Gaming Outside of the Box

This past holiday season, I purchased The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Sure it was expensive, but such is the case for many triple-A titles that are given all the attention they need to make them perfect. This may not seem strange to you, but I didn't purchase Skyrim for the same reason that most of everyone else did. I had barely touched The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and I had no idea of the gigantic backstory and world that I was getting myself into with the purchase of this game.

That's right. I'll admit it. I had no clue how to play an Elder Scrolls game or any previous interest in them for that matter, but I decided to pick up Skyrim just for the sole purpose of trying something new.

I like fantasy games, and I like roleplaying games. That's exactly what The Elder Scrolls series was about, yet I had barely even heard about it let alone played it. Yes, I had tried a little bit of Oblivion before, but by the time I got out of the tutorial, I was bored. Then again, I was much more naive toward games at the time, so looking back, I'm glad I gave it a second chance. Up to its release, hearing about endlessly respawning dragons and a big, expansive world for me to slice up with my sharpened weapons and explode with my conjured magic. That alone was enough to make me give it another shot.

What point am I trying to make here? Well, I'm trying to say that limiting yourself to one single game genre not only limits your sources of entertainment, but to other gamers, it could possibly make you sound and look boring. Aside from that, how do you know what you do and don't like until you've tried it? I recently tried the first Mass Effect in response to the recent release of its closing chapter, and while I really wish I had more time for it, I've loved the third-person shooter so far, and shooters are probably one of my less interesting genre of games.

I'm not saying it's not okay to be a total expert on all things Pokémon or a walking encyclopedia on World of Warcraft, but trying something new every once in a while will broaden your gaming horizons and give you something more to talk about with your fellow gamers.

Of course, limiting yourself is a good thing too, since your wallet isn't bottomless.