I'm just wondering how many people out there restrict there character from certain things to make the game more interesting, and tell me what you do I have made a new character that I am loving at the moment, I am not aloud to fast travel, I have to sleep during the day as I am a Vampire. I can't carry unrealistic size objects such as 4 sets of armor and I can only use spells and a dagger as he is skinny and has no skill in swords so he flails angrily with his dagger.
So far he is only level 11 but I have to say I am having quite alot of fun.
Tell me what you do to make the game more challenging and realistic

Yes. I think the carrying capacity aspect is something a lot of people on this forum has in common. That, and avoiding fast travel. It does make for a more enjoyable experience, as long as you can avoid being in any kind of rush. Being in a rush breaks the game if anything, to me.

Other things like only using realistic-looking armour/weapons, or sticking to aesthetics alone, or raising difficulty when appropriate and such, are things I'd call restrictions upon myself/my character.

Also, Arnold the Barbarian trusts no vile sorcery. Ever. 'Tis foul indeed.

My current character doesn't pick up any weapons or armor to sell. She sells books and potions she finds instead.

My previous char never looted dead bodies because she thought it was polluting/bad luck to come into contact with the dead. She also only fought undead with ranged weapons.

Yea my character, he is a very evil vampire and if anyone says something bad, he will make a list and kill them later, as long as they are killable and it does not matter who they are.

The only way you can get a challenge out of this game is to play with restrictions.

Level 1, no perks, Master difficulty.

My character has the following restrictions: No fast travel, no creating anything, can only loot bosses and boss chests and occasionally last enemy in an area and wild animals, can't take anything from any house even if it's not stealing, only ingredients she can pick up are animal parts such as bear claws, absolutely no magic, not even healing, except for conjuring her familiar, must do all daedric quests, can not do anything that goes against the daedra or aedra.

My main character is left handed, so basically only that one slash attack and doesn't use the block skill even if it were possible to put shields in the right hand.

No fast travel as well, and I'm not allowed to use potions or apply poison during combat.

I also eat regularly. I would sleep at night but I don't like the well rested thing you get.

I have one character who never steals.

We basically call it a Spell Sword in these parts.

I'm not planning any major restrictions in my current game. Just no using fortified enchanting, no fast travel except via wagons, and trying to minimise metagaming. I'm casual enough that as long as I'm avoiding major exploits, I'm happy with how I'm playing it.

If you put enough restriuctions on yourself, the game can be harder on adept than making a super-powerful character on master.

For my adept playthroughs: No fast travel, no smithing, no enchanting (but can use found enchanted stuff), very low health, etc.

Also, no mercenary work. I spend most of my time doing assassinations, exploring, and finding books and shalidor's insights for the College of WInterhold.

I'm still on my first playthru and, therefore, still tasting some of the flavors to determine what restrictions I'll use in future playthrus. Nonetheless, even with my first: no fast travel (just carriages), rarely run to get somewhere (only run to get away or for some specific RP reason), has to eat/drink (which includes carrying the supplies while adventuring), limits on carrying numerous bulk items, sleeps on a fairly regular basis (though in hostile enviros, she "breaks" for shorter durations but has to use stamina potions to compensate), and probably numerous others that seem natural to me and aren't leaping out as "restrictions".

I'd thought I was advancing the smithing and enchanting skills at a reasonable rate as I leveled, but it now seems I'll need to take them even slower next time. Of course, it's a bit hard to judge because of the bugged Deflect Arrows perk -- i.e., how much of the imbalance is because of that vs. my smithing?

Anyhoo, I think that anyone who enjoys the metagame and/or RP experience will enforce "restrictions" just by nature of what they're seeking from the game.

Yes, I have some restrictions on each character, at least so far.

Basically a mage will focus on magic. No smithing perks. Mostly no perks outside the magic schools, and does not wear alot of armor (I allow here to wear a couple of pieces).

My Nord Warrior will not use magic except for the basic healing spell. And will not join the College of Winterhold or Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood, even though some quest might want him to.

In general what might characters do depend on what architype (if any) they are, and what their moral and social orientation is.

I do a few other roleplay things, like try to sleep at night, and usually get some sleep every day (or every other day), etc.

None personally. Never played TES for its awesome challenging gameplay.
On other hand, I RP so I don't always use the features to their highest potential so there is enough challenge to not be too easy.

I roleplay, and roleplaying is all about restrictions.

However, I do not believe that making up one set of restrictions governing every character is roleplaying, either. That, to me, is the same thing as powergaming, only in reverse. Roleplaying should be about the character, not the player, in my opinion. Therefore the restrictions that govern each character I play changes with each character.

Most of my characters sleep and eat and drink. When they sleep and for how long depends of course on the character. Same goes for food and drink. Some characters drink only wine, some drink only water. Some are vegetarians, others eat mainly meat. Some characters only travel via carriage, others never do. I am planning a mage in the future and that character will use fast travel (I view map-based fast travel as a form of magic). Most of my other characters run or ride or use carriages.

Some of my characters use only certain weapons or armor or wear only certain types of jewelry, other will wear anything they can getr their hands on. Some characters always walk when indoors, others never do.

It all depends on the character.

It's sad that people are intentionally "restricting" themselves instead of Beth developing creative restrictions to eliminate countless exploits. I love freedom in games but freedom becomes boring when there are no restrictions.

^This.

I also don't play football on my knees. I do not play fighting games while only fast punching. I do not pretend my car can only go 35 mph. As a matter of fact I can't think of ONE game where I intentionally restrict myself or play with a handicap to get any semblance of "balance". That isn't a "Perk of Skyrim" but a flaw.

I really tend to carry very little when I travel. It's not just because I just get a bad feeling carrying hundreds of items of all sorts, from weapons, armour, potions, and so on. But simply from a practical standpoint because I cannot be bothered to scan through a heavy filled inventory for a particular item. I like a clean inventory.

I use the equitable knife and fork when eating.

My thinking is.... I'm glad it's such an open, exploitable game... those of us who restrict ourselves can do so.... others who want to uber-out their gear and character are free to do so too.

We all win with one game.... and thus another game will be made in the series because of such mass appeal.

I also do not feel anything in the game is keeping me from playing in the restrictive style I enjoy... with the exception of being able to tuen off parts of the HUD.

I would rather have everything put into the game and decide on my own what I do not want use... if I leave my choices up to game devs they might not dial back what I would.

This is silly. Why don't they allow you to be invincible? Why can't you fly? Games are built on parameters and rules. Further, I don't think the derpsters understand what "exploitable" means either. Because I invest in Enchanting or Smithing does not mean I am "exploiting". Exploiting would be using the Restoration potions to obtain values NOT intended by the developers. Due to the fact that making your character is not difficult in the slightest, it is thereby not rewarding. I should have to go extremely out of my way to achieve the values I do now, but heck I would be happy if Master difficulty actually did something besides just the silly damage ration changes.

I won't murder in cold blood (except for quest's, and even then I try to avoid w/e possible).
I won't initiate confrontation, and I seek to exterminate the world of Evil and injustice.

I don't travel at night, mostly because the game is dark already and I hate not being able to see what's ahead of me.

Funny, considering that there are dozens of draugr, ghost, and vampire filled dungeons. Your character must have the worst luck then.