There was a sort of blog on pcgamer.com that had a player playing the game in the role of an NPC, something he'd done previously with Oblivion: http://www.pcgamer.com/author/clivingston/
Unfortunately it ends kind of early, but I really liked the idea. I think the appeal for me is seeing a personal narrative come out of the game. I think Dwarf Fortress encourages that sort of thing too, probably Minecraft and other games like that. Where basically it becomes less about fixed setpieces but your own plot unfolding due to a combination of randomness and your own interaction with the game world.