I had a great "TES" moment this weekend. My daughter, who's now 13, has been playing Morrowind for a little while now, inspired by my obsession with Skyrim. She had a friend over to spend the night, and the two of them created characters for Skyrim and played for hours until I finally made them shut it down.

I'd forgotten--my son is 17 and played Oblivion constantly for years, so he's as "jaded" in some ways as I. It was great to see the "blown away" attitude in a couple of young-teens who've never experienced an Elder Scrolls game. They couldn't get over the freedom--"Where are we supposed to go?" "What are we supposed to do?" I told them to go where they wanted, and do what they wanted. After the uneasiness of freedom wore-off, the two had a really killer time playing this game.

I was reminded that, despite the many issues Bethesda still needs to address with games from a technical standing, the games still stand-out as really unique experiences to people who are "first-timers." To a couple of 7th-graders who's gaming experience was limited to Wii games and Pokemon on portable Nintendo devices, this game seemed like switching from a bike to a Ferrari.

It was nice to see that they'll remember Skyrim the way I remember my first encounter with TES!

Probably not quite the same.

Skyrim doesn't have the freedom of the 3rd dimension like Morrowind had.

Hopefully experiences like these will persuade more people to ask for these types of games, so that they become more poular with gamemakers too.
Its great to have TES, but Id love it if there was more like it.

It is different coming from playing games, where your character is defined for you and you are on a linear path on which to progress in the game, then coming to an Elder Scrolls game and the game is whatever you make it out to be. I feel less like I'm playing an interactive book and more like I am on an adventure across Skyrim, through my character.

I think that was it, Kaidan--I'm so used to the game that I'm highly critical. Seeing the girls' reaction was surprising--they really acted like they'd just discovered the coolest game ever.