Plog Conclusion

Skyrim is all about the players. Everything you put into Skyrim is what you will receive from it. If you enter it with an open mind to learn from the game and understand the game, then you will receive much. Yes the game can be approached from the same angle from many players and the same choices will be made, but the ways players invest themselves and approach the issue in the game will be different. No one plays this game with the same mindset and reason that any other player does. Different play-throughs of the game offer players a different experience, a different way to learn about the games rich lore and world. Interacting with everything in the game allows in-sight into a very lovingly crafted world.
In conclusion Skyrim gives us a mirror to look at our world through the lenses of something just less real. We face many relevant issues in the game that can be applied to our world. While racism is given a fantasy treatment in the game, it parallels to how racism is still around in our own world and that is indeed based off more on history and stereotypes than personal relations. Personal growth and pursuit of knowledge which is treated as character and skill progression in the game is akin to students struggling to gain more skills, experience and academic knowledge to out beat others in a competitive  major field. War will never leave the humankind, it's something engraved in our history just as war is as engraved in Skyrim's world. Morality? While Skyrim does give a rather hyperbolic view on this aspect of life, it allows an outlet for players to really define their own morality and allows players to reflect on how these decisions would compare to their own personal choices.

Plog Introduction

Skyrim. How does one go about turning this into a tool of academic purpose? The answer is treating it like one. Games serve as mediums for entertainment, escapement and now academia. Skyrim is a game that is inherently a role playing game set in a fantasy realm of adventure. To captivate an audience and to make them desire to be in this world and contribute to it's already populated game space, is to make the player care about this world and relate to the game. So to do this, the people behind the game inserted morality issues, current day issues, and game world history into the game so that the world can be understood and related to. To further immerse the player, they are given the choice to make their own character and walk their own paths to further their own personal story.
As one walks through this well crafted world, their avatar will define the choices these players make thus reflecting themselves or how they wish themselves to be reflected. This is how people in real life proceed in their interaction with others. We choose how to present ourselves to others and just like in the game, make our own choices to define ourselves. Further drawing similarities to the game is how we choose to interact with distractions and crossroads in life. We are constantly given obstacles in life and ways to solve it, but we could also ignore them and proceed with our main objective at that moment in our life. These obstacles can be issues of morality, self progress or monetary gain. To us, those obstacles can be hugely relevant or not but it is up to us to decide how to figure that ourselves. Just like in Skyrim, which is just simply a game.
Defining Skyrim as more than a game required multiple perspectives looking for what makes this game applicable as literature. To remedy this, students were require to have plogs (play logs) that were intended to express the game through the student's own methods. I myself chose a narrative based approach that looked through the eyes of my game avatar which ended with my own personal analysis of the literary devices the game had utilized. I chose this approach to give the plogs a story based element to keep my audience drawn to my material while still accomplishing the intended purpose of the plogs.

5.2 Reason of War

Here I am about to choose a side of a war I should have no part in. I was curious what was the main reason behind the war that caused the deaths of so many in Skyrim. I knew it had to do something with the worship of Talos so I decided to visit the local Talos worshipper in Whiterun and the temple of Talos in Windhelm. From what I gathered, the Nords worship Talos because he was a simple nord like them who learned how to use the voice because he was dragon born. Talos heroics were so great that when he passed he rose into the divine afterlife so the Nords worship Talos so they can follow in his steps and reach a better after life.
Speaking with the temples priest in Windhelm I was given an opinion on why the Thalmor elves of the empire would ban the worship of Talos. Many Thalmor are bitter towards the humans of Skyrim because of war that ended in the Thalmors favor not too long ago and they did not particularly like the ideas of humans becoming divine. So they banned the worship of Talos to figuratively spit in the faces of the Nord race.
This resulted in secret worshipping that the empire let go because as Skyrim is part of the Empire, many nords in the empire can sympathize. However Ulfric and his rebels brought much attention to the worship of Talos since they fought in his name and in the name of Skyrim. This caused the empire to buckle down on worshipping and thus a clash began. Tensions rose and blood was spilled, and now here I am in a war I have no stake in. Yes, people fight to protect their families and friends. Yes people fight to protect their home. Yes people fight because they will die otherwise. But me? I'm just a lizard who was caught crossing a border. Why am I fighting?
My take on this war in real life reminds me of the crusades. I remember learning about the crusades in middle school, but other than that I have no further knowledge. A war of worship and clashing religions because one side has to have their beliefs prevail. Innocents were caught up in the war and were slaughter as a result. Christianity and Muslim beliefs, Nords and Thalmor worships, people die because of peoples undying beliefs. I'm not going to delve into religion here because I am agnostic myself, but my take on this fictional war and the crusades: you start a war because of your beliefs and because you think you are right, but are the people who lay dead at your feet fighting for their own beliefs wrong? Or are you too narrow minded to believe maybe you're both wrong?

