Oblivion & Sustainable Entertainement

Intro

Screenshot of Bruma in Oblivion

So, I recently purchased Oblivion. I didn't have so much fun playing a video game since a long time. This game might dethrone RuneScape as my favorite game. It is simply that good. The quests in this game are very good. The main story was pretty decent and the Dark Brotherhood quest line was excellent.

I was initially interested in this game due to it exhibiting lots of generic medieval fantasy signatures. While playing, I found another reason to be utterly fascinated by the game. Oblivion is full of emergent behaviors, in fact, I would argue that this one of main selling point of this game. The game world feel so alive, so immersive. I have never seen anything like this before. This made me wonder if the game could be a source of sustainable entertainment.

Sustainable Entertainement

Back in 2022, I noticed a problem.I was easily bored. To be more specific, I was always running out of content to consume. As I have no interest in video games, my primary source of entertainment is watching videos on YouTube. Yet, even the almighty algorithm often fails to find content I found interesting. I needed a reliable source of entertainment.

I had a theory. I believed that it should be theoretically possible for some kind for a finite computer program to generate an "infinite" amount of entertainment. Although finite code can obviously only generate finite results, I figured it should be theoretically possible to have a program generate entertainment that could not be all be consumed in a lifetime.

Another prospect I liked about sustainable entertainment is that this would significantly decrease the money I spend on entertainment. That being said, this was not really an issue to begin with as I only tend to buy 1 game per year, if any.

I took note how some entertainment was more repeatable than others. Movies, books and most video games offer a finite amount of content to be consumed. I found that music is by far the most repeatable entertainment type there is yet. The problem is that it is pretty passive and you know what to expect from a given song if you have heard it before, so it is kind of in its own category.

I observed how some video games were "sport-like". Obvious examples that come to mind are Quake III and Mario Kart. In both games, the entertainment is generated from interactions with other humans (or the simulation of it). I had some fun playing against bots in Quake III, but my will to play the game eventually faded away.

Some AI/LLMs projects looked promising. I had quite a lot of fun with Character.ai back in the day. I had a major issue with it, the service was online only. A true sustainable source of entertainment would be able to be run offline, to ensure it could always be used and not at the mercy of some third party.

I eventually learned about AI Dungeon 2, a similar project that can be downloaded. Although this would technically be sustainable entertainment, it requires quite the powerful computer - something I don't have. So this was not an option for me.

I ended up abandoning the idea of sustainable entertainment and moved on. That is until I played Oblivion.

Oblivion as a Simulation

When I play Oblivion, I don't really engage with it as a game. I play with console commands that make me invincible, so there is no possibility of me dying. This means I can't really "lose" or "win". I rather engage the game as an intricate medieval fantasy simulation.

I must say that Oblivion is the best attempt I have ever seen at trying to emulate reality in a video game. The game is so immersive. This is the only game I have ever played where NPCs feel like sentient beings that have their own goals. It is somewhat difficult to articulate how this game feels like to play because it is pretty bespoke; there is nothing else like it. The closest comparison I can think of would be playing Dungeon & Dragon or being in a lucid dream.

Once I finished the Dark Brotherhood questline, I purposely chose not to engage in any finite content such as quests. This because I wanted to see if the game could hold my attention without the premise of finite content. So far, it successfully did.

My Roleplaying Approach

Aside from RuneScape, World of Warcraft and Zelda: Twilight Princess, one thing Oblivion heavily reminds me of is Sword Art Online Alicization (SAOA).

The basic gist of it is as follows:

Some scientists made a medieval fantasy Matrix-like simulation.
The simulation is populated by digital copies of human souls.
Some digital souls found out that the simulation has system commands and use them as a form of magic.
Real humans have the ability to insert themselves in the simulation.

Also, the Imperial City heavily reminds me of Centoria in SAOA:

Comparaison between the Imperical City in Olivion and Centoria in Sword Art Online Alicization

I was curious which came first. Oblivion was released in 2006 and the first SAOA book is from 2012, so there is a real chance that the author was inspired by the game.

Anyway, my point is that I treat Oblivion like the setting of SAOA. I roleplay as a human who inserts himself in a personal simulation of his that is populated by artificial intelligence. I use console commands to wreak havoc. From the POV of the NPCs, I am a dark magician who subjugate the world to his will. Legions of men attempt to kill me on a daily basis, something that is only a minor inconvenience to me. I am the only one who knows about the simulation and uses this to my full advantage.

Final Thoughts

I must admit that playing Oblivion renewed my curiosity in other Elder Scrolls game. I have thoughts on revisiting Skyrim as a figure out it must have some simulation aspects too, but I heard it was a downgrade from Oblivion, so I plan to stay with this game for the time being.

I find it amazing how much the game entertained me with pure roleplaying so far. I also have no touched any DLC or mods yet, the base game is so good that I want to see how much entertainment I can extract from it.

While playing the game, I always have a thought in the back of my mind: "wouldn't a recreation of RuneScape in Oblivion be amazing?". I can't help but notice how much system overlap there is with the two games. I am, of course, aware that this is likely just a pipe dream. I have currently zero ideas about the complexity of making mods for Oblivion - I imagine it is quite the ordeal.

Writing this made me wonder why I like RuneScape so much. I think it might be because RuneScape has some simulation elements too. For example, I like to mine in the game just for the shake of mining. Oblivion certainly is far superior in that regard. I guess this also explains why the vast majority of video games does not interest me; I have interests in simulations rather traditional video games.

Written by manpaint on 17 May 2025.