We have jobs now in ES, which is fantastic however how about adding some tavern games and other activities like in Red Dead Redemption. Chess would be an obvious example of a game that would fit in with Skyrim's Nordic medieval fantasy theme, the game when you stab the knife between your fingers (forgot what it's called), Jousting, Archery competitions.

I'd love a fist fighting tournament, only a few brawls in the game and the opponents are all really weak and they aren't repeatable. Maybe drinking (that result in you actually getting drunk as in blurry vision) and arm wrestling competitions as well.

Perhaps a carnival could be added in a small DLC or just as a free update with a large range of activities like this.

It would not surprise me if tavern (cards, darts, dice) games were a tidbit with Hearthfire, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Jobs?

Woodchopping, Mining, Crop harvesting.

Oh.

Might be a nice addon, games weren't unusual in taverns [arm wrestling being the most common] and as long as they are lore-friendly, you have my bow.

Man this is a great idea. Ive been waiting to get tavern games or fighting/archery competition in TES. You now, stuff that makes you want to hang out in cities.

Hrm... with mounted combat a reality, jousting wouldn't be out of the question.

Now that is an idea

Exactly.

anything that adds more roleplaying factors to the game. I'm quite excited for hearthfire, I've had hundreds of hours of fetch this, kill that type quests. Jousting, card games, arm wrestling whatever. Any would be a nice change of pace when you are a bit bored of doing questlines. You could even play tournaments against CPU players for unique weapons and armor. That would be cool.

This! Possibly the best idea I've heard. (I'd buy it)

You're right as well - Red Dead Redemption did this perfectly. There must be some form of gambling in Skyrim (especially in corrupt places like Riften!).
I personally think this would fit well with the theme and bring a new feeling to the game - one where activites really are happening around you.

So far we have Tag with children (roleplay/diversion), Brawling (competition for money), bar regulars drinking and dancing, bards singing.
It would be great to have a few tables where games are played. Just something simple. Something that would fit in Skyrim (not going down major casino routes here).

Actually this might be the one thing missing from this RPG - diversions and minigames. Everything there is to do in Skyrim is confined to missions.
Yes you can explore/make money/set your own goals etc, but to have something as simple as this would be brilliant!

On the RDR minigames I found myself playing (and enjoying) dead man's dice and poker more than many of the main missions...

This would be cool. Oblivion had the "Race to get X's diary" to get into the theives guild. Skyrim needs this!

-HK

It wouldn't seem that fun to me seeing how its quite boring in most games e.g. F:NV, Fable 2 and GTA IV.

Plus everyone would be like millionaires in a day or two.

Absolutely... especially once you're "established"... this is why I said that it's quite a possibility as a tidbit with HF. I'd be happy with simple cards (something poker or blackjack style would be perfect) or dice (craps or matching, sort of dice poker, or yahtzee like). Darts would be really nice for archers who need money, and pickpocket could influence/allow cheating at cards/dice.

BUT, I would really have to give the nod to less/no mini-game additions until one mini-game can be circumvented, lock-picking. It's an overlook it/immersion breaker for a LOT of mage and warrior players. Open locks spell could EASILY be accomodated in the MG simply be holding the cast until the lock opens. More difficult locks, more cast time, a la healing. Warrior-types could bash or pry, but risk destroying what's inside (potions 90% breakage, gold 0% breakage). The spell would be less coding, I'm sure, the breakage lockage would be quite a bit more.

Pub games were the best part of Fable 2 especially since the main quest only takes 6 hours to beat. They could have betting limits anyways, don't you think it's easy enough to make money once you are high level and have perks in speech, selling a 2000 gold ebony weapon that you picked up off high level bandits or draugh doesn't make you poor.

I like drinking game and fight club, maybe a bandit town?

I actually didn't like Fable II's mini-games that much compared to the previous games. Fable: TLC's were awesome though. I spent ages playing coin toss and match the cards, lost a good deal of money as well. I thoroughly enjoyed playing the mini-games in RDD though, particularly the one with the horseshoes.

And yeah money is really easy to make anyway and there's nothing to spend it on once you reach a certain amount, so I don't think that's much of a reason for not including gambling or competitions.

I think it's a good idea. I really didn't like some of the games in the Fable series. I loved the games in RDR and RP'd a gentleman gambler ( used my husbands finished game). Then again I did all the mini-games he needed for acheivments, plus treasure hunting and most of the flower picking. Same with AC, I did all the mini-games for him and went around looking for the glyphs, flags, feathers etc.

If the games ( gambling) are lore friendly, it would be a great addition for RP purposes.

I can't speak for GTA4's system as I haven't found the gambling yet, but New Vegas' form of gambling only got so "mandatory money pinata" because it was influenced by your Luck score. While having 10 Luck and winning every hand if I wasn't foolish made it seem like Luck was a real thing rather than just a bonus to my stats and crit chance, being able to clean out all five casinos in the Mojave in 30 minutes by recognizing the auto-win patterns you're being fed does lead to a rather forgettable experience.

Skyrim no longer has a Luck statistic, and thus they could approach gambling without having to accomodate for people who literally put time, effort, and point positioning into being "The Most Luckiest Motherlover In Tamriel."