My latest character, who NEVER fast travels or uses carriages, has logged 88 hours, visited 316 locations and cleared 170 dungeons according to the stats. He didn't join any guilds, and is very early on the main quest, but did pretty much everything else. I can't see him ever going over 100 hours, so how do some folks manage 200 or even 300 hours with the same character?

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

We do a lot of pointless stuff. Like sleeping every night, eating two or three meals a day, going to the rivers to bathe, chopping wood or working other "jobs". Basically we role play, so we do more then just quest and adventure. I've spent time just sitting in a camp at night staring at a fire after just eating. Call me brain dead, but I enjoy taking my time with stuff, and it also makes the game feel more alive.

You people? YOU PEOPLE?!

Just kidding. Anyways, a lot of people like to RP and just explore.

Not sure. I have 220+ and still have not done all the thieves guild or any Dark Brother Hood. I still am amazed because I stumble across new locations all the time. I just found another one of the dragon priests last night and got his mask and am still missing one. Maybe I just lolly gag around a bit or double back to places just to see them again. Not sure what the difference is.

It sounds to me like you've focused more on "doing stuff" than simply existing within the world of Skyrim. For example, I hunt and swim and mine ore and generally wander the landscape exploring. It will often come across a cave and just keep on going past it. I know where it is on the map and when my character is ready I will explore it, but usually I just keep on going. So, for me, accomplishing quests is really secondary to my main reason for playing Skyrim, and that is just to explore this vast world and see what I can do. My character is a level 45 thief/smith and I've put in over 100 hours. I've barely done any of the MQ and I like to focus on the side quest stuff, but primarily my character is about exploring, smithing and pickpocketing. I've played for more than 100 hours and I haven't seen ever town, let alone every area in this huge game. There is a lot to do, and I like taking my time to do it.

I've got 210hrs on my current character who's only in the thieves guild (and not even a nightingale yet) :/

I can't explain it???? I just go with the flow, what ever happens, happens, what ever doesn't, doesn't. And by the time I get around to looken at what I have done,gone,seen,cleared I have over 100 hr easy. My longest running one is my first guy, je's clocked something like 180-190hr and still has not done a whole lot or gone exploring very much.

People also don't play at the same speed as everyone. I'm sort of a slow player, always look at everything, move carefully when "nervous" ect. Then there's also ways to prolong the game, like traveling to and fro to get loot to a merchant ect. Some people do everything with one character, others do different quests with different characters. And so on.

LMAO! too funny.

It took me 91 hours to complete every faction questline, all Xbox360 achievements, a bunch of side quests and locations on my first character with fast travel etc. I started a new character today. I'm taking this one much slower. I'm 4 hours in and haven't ventured outside Riverwood yet (I was leaving Whiterun at this point last time). I have to say I am enjoying my new character more than my first already. I can see myself reaching near 200 hours on this character . Just take it slow and don't use fast travel.

It's not that difficult, juts stop having a life

No idea. I don't think I've spent more than 60 hours on any particular character, and that's on Master where fights/dungeons take longer than normal.

I.... I just can't understand this type of roleplaying.
I mean, it's like forcing Sims mechanics onto the roleplay.
I love the Sims, but I could never force myself to "imagine" that my character is peeing in a toilet in Fallout New Vegas.
And if I ate something while roleplaying I saw for like 2 seconds then just moved on.
I could never spend more than 5 seconds doing bugger all.

Not saying that what you're doing is a bad thing.
I'm saying I can't understand how it's done and how it can be fun. (I can enjoy looking at a waterfall, but once I've acknowledged that it is a waterfall and that it's pretty which takes 1 to 3 seconds then I move on. No point in staring at something that serves no purpose for me)

True that!! But I'm a stay at home dad so I tend to have more free time then most.I can't turn it on to do the math(kiddies are up) but I have around 540hr clocked in on 4 different characters. I also play as a Khajiit most times, and like any cat I tend to chase bugs or look at shiny things and love to chase bunnies!!! Which usually lands me into trouble.

I really wouldn't worry about what other people are doing if you are having fun yourself. It doesn't look like you are missing much. I've retired seven characters so far and I've had about 50 hours on each one. Note on none of them did I ever try to 'do it all'. I role-play too much to make that even feasable.

Guess I'm just slow ... Also, my characters are more than willing to leave the path if they see a flower or mining node.

247 to be exact, level 57 (because idc to level up destruction on a warrior char), visited all locations, cleared all clearable places, completed almost all quests and factions (excluding those 100 skill related for skills I didn't level up), found all masks and bugs in jars. I guess I just didn't rush much.

I haven`t managed 300 hours, but I don`t try to take a zillion hours. I just take my time. I sometimes mine or chop wood. I creep about dungeons, I creep when I see something weird while travelling the land. I take my time deciding what I need to do if no rush, etc. Heck, I`ll sometimes just sit in the chair in the Tavern and eat my REAL dinner while watching TV, then get back to the game (of course it helps with slowing time down to lengthen the ingame day).

Point is, even now I have no idea how many hours I`ve been on the game, I know it`s a lot, but that`s all.

Yeah, "You people" is an inflammatory statement.

It's understandable, some people just don't enjoy that type of thing. It's not like ill spend half an hour looking at a camp fire, but I will go back to camp, eat and take in the moment for a few seconds before doing other things. I guess taking care of my mother with cancer has just left a lot of time on my hands *Shrugs* I actually go as to talk to my companion, and imagine what it is they would say back. I've had quite a few interesting conversations with myself

Remembering to take your Ritalin for your ADHD seems to help.

I live for the combat. I've always been a tank. But now am pretty much mostly Mage with high sneek. I like to see how many I can sneek up on and take out with a dagger. I also really get involved in doing things, like ranking up a skill, or hookin the wife up with killer weapons. I also like doing the little side quests. This is my 5th Char. I like to experiment with things I've never done.

Considering the snail's pace I play at and the time I spend doing absolutely nothing sometimes racks up the hours fast. I haven't yet gotten that many hours on one character, but pushing close between two. Neither are close to their retirement and I'm still having fun..... so yeah, count me in.

I'm kind of wondering how you can "finish" with a character in under 200 hours.

I think I have between 100 and 200 hours with my current mage character (my second character, and I'm not done with the first), and that mage has has only done a fraction of what I intend for her to do.

Similar to Oblivion by the way.

Part if it, might be very limited (almost no) fast travel.