New member of the Bethesda community (hi!), player of Oblivion and Skyrim, and a current student heading to the game industry. After playing Skyrim (still playing) I thought I might share my thoughts that you guys might enjoy and wish to discuss.

First, racism in Skyrim.

No, I am not meaning to hold the racism of the story in a bad light or try to link it to the real world. I am speaking of gameplay and mechanics in relation to the story.

I have two Dark Elf characters (and a High Elf), and we all know the reception Dark Elves get when stepping into Windhelm. I find, and these are my views mind you, that the racism within the context of the story doesn't match the gameplay. It somewhat actually pulls me out of the story and makes me lose my connection to the character when I can, as a Dark Elf, walk into the Windhelm Inn, get somewhat insulted but then pay the meager 10 gold for a room. In my opinion, perhaps leaning more towards wanting to add more immersion with a bit less concern on gameplay balance/fairness, that the racism of the story should play a more prominent role in the gameplay, i.e. a Dark Elf in Windhelm should be charged higher prices because the people of Windhelm don't want them there. I'm not saying actively have citizens of the city attack you (although that would be very fitting if your bounty was high enough), but a restriction on quests, or bonus to quests, shop prices, what have you could be affected by the race you choose within a story like this.

Second, depth in gameplay.

Here are some things I wish could have been included in Skyrim or perhaps the next TES game:

Choose a past for your character, allow the player to construct a story for their character that may lend some bonuses at creation. For example, if you choose Riften as your hometown you may get a small bonus to Speechcraft or Pickpocketing.

Be able to equip pretty much anything (earrings, cloaks, etc), I was kind of disappointed that you can only equip one ring in Skyrim. I was a bit more disappointed when they hadn't added things like cloaks that could be put over your armor, earrings for additional bonuses, etc.

Have your achievements in-game become better known in-game (i.e. in Skyrim you become the Listener in the DB, then join the Thieves' Guild and be able to bypass the low end quests), this part really bugs me and really does a good job of pulling me out of the story and severing the connection with my character, especially since in Skyrim the Thieves' Guild and The Dark Brotherhood have ties to each other. It doesn't make a lot of sense to become the highest rank in The Dark Brotherhood and then have everyone in the Thieves' Guild talk to you like you are some whelp. I know this has happened in the past but I thought it would have changed in Skyrim.

More customized gear (Magelight on weapons, color schemes, etc), just seems like there should have been, or should be in the future, a mechanic that allows you to colorize your gear, or to allow you to pick from a few different designs of gear when crafting.

Thoughts?

Nothing?

Perhaps the racism is more perception than reality

Perhaps. Though with the slums in Windhelm, things like higher prices might fit very well.

I would love cloak. They would look awesomely sixy on armor. Like as you move it moves around on your armor like a real cloak would. Cape could be added too. Nightingale is only thing with a cape like cloak thing. Also idk whats up with one ring and necklace. It should be 2 necklaces and 2 rings on each fingers. Wouldnt hurt to have a haircut place for different hair styles for gold and war paint places were we could make our own war paint? Cus that would he amazing to be able to make your own war paint (concel version no mods).

I personally would have liked to have seen, for jewelry:

Earring
Necklace
Brooch/Pin
At least one ring for each hand
Bracelet

I think it would have been quite cool to have been able to enchant a cloak (I'm reading D&D books so it's inspiring me). I do like the idea of a "barber/salon" place.

Get over it. What you perceive is not the message they are trying to send to the rest of the world.

Great input, truly great.

What an imbicel. Have nothing to contribute to the discussion? Then you can kindly gtfo.

While the increased racism would be more realistic, in this Politically Correct day, it's not going to happen. There would be too many cries of concern about it.

The most you'll see is what you've seen. I harken back to the beginning of Oblivion in the jail cell and the dark elf across the hallway. That's probably the most you'll see/hear.

You have complaints about religion in the game (that it's too much anti-this, or anti-that); that one side of the War is racist; that it's too hard to play a vegan character, etc., etc., etc. . In Rift, I remember people were complaining (at seemingly PETA levels) about killing cats to get cat tears for collections.

As much as some of us view games as a means to get away from everyday life and it's utter insanity, you have too many others that would complain if things were too realistic, or crossed some line - video game or not.

Uldred

Oh I wasn't aware the forum rules stated only constructive criticism, thanks, you must be a Moderator yeah?

Oh wait, I didn't think so.

Unfortunately you have a point, a point I truly dislike in terms of me heading into game design myself.

