These are some personal rules of mine which make TES games a deeply satisfying experience. They are tailored to my own preferences.

What rules will you follow when playing Skyrim?

1. Be in-character at all times. Always act in harmony with your character's personality.
2. Keep a journal. I'll be keeping a spiral notebook next to me to take notes, and I'll flesh out journal entries later on a blog. These will be brief records of my character's thought life.
3. Step away from the game every 30 minutes. Just a short break to get a drink, check the laundry, etc. This helps reduce the effect of hedonic adaptation, where the brain's response to pleasant stimuli weakens during prolonged exposure. Regularly pausing the game to take a 45-second or 2-minute break may increase your long-term enjoyment of the game.
4. Be like a bee. "Hover" around each area and extract the most enjoyment from it before moving on. Instead of flying from town to town trying to experience everything in a shallow way, leave an area only when you feel nostalgic about leaving.
5. Savor the process. Do everything for its own sake. When you have to travel for a quest, savor the traveling. When you have to collect flowers for a potion, savor the collecting. Never do anything merely as a means to an end. (In that spirit, no fast travel in 9 out of 10 circumstances.)
6. Slow down. Frodo's journey took months, and his part in the quest lasted years. Alduin doesn't need to be defeated in a matter of in-game days or even weeks. Fantasy adventures take time and unravel slowly. Guild leaders don't ascend to the top in 2 weeks, they spend months in a local guild hall before they even dream of moving up in the ranks.
7. Give your character interests and hobbies. Stargaze, collect books, cook, brew potions, people-watch, hunt, swim, pray at the chapel, practice archery, etc.
8. Dead is dead. ("Divine intervention" may be considered in special circumstances - i.e., the game locking up.)

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1250685-this-is-how-i-plan-on-playing-skyrim/

Yep! This is how I plan on spending my three day weekend! So stoked...

Rules for enjoying Skyrim:

№1: Enjoy Skyrim.

The end.

I have one rule to enjoy playing Skyrim:
As much and often as possible without interfering with my other obligations.

I don't want my enjoyment ruined by that nagging feeling I should be doing something more productive.

Nice! I like the idea of turning off the compass and not using the map. I will try that if it's an option on the 360.

the real rules for enjoying skyrim number only 2 .

1: Make sure you have snacks available

2: Energy drinks.

I have no rules for the game, besides play as I would act in RL... minus the whole magic and charging into battle.

First rule of Skyrim, we don't talk about Skyrim... wait a sec

These are the biggies for me...dont wanna rush through the game but feel like i am a part of the world not some fast travelling, fast promoted in a rush to see as mush as possible as quickly aspossible character

Nice points! I probably won't do them all since I'm not really a roleplaying type of person. Though I'm probably gonna follow some of your points. Keeping notes can be a good thing if you have too many quests, instead of fast traveling I'd rather enjoy the walk/ride, if I see a place that looks absolutely amazing I'll take a stop and spam F12 and lastly taking my time with the game, I see no reason to rush such a beautiful game. ^^

No.1 Avoid Cheats/Exploits

No.2 Hardest Difficulty.

No.3 Be Patient. Take time to enjoy the world, don't bounce from goal to goal.

That's about it. I try to do the "dead is dead" thing (Adding an additional layer threat) but I usually wind up dying from a fall or blowing myself up (Fallout) around the 60+HR mark and don't feel like restarting.

I think the OP did not acutally mean "how to enjoy Skyrim", but how to add more to the experience, IHO. Kinda like some of the self-made rpg rules that we like to share with others and gather feedback. E.g., my archer is very frail and she never carried more than 30 arrows in her 'quiver', nor did she carry the Strength * 5 in weight (a fragile lady?), so I carried only her str or 2x that in weight allowance.

I actually don't believe people, or should I say most people, who claim to play dead is dead.

Are you really saying that after building up a character for maybe 50 hours, a slight mishap in a dungeon would mean you would start again. Its frankly inconceivable that you could survive all dragon fights by winning at the first attempt.

do what you want but for me these arbitrary rules get in the way of having fun. Just do what feels fun for you and not ever have to think " O damn I broke one of my silly rules, now I have to delete a character, throw salt over my shoulder, and make a sacrificial offering to the gods."

I think the "dead is dead" thing only makes me enjoy certain games more. Actually just one, diablo 2 hardcoe. When its online its a competition, and I think that's the only reason I liked it. I enjoy a challenge, and if I never die it wasn't a challenging game.

Op, mine are similar.

but, not likely to be stepping away every 30mins. 30mins of a favorite game you have been waiting for, goes by in seconds. Minutes turn into seconds, and hours feel like minutes.

Yes to 5, 6 & 7. I don't think so for the rest...

My main rule for Skyrim is: Accept the consequences. The only times I plan on reloading a save are when I die or the game crashes/bugs up. If I get arrested, or fail a quest, I won't reload saves.

I might decide to be a secret Skooma addict, as well. We'll see.

Yes, to all of those.

Great post!
Having played Morrowind many many years ago during the initial MMO era, i didnt play it much and gave it to a friend.
This year I played Oblivion for the first time and enjoyed it.
However, I was still trying to find the secret to enjoying these single player games after so many years of multiplayer satuation.
Definately, will take your advice....

I'll dabble in RPing, but I don't like getting too caught up in my characters life. The same way i'll pick my first character - i'll choose what looks cool and feels right.

this for me too... i like the feeling of not having to keep up with "guildies" and level like crazy, or try to have the elitist build/items.


just having the time to slow down and really sink into my roll. TES is one amazing series.

I can only imagine as time goes by how the series will be.

Zach's Rules for Enjoying Skyrim: Do whatever the f*** you want.

I'm just going to play it, but in character of course and I will take breaks a lot.