Skyrim and Me: A tale of Rebirth

Chances are, if you are a real person with a soul, you picked up The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim the moment it was available and have fallen hopelessly under its spell. You've spent your free time traversing mountain tops, plummeting deep into forgotten Dwarven caverns and cleansing the lands of those smelly old dragons. Specializations have been honed and sharpened to a deadly point, letting man and beast alike know that you are not to be trifled with. I suppose there is a chance that this describes absolutely no part of your past few weeks, but if that's the case, what are you even doing?!

According to my Raptr account, I'm currently sitting on a cool 83 hours in this world and quite honestly, it feels more like fifteen. Time flies as I hunt dragons, smelt new equipment and relieve those clueless guards of all their steel arrows. There hasn't been a game that has held my time and attention captive for such an extended period since Grand Theft Auto III became my lil' brudder. What's more surprising than my time dedication, is that one factor that previously drove my gaming never came into play. Achievements.

While playing Skyrim, that glorious ba-dink that let me know I done good didn't even cross my mind. The depth of quests, enthralling conversations and nearly overwhelming wealth of things to do pushed the usual gamerscore padding to the bottom of my quest list.

In an attempt to prevent role-playing burn out, I switched over to a game that I had started in the past yet never finished, Gears of War 2. During my last play session with Gears 2, I racked up a few of the introductory achievements so starting a new game meant no chievos for some time. As it turned out, I didn't even notice until the first one popped up 3 hours in. Instead I was invested in the characters, story and gameplay and as a result, had fun playing a game!

Whether it was the magic of the Elder Scrolls igniting the spark of gaming that had dimmed to a faint glow or simply spending such a huge amount of time in a game for the first time in years, Skyrim reminded me of why games are so fantastic. Gaming brings you into new worlds and realms that have been looked over with painstaking detail just so we, the gamers, can have fun and create experiences and attachments of our own.

Was there a game that did something similar for you? Did you too find salvation in Skyrim? Share your thoughts in the comments! After all, you're paying to read this. In some way, you are.