there was these two nobles just going to the wedding in solitude escorted by a body guard. i stood there on the road watching them walk away when i pulled up my bow and insta-killed the bodyguard. then i shot the woman and started to chase the guy. then an old orc power bashed the guy and he just crumpled.

i wasn't angry at them, i didn't want any of their loot. i just sort of killed them.

I don't recall killing without thought in Skyrim besides the battles I start by saving, assaulting a citizen, then killing everyone and loading.
I killed without thought in Oblivion though, since guards were pieces of crap coated in metal.

Hope you don't live in my neighborhood.

My first character did this all the time. Killed every person she saw in the wilderness, and plotted to kill most in towns ect lol

Not just because they`re just walking down a road. That`s kind of psychotic.

Better in game than real life, at least. If you must.

Still makes me worry about some of you.

Yep. I remorselessly kill Bandits, Necromancers, Foresworn and Thalmor agents without forethought all the time.

never, in an ideal RPG you should be punished for just killing without thinking, important people should be able to die and it should be able to come back and bite you on the ass (although unimportant people are plentiful, to give any thoughtful murderers some people to kill)

Never without thought. In a roleplaying perspective, my character is a trained assassin with discipline and cunning, not some urban street bandit. Yeah, if he's desperate, he'll probably kill some hunter and eat his food but even that's a stretch. I don't kill any friendly.

They bring it on themselves. Way I see it, if they didn't want to get killed for no reason, they shouldn't have been out walking the roads at night. Or during the day. Or within viewing distance of me.

In my view there`s always an equal and opposite reaction to what you do. It`s how it works in real life (even when you think you got away with it).

So in game, ultimately there should be a real cost to murdering people willy nilly, even if you get so powerful that half a city can`t stop you. Something should happen like one of the nicer gods intervenes at your madness and zaps several levels off your level or even kills you.

But that would be `no fun`, eh, kids?

yes.

oh, in the game? no. skyrims population is much smaller than a real life country, people are more expendable irl but if you kill all the merchants in skyrim youre screwed.

also, it seems like the people i would want to kill are all essential

I mistook a hunter for a bandit once, saw him pointing a bow in my general direction and blasted him to smithereens before I realized he was actually aiming at a deer.

That's why I'm thankful that this is an action-oriented game with a smidgen of RPG elements inside. Otherwise I would be a little more cautious about who I plant my axe into.

I shot a nobleman off his horse with my bow from a distance and then stayed hidden until his guard gave up looking. Then I snuck down and looted him keeping his horse between myself and the guard. Didn't even get a bounty. That was on my thief/assassin character so obviously his lack of morals allow for such things.

I don't usually just kill people for lulz, but I do slaughter random innocents if they're mean (lookin at you Nazeem), and I have killed several hunters for their horses and travelling noble's for their loot. Usually I let people be unless they have something I want, if I feel like killing I just pick up a random quest.

i try to play every RPG as if it was an ideal one if at all possible, but i could kill off every single NPC that can die and nothing bad would come from it, bit sad actually

I once killed Valdr outta pure randomness. Made me mad though cause then his quest got glitched in my log and his body sank like quicksand!!! (IE. couldn't get his dagger..)

Other then that? Those random people that always say "Run back to your mother milkdrinker" or something like that... I hate that. That's just giving me a valid excuse (and legal by the laws) to kill you.

I find that fun.., getting away with murder.

EDIT: Typos.

Actually, in a proper rpg, there`s no reason why you can`t do all the bad things you want to do like real life- If you`re really smart, like Garrison64 in his example.

The problem is in games like Skyrim, there`s no real cost for what you do, you can run around and kill and you`ll get a bit of a bounty, maybe. Neither should anyone, no matter how powerful he is, be able to kill entire cities or half of one without getting a bucketful of woe down on him. And I mean woe that gets heard about elsewhere.

Even if he escapes, every other city around abouts should soon hear of him and close their doors to him whenever he approaches. See how long the Player lasts with no shop to buy from and no Inns to rest at. He`d be reloading and playing good boy pretty fast.

Do it right and you`ll still get by, but you won`t be doing any massacres of innocent people unless you have a death wish- Like reality.

Those nobles are placed in game for one sole purpose, to let the dragonborn practise been a bandit.

That's commendable, but unfortunately this game leaves very little room for a different resolution to a confrontation besides resorting to armed conflict. If there was, then I'd defiantly place Skyrim within the RPG genera.

that is sadly true but i still try to work around the many flaws as best i can

I do this all the time, as long as I'm not going to get a bounty for it I will kill anybody I see, exept mi'aq the liar, my one true friend in skyrim

I often kill off those Nobles on their horses for no reason. I usually don't even loot them. It's just something to do lol.

I'm a Dark Brotherhood assasin, I kill without thinking so I can make the Night Mother happy.

I only kill people for three reasons: They attacked me first, they have something I want, or Im hungry (human flesh is delicious)