I've been enjoying my adventures in Skyrim since its release in 2011. I've made just about every character type imaginable and explored just about every nook and cranny of the map. Something about Skyrim speaks to me on a very deep level, just as the previous elder scrolls games have. However I've never really understood why Skyrim has made me feel so at ease while playing it. Yes it's a great piece of escapism, whisking me away to a rich fantasy world, but it's more than that. It's a lifestyle! It's my lifestyle.

The western world relies heavily on a goal orientated lifestyle. It's drilled in to us to achieve and compete. Work hard, buy a house, buy a car and be sure to out do your friends and family as you earn your way into a fulfilling life. There are many games that share this structure. They are normally linear, judge you based on how fast you can achieve the objectives placed out for you and really only offer you one ideal way to approach each task. Pretty much any linear FPS like COD for instance. The thing I love about a game like Far Cry 3 for example, is it just gives you its strongholds to tackle however you see fit and it's an extremely dynamic and interesting encounter every time. But I feel in the western world we are generally so directed.

I've always approached life in a different way, "going with the flow" you could say. It's not that original of a concept but it works for me. Forget the end goal, forget competition. Just pick a direction and as long as your not standing still, happiness will find you. In Skyrim, from the outset you can do this. There is no ultimate goal, there are no end credits. You just pick a direction and set out on an adventure. No matter which way you go you will find something fun to do, people to meet, ruins to explore and creatures to fight. If you run into an obstacle you cannot pass without pain and misery, a giant for example, you just pick a new direction and move on. I feel whenever we hit an obstacle in life, it's just life's way of telling you, you're heading towards something less than ideal. Perhaps it's not time for you to be going this way. The more you struggle against it, the more you fight the flow and the more pain and misery you introduce into your life.

I believe as long as you're enjoying what you are doing in the moment, you are following the right path, no matter what you are told by others. It doesn't mean you should always take the easy path, the challenging paths can be the most fun. My second favorite series of games are the Souls games for instance. Also laziness never really brings happiness either, you just kind of stand still, not really heading anywhere.

I'm sure everyone has their own view on how to approach life and it may or may not work for them, but Skyrim has been a great teacher for me and how I can live life happily. Perhaps now I can return to Ground Zeroes and just play it how I want to and let go of the outcome. Just as you can return to the giants in Skyrim and kick their butts once you've become stronger from your travels.

Now excuse me as I continue down my path of adventure and wonder.

I didn't know there are guns In Skryim. Is that a mod?

No that's Far Cry 3. I'm pretty sure there are mods for guns though.

EDIT:

There's this mod...

I feel like Minecraft and DayZ's popularity means people are looking for open ended gaming experiences. However with those games I do feel they've gone too far in the other direction where all the stories are created by the players. I still want to be told stories and meet interesting NPCs. For me Skyrim ticks all the checkboxes.

On a side note, after watching Jeff Green's last Dark Souls II stream archive, I felt as soon as Jeff stopped trying to brute force No Man's Wharf he started having a good time again and progressing. As soon as you stop beating your head against something, things start going well again. It's just so hard to stop yourself sometimes when you just want to get passed something.

You said "Western world" and then used Metal Gear Solid as an examp!e. MGS is Japanese.

You should play Dragon's Dogma. The NPCs suck, but I certainly appreciate the open nature of storytelling in games and I hope more games learn how to embrace it. I don't like games that just fill themselves up with content and lore though because lore tends to ruin immersion the way it's implemented. Everything should be about the gameplay loops, and how moments gleaned from them can be built up to form a picture or story.

To me, the best stories in Dragon's Dogma are when you leave the city gate, knowing the path ahead is long, the dark is treacherous and there's a whole world of monsters out there. The way the game gradually got me to push my boundaries further afield during my first play through made each successive journey feel like even more of an adventure than the last.