Yeah, I realized I enjoy Mage characters while I hate mages..hard to explain but I love playing mages when I'm not fighting mages

I do a few things differently.

* I use horses now. I never used horses in Oblivion because I was always trying to level up my Athletics. I missed out completely on horses in that game. I feel I have more freedom to roleplay in Skyrim (choosing whether or not ride horses based on character preference) and not just chase skill and attribute gains, which is not roleplaying to me.

* I talk to NPCs for the first time. I never felt that many NPCs had much personality in either Morrowind or Oblivion. NPCs in Skyrim have dialog that actually tells you something about them, that refers to this farm, this field, not generic pvssyr about Mudcrabs or generic rumors. They also have families now. This makes them feel a bit more "real" to me. Hearing an argument between brother and sister or husband and wife makes me feel more emotionally attached to them. I want to talk to Skyrim NPCs to find out who they are.

Aside from those two things my roleplying is pretty similar to my roleplaying in past games.

I'm starting to use trainers more and powerlevel less, and have no intent to become an all-powerful jack of all trades. Not that I can because of limited perks. I'm also more attached to the vanilla game more than Oblivion's, which was just asking to be modded.

Great question MK-OmegaX. Yes like you am constantly switching armors and clothing because everything is so great and useful. I also find myself using the bow and arrows something i never did in past Elder Scrolls rpgs eventhough the way they worked in Daggerfall was great but my character preferred melee back then.

I find myself always talking to npcs to the point where i have to force myself to stop otherwise i would never get to do some other favorite things like dungeon exploring. First rpg i may have played where talking to npcs is as exciting as the combat and other activities.

In Skyrim i buy food on a regular basis and eat meals on a regular schedule. Something i didnt do in the past because there was either not enough variety or the food felt too alien. Daggerfall was nice though going to taverns afer days on the road and eating some yummy stew and warm mead.

Am really starting to get into hunting either by improving my bow skills or using long range destruction magic. Really didnt get into hunting in past games because the bow just felt too weak to get the job done. Now its just a matter of improving in a timely manner without taking away from my melee skills. In Morrowind it was just too dangerous not to train my melee just to be able to hunt with a bow.

i started putting buckets on people's head. Until i found out that there were no 21st century style toilets.

Yucky! Considering where most of those buckets are located i thought things would clearlyyyy explain themselves. brrrrr..

Nope.
Although that said we are if anything even more laissez-faire about it than we were in Oblivion, although that's because we're not there for the main course - (heck, we don't even know what it is) - we're just there for the horses dervres and to filch the cheese and pineapple off the buffet trolley...

[edited - because "filch" is a more pleasing word than "nick"]

Well i gained one actually. It breaks my RP because im a slayer/assassin i keep using alchemy tables GAH!!!!!

Having a follower with archery skill is wonderful. Especially because I have no talent for bows.

Also finding Skyrim gameplay quite natural. I used to try to optimize levels; now things are less tedious. The added realism with NPCs is also enjoyable.

Do Landmarks, distant Lod catch your eye more often? or give you reason to explore it? remember in Morrowind you couldn't see more than 15 feet infront of you () and Oblivion's Lod was just trees and Mountains. now that things are a tad more discernable does this effect your exploration? what do you like more? above or below ground?

pretty much just this for me however i do over-hear ALOT more now than ever before that sends me on my travels around the world to see if i can find what there on about...9/10 its there quite remarkable really and a really awesome feature.

so in actual fact i explore alot more than ever before, so probably actually do more.

I'm always changing habits. They vary with every new character I make....sometimes a little bit, sometimes a lot.

I'd be here all day if I were to make a list of differences. Y'all get the point.
.

You could only see 15 feet in front of you but it seemed like a mile (plus, I suffer from a bad case of nostalgia). Skyrim reminds me more of Morrowind because there are more open spaces and cave, hideout, and ruin entries are more visible than in Oblivion. I like exploring above and below ground equally... so I think raiding forts that have been overrun by bandits end up being my favorite thing to do... also because it's more enjoyable slaying human-like creatures because they scream and yelp in pain... and you're more likely to get a wonderful beheading killcam.

I find myself stopping in towns a little more to watch people going about their daily business and to listen to their chat. It feels more like a more dynamic place that the cities in Oblivion / MW. I played some Oblivion yesterday and after about five minutes felt like shouitng - THE NEXT PERSON WHO MENTIONS KVATCH WILL GET A PERFECT AMBER SWORD WHERE THE SUN DOESN'T SHINE......

I also travel on horseback far more than I did in Oblivion and find myself not needing to spend 20 minutes randomly jumping off walls to level up my acrobatics skill. Not something I miss. Other than that it's the same exploring and hoarding it's always been.