Thoughts on my other ideas?

I've seen another thread similar to this, but about how Khajiit aren't allowed in the cities but you as a Khajiit can come and go as you please. I think it would be really interesting to have some questlines open to only some races and genders, as well as interacting with people differently. I think the interaction bit might be a tad far off as you would need a lot more dialog and that means a lot more voice work and more memory and money. But closing certain quests to certain races and genders would be extremely simple and require minimal extra dialog.

I doubt there would be great outcry against fantasy characters directing fantasy prejudice at fantasy races in a fantasy setting. Morrowind wasn't released that long ago and it dealt with racism and slavery. It was never a big issue, and it didn't prevent the game from getting saturated in GOTY accolades.

The bigger problems are:

a) Every bit of dialogue that differs from the default requires not only the extra writing but extra voice acting. If you're going to have dialogue that's specifically tailored to a certain race, it forces Bethesda to get all those extra lines out of their voice actors. This is why dialogue is basically the same no matter what kind of character you're playing, and why the choices for dialogue and the alternative paths you can take in quests have been so limited since Oblivion. It's all restricted by the voice acting.

b) Bethesda's philosophy in recent years has been to limit no one. Let every player be able to accomplish anything possible with no restrictions. You can join any guild even if you don't have the required skills, for instance. Limiting a certain race or making things more difficult for a certain race doesn't jive with this philosophy. Remember, there are players who only play one race. You have players who won't play anything except a Dunmer. Bethesda fears that those players won't like it if their character has to pay for a room at an inn than others. :\

I wanted to play a khajit character simply for their being a sort of outcast race. I mean the NPC caravans are not even allowed in cities. My character though.... no one even notices I am cat.

It was disappointing from an RP perspective. They definitely should have done more with the actual race interactions. Outside of a few random dialog lines, the game doesn't really recognize your race whatsoever. I figured the Alikr warriors would have said something to my redguard female, but nope..... didn't even question me as a redguard woman.

Dont have to be a mod to tell you that its common sense.
Back on topic i agree with the Kat thing.

I agree with the voice acting part as it would require extra time, money, etc.

The quoted part however is rather odd though when held up to the face of the story. "You can do anything you want" but we're dropping you in a very racist society... but sure Dark Elf, I'll pay you 50 gold if you can get my cat out of the tree in "The Too High Kitty" quest. This philosophy, while I applaud it, has done a great job at pulling me out of the story far too often.

And doesn't that fly in the face of role-playing? (This is supposedly an RPG.) Where your choices and actions have a consequence? Pick a race that isn't liked in much of the game, and you'll have a harder route. Pick the race who's province the game is set-in and you'll have an easy time there.
Instead, we are all unknowns, regardless of race. In real-life, that's called being a number.

Uldred

Yeah, I only get bits and pieces on my Elf, both the Dark Elves and the High Elf.

The Kat thing too, definitely. "Your race isn't allowed in the city but you, you can walk right in, right this way." Doesn't make much sense in a story perspective.

And with that in mind a new type of mechanic could have been introduced; the ability to sneak into cities/towns without being seen or recognized for what you are. Climb up and over the wall behind guards, wear hoods/cloaks to hide your race, etc. It actually kind of really irks me that, while wearing a Dragon Priest mask, I'm still recognized as an Elf and am still recognized for crime I committed without the mask on.

Not saying I agree with the philosophy, just saying that's what it is.

Any thoughts on the second portion of the OP?

I agree that racial choice would be much more interesting if it played a larger role in how you were treated.

However, I don't see that changing, not because of anyone being politically correct or any such nonsense, but because for whatever reason Bethesda does not seem to like that kind of limitation in it's games.

The only thing I have seen in a Beth game that I think was due to not offending is having the children not be killable. In the old fallout games you could kill them, but that was a different time and I can't imagine what it would be like with all the anti-gaming morons out there if you allowed it in this day and age.

They retain the racism restriction in one fashion that I know of: Orcs can enter strongholds with no need to quest while other races have to do a quest.

Sounds almost exactly like a certain Oblivion mod:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/integration-the-stranded-light
With any luck, hopefully the author will make a similar quest mod for Skyrim. My thought on the matter is pretty simple. A lot of things would be great to have in a game, but with the way things are these days, modders, and indie developers are about the only ones who will actually work hardto put that extra depth in that won't have a direst impact on sales.

I somewhat agree with you. I wouldn't ever dare say that Bethesda didn't work hard, but I understand there were probably a lot of constraints that modders don't have to deal with.