Reading this escapist article struck a chord, not only because I'm still playing Skyrim, but because I think I've used the term 'choice paralysis' to try and explain real life indecision before I've been a big New Vegas player - if that game had been in the Skyrim engine it really would have been sublime, and hilarious.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9391-The-Men-Who-Stare-At-Mountains
"Interestingly, many players of Skyrim have described a form of "choice paralysis" while playing. Even some games journalists have made mention of it. The sheer immensity of the game, combined with the level of freedom it offers, becomes overwhelming and ultimately mildly frightening. This negative pleasure is not dissimilar from that which Kant describes, as we are initially imaginatively inadequate to appreciate the game in its entirety.
Eventually though, we overcome this feeling of paralysis at the scale of the game, and begin to explore it properly. Kant wrote, "In order for the mind to be attuned to the feeling of the sublime, it must be receptive to ideas." Indeed, after that initial sense of being overwhelmed, we become attuned to the game, we receive its ideas and in turn create ideas of our own. For players, games like Skyrim are story-engines, just as the Grand Tours became story-engines for the men who stared at mountains.
How we express ourselves regarding games is inextricably linked to how we perceive them socially and artistically. These theories are now hundreds of years old, and understanding of the sublime has moved on significantly, covering urban environments, social and political implications, and feminist perspectives. Nevertheless, because gaming is such a young and highly impressionable art form, it is important to consider it in relation to these foundational theories. In doing so, we can picture more accuractely how videogames are evolving and maturing."
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9391-The-Men-Who-Stare-At-Mountains
"Interestingly, many players of Skyrim have described a form of "choice paralysis" while playing. Even some games journalists have made mention of it. The sheer immensity of the game, combined with the level of freedom it offers, becomes overwhelming and ultimately mildly frightening. This negative pleasure is not dissimilar from that which Kant describes, as we are initially imaginatively inadequate to appreciate the game in its entirety.
Eventually though, we overcome this feeling of paralysis at the scale of the game, and begin to explore it properly. Kant wrote, "In order for the mind to be attuned to the feeling of the sublime, it must be receptive to ideas." Indeed, after that initial sense of being overwhelmed, we become attuned to the game, we receive its ideas and in turn create ideas of our own. For players, games like Skyrim are story-engines, just as the Grand Tours became story-engines for the men who stared at mountains.
How we express ourselves regarding games is inextricably linked to how we perceive them socially and artistically. These theories are now hundreds of years old, and understanding of the sublime has moved on significantly, covering urban environments, social and political implications, and feminist perspectives. Nevertheless, because gaming is such a young and highly impressionable art form, it is important to consider it in relation to these foundational theories. In doing so, we can picture more accuractely how videogames are evolving and maturing."