forward to the possibility of hearing from you directly and can't wait to read many more of your articles in the future. I hope your life and your imminent project go well!
Oh, and about your Skyrim fix... I think High Elves are overrated. Kahjitts all the way! Although I'm glad to see that you have an equal appreciation for magic.
... I am such a nerd... But who cares! : P