Skyrim Vs. Battlefield 3.....Really?

"When I got Skyrim I stopped playing Battlefield 3"

I hear that a lot but for some reason the BF3 servers are still full.  

FedEx Office Print Online 15% 

I really don't think it's a genuine statement.  I mean how can you buy a game for $50 or $60 then dump it a month later?  It can't just be a bunch of teenagers with short attention spans and their parent's credit cards that accounted for all those record breaking sales.

When you've got people like Leo Laporte seen playing Skyrim regularly online on his TWIT network for weeks between shows it can't be just kids.

As an average adult with limited means I don't think I'm any different in being conservative when it comes to spending money.  I'm also someone who owns both games and plays them regularly.   
Skyrim and BF3 appeal to different sides of my gaming personality.  

If I want to run around a lush open world  by myself with only vague concern about objectives I'm loading up Skyrim.  If I want to work on my profile and blow up a few friends in the process I'm probably playing BF3.

There's not much more to be said than that.  The games aren't even in the same genre so it makes it kind of difficult to substitute one for the other. 

Video games are kind of like Heavy Metal bands.  Most people think there's no difference between say Motley Crue and Motorhead but to the informed nothing is further from the truth. 

To those who don't play games they all look the same which may have something to do with those same people blaming them for acts of violence.  


It's a pretty safe bet, for example, that an avid BF3 player isn't going to be spending a lot of time with Train Simulator 2012.  At the very least they'll know it's not the same experience.   So whomever coined my opening quote is likely not a regular gamer.

Skyrim offers a personal experience moldable by the player.  Battlefield 3 is more of a competitive proposition.  The choice of which one  you spend your time on has more to do with what kind of game you want to play than the game itself.

I guess I've beaten the topic to death by now.  Chalk it up to another soapbox moment on my anti-hype crusade.  I'm just suspicious of anything that reeks of an uninformed marketing department.