Can't they be a bit more creative with the intros?

Apparently not.

I don't know, it's just what Bethesda does I guess. You rise from the lowest station (A prisoner) to savior of the world.

There's also some talk that, lorewise, many of the player character's aren't 'real' people, but in fact 'created' by divine powers to be the hero that the world needs at a given moment, so I guess that translates well to plopping these 'created people' down into a random prison cell, where they need to background or relationships. (This theory doesn't make sense for the Nerevarine, but I have heard it bandied about anyways so take what you will.)

Kinda agree with Ravenius. You're more of a husk for the gods in a sense. When the time comes you are awoken in a sense.

IDK.. lol. That did kinda bug me but it's Bethesda's "thing" so w/e. Doesn't bug me that much. I like Skyrim's beginning.

its a connection point for all the games

It's what bethesda does and they always take a fresh take on it, i cant really compare oblivion to skyrim as far as the introductions go...

I tend to think of it more as a tradition in TES, but that doesn't mean traditions can't be broken.

IIRC someone said pre release, that the whole "begin as a prisoner" thing was that it made it a whole lot easier on the player to create his/her own back story...a clean slate if you will. Starting as a prisoner does that job pretty good.

It's become something of a tradition, and it's a good way to start the game.
Although, in Oblivion I have an 'alternative start' mod because the prison tutorial gets very tedious ... if I had a PC, I'd do the same for Skyrim.

Daggerfall was the only one where you weren't a prisoner...you were shipwrecked in a dungeon that had no real theme (bats and imps at the beginning, then bandits. undead in the throne room, with orcs right next door. A random-ass bear that bum-rushes you while fighting an equally random bandit archer. a room with another random bear...)

It's a theme, even if it is annoying from a Roleplay perspective. (Skyrim made it easier as you were clearly crossing the Skyrim-Cyrodiil border, so just come up with a reason why. Morrowind and Oblivion, not so much...)

Easiest way to introduce you to the game without too much effort or possibly hurting roleplaying. In my opinion, aside from a quick background and character creation, who really cares what the intro is in a open world game.

I hated Oblivion's intro because it took so long. Skyrim's isn't so bad because you can just walk away and make a sandwich during the automated part, and then sprint through the rest of the 'dungeon' pretty quickly. Oblivion made you walk beside the slow-ass Emperor and his guards while they paused now and again for dramatic effect, so when all you wanted to do was sink your teeth into a new character they kept you on a leash for way too long.

Morrowind of course had the best intro because all you did was walk to the building, tell the guy your class, and you're free to leave. Though, they could've improved it by just having you arrive by ship, and when you get Socucis Ergalla you can pick one of several options as to why you're on this ship in Vvardenfell including being a prisoner, but also something like being a Dunmer interested in getting in touch with his historical roots, or an Imperial looking to join the legion, or just someone trying to avoid debt troubles and start new. But at least Morrowind's intro is generic enough that you can roleplay that you got 'picked up' on trumped up charges, and think of whatever backstory you want. Same with Skyrim, though you're a bit limited because your character is coming from Cyrodiil. Oblivion more than any other game makes me feel that your character was just 'created' and then placed in that cell by Talos or some other entity to help save Tamriel. How else do you explain being in a blacked out cell on the day the Emperor needs to use its passageway to escape?

I actually just found out about hadvar so i gues taht makes it a bit more newish for me eventhough it's essentially the same thing...

Even Fallout starts you out as a prisoner of sorts.

Um... how do you figure?

You're 'imprisoned' in the Vault, under the rule of a tyrannical 'warden', or 'director' or whatever he was called. So in some ways yeah, it's reminiscent of a prison. Your life is highly regimented, controlled, and exists at the pleasure of the Vault's leader. You aren't allowed to leave on your own free will, you have to escape in order to go out into the world.

Probably because the outside world is an apocalyptic wasteland...

The circumstances don't matter, you're still a prisoner in the Vault.

The games (apart from 1) always start with your ID being prisoner because it's now a tradition and almost a trademark of the ES series. It's ridiculous to imply that Bethesda hasn't changed this element because of laziness or lack of originality. I'd be wondering what was going on if any new TES game had me starting as anything but a prisoner.

It is a tradition.

Arena - Started in Imperial Jail.
Daggerfall - Started in a dungeon that actually had "Prison" in its name, if my memory is correct."
Morrowind - Jail Boat.
Oblivion - Imperial Jail
Skyrim - Execution.

They've done it since Arena it's a tradition. The Best Techniques Are Passed On By The Survivor's. off topic but i downloaded Arena off the official Elder Scrolls site and it's pretty tight

ergo they've done it since Arena and they won't stop lol.

[sarcasm]Yeah, I would like to start game as innkeeper. Or High King.[/sarcasm]

Go live in Megaton and kill Mr. Burke and you'll be fine lol.

every TES game, even Arena, pretty solid game, your a prisoner. It's a Bethesda TES thing i guess, a tradition, like festivus. why change something if it's not broken?

Actually, I think Todd mentioned why they did it as so.

If I am correct, Todd explained that they want the player to begin as a prisoner cause of RP reasons. His examples were like, "If I am a bad guy then I wouldn't be surprise being a prisoner but if I was a good guy then something must've happened that put me here, like getting blamed for something to do." Todd also said that doing this allows the player to pretty much create their own history for each character cause anything can happen before you were put in jail. Who knows!

Privateer's Hold. I don't know what a privateer is, but the first thing I think of is pirate...