I’m a believer that players are good self-directors, and I think one thing that’s good about video games is they can direct their own experience. If someone’s playing the game and enjoying themselves, that’s all we want. I think in general it’s a positive thing. I assume most only see a fraction of the content.
It’s such a big thing, such an easy-to-get-distracted thing. There are so many things that can distract you and tickle your curiosity that you end up, even when you’re working on the game, not accomplishing what you set out to do or to play that evening. Even when we’re playing it in the office, if we have a goal, we’re trying to test certain quests. Todd Howard: It’s a very common thing, I’d say, with all of our games. I played Skyrim for hundreds of hours, but I’ve never finished the central story.
Here’s a lightly edited version of our chat. I spoke with the game’s director (and jumbo-sized roleplaying genre doyen) Todd Howard.