5.1 Learning Dragon Tongue

Dragonborn eh? Well I'm now closer to my cousins than I could wish for! Speaking to the Jarl of Whiterun I was told I could learn more about my ability to "shout" from the Greybeards who reside near Ivarstead in High Hrothgar. These Nords really like their mystic mythology, but I figured it would be knowledgable. Riding on horseback I conquered a difficult mountain to reach Ivarstead, a very nice little town with some pesky bear problems. I spoke to a woman named Fastred who had a belief that the Graybeards lived a life without uttering a single word, which is somewhat ironic considering they know the "way of the voice".
Starting my way up I found a tablet that explained dragons were the original rulers of Mundus and that their voice was the law of power. Continuing on my way I met some goats, a troll, ice spirits and a few travelers. A man named Barknar that I spoke with told me most people do not travel the very high steps of Hrothgar and some hikers just enjoy the atmosphere and travel on the steps. A second tablet told of how dragons ruled "man" and that men were weak and had no voice. The tablet after that told of the strong will of men and their war with dragons that only resulted in dragons shouting them down.
It got cold up here... A snowstorm came and blanketed the steps as I continued my journey. I met another travler named Karita who liked to mediate on the tablets, something shared between her and Barker. The fourth tablet spoke of a dragon named Paarthurnax(it implies) who pitied man and allied with Kyne to teach men the voice, a war of voices began. The fifth tablet read, men won the war and shouted Alduin out of the world and that mens voice was also strong with heavy sacrifices. The story continues with the sixth tablet: Sky-Children(words I am assuming) found the first empire with shouts and sword while dragons left the world. Seventh story told of Jurgen Windcaller and his decision to choose silence and hailing a new title of Jurgen the calm after standing against seventeen disputants built his home on the Throat of the World. Ninth, can't find the eighth, told of Tiber Septim being summoned by graybeards to be blessed the Dovahkiin.
Finally reaching the end of the steps I met the graybeards, possibly nord men who have learned the knowledge of the voice. They told of me how as a Dragonborn I am able to bypass the years to takes to learn the voice. I'm pretty much a prodigy. I also have the unsettling ability to rip the souls out of dragons. Master Arngeir told me I must now pursue my destiny, whatever I choose that to be.
Voice in the game of Skyrim is used as a sort of power. Its use and history is embedded in war and the freedom of men. While everyone uses their own different racial language, the "voice" is power and control in the realm of Skyrim. The history a player can unfold through the tablets explain how the voice dominated man until man learned the way of the voice, but then the voice had to be limited because it was abused by man. Not going to lie, it reminds me of slavery. A man once shackled begins to enslave other man, but it's abused and unfair to the rest of the world and had to be silenced, similar to how the voice is. It's implantation is strange though as language is meant to bound people together, but here the voice is a language meant to overpower and control.

4.2 Two Sides of the Same Coin

Storm-Cloaks and the Legion. They highlight the flaws in each other while also pointing out the benefits of their cause. During my many stays at inns I have heard two songs representing the conflict of the war, the Age of Aggression and the Age of Oppression. These songs are nearly alike but the Age of Aggression sings of the downfall of Ulfric and the Storm-Cloaks while the Age of Oppression sings of the rising of the Ulfric and his rebels. These songs share lines though because these are Nord born songs, speaking of Soverngard, the after life for true Nord warriors, and of being true children of Skyrim. These songs only further show the fact that Skyrim is divided. Skyrim is tearing itself apart, brothers and sisters at each others throats with innocents caught in the middle, soon this war will have to end. Even then the war will not be over, it will take time to heal the wounds upon this land.

I decided to visit Solitude and Windhelm, the capitals of the Legion and Storm-Cloaks respectively, to decide what side of this war I wanted to support if I even chose a side at all. I traveled to Windhelm first as it was somewhat close to the bandit camp I had just finished clearing out. When I entered the palace Kings, I heard a conversation between Ulfric and his right hand man Galmar conversing about what to do about the Jarl at Whiterun since he was neutral. Then I heard more about Ulfric and the man he is. Ulfric is a solider, yes, but he knows the heavy price of war and if he could, would give up the war if soldiers were not needed. Ulfric says he is needed though, as he fights for the men he has held in his arms dying on the blood stained fields of war and for the family that is whispered from a dying man's breath. He firmly believe he is fighting for the people of Skyrim, and he realizes he needs all the help he can get as the moment I approached him he asked me to join the rebellion. That is, after he had to ask who I was despite us being near death prisoner buddies together.
Next I visited the imperial capital of Solitude. While traveling to the Blue Palace to speak with the queen I ended up listening to a conversation between her and her advisors. Elisif is not ready for leadership and is questioning if she can trust the military commander of the Legion. She is frightened of how strong imperial control is over the controlled Skyrim holds. It seems that Elisif is very vulnerable with her control of the throne, she also sits differently than most Jarls upon the throne. Instead of the slouched relaxed position of the other Jarls, she sits up-right and straight. This could be perhaps she still has not eased into the role of Jarl. When I went up to Elisif to speak about the Imperials, she gave no attempt to convince me to their side. It is very blatant that Elisif is not the head of the Legion and it is most likely Commander Tullius.
It seems the claim for this rebels fighting the empire war is a value based one saying "Ulfric and his band of Storm-Cloaks are good for Skrim". The counter claim is "Skyrim under control by the empire was fine before the Stormcloaks". But these claims are also vice versