I recently arrived in Riften and was more or less "forced" to accept a quest that I'm guessing involves stealing or somthing. As my character is good I want to avoid stuff like this.. but I've noticed that there seem to be several quests in Skyrim that just gets forced upon you. By forced I mean that, you can't directly say no and avoid it, and it always ends up in your log.. and when I have quests in my log I feel like I have to do them..

Is there no way to avoid this? Considering how TES games are meant to be open and free, I think it's wierd how you can't say no to things like this.

This is by design, and I hate it so much. There's nothing you can do about it other than knowing in advance what to avoid. Some conversations can be ended by hitting Tab (or cancel or whatever if you're playing on consoles) but that still requires you knowing in advance what the conversation would lead to.

If you're on PC, there are a couple mods that let you avoid this.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/26359 - pretty much makes it so all the quests you get simply from hearing somebody talk about something aren't forced into your log now. You can still talk to them and get the quest, but it won't be forced upon you. Lots of times, you still get a map marker though.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/14157 - Now Brynjolf will only approach you if you actually are stealing to get all your money.

Thanks a lot! I am not sure I want a mod that "messes" with dialogue and quests as heavily as The Choice is Yours does, but the Thieves Guild Requirement sounds perfect, and there was also another mod by the same author recommended on that page that makes me able to sell that blasted unusual gem and getting rid of the thieves guild quest.