I've never really played any of the Elder Scrolls games, so I'm basically clueless when it comes to story, plot, the world, etc. Is there anything I need to know, or should know about the previous games before I go into Skyrim? Anything about the plot of those games, or the world? Even some general knowledge would be nice if anyone wants to enlighten me.

(Btw, I don't care if you spoil anything from the previous games. I probably wont get around to going back and playing them.)

Thanks!

Not really, the worst thing that will happens is that some people will refers to the "Oblivion Crisis" or something like that, or say "What in Oblivion is that!?".

That's a reference to Oblivion. If I'm not wrong, Skyrim takes place 200 years later or something like that in the future, and the Oblivion Crisis was when Oblivion Gates spawned in the region where Oblivion took place, and those gate took you to a hellish realm where demon-humanoids live. They tried to take over our realm.

That's it honestly, of course there's the rooster of race that you will encounter but the game will make you learn about them during your play time.

As Drakoji said, not really. Most of the lore in Oblivion came through books, and a little bit from conversation. In Morrowind it was both. I'm sure Skyrim will have a great amount of lore in it as well, but you won't need any preexisting knowledge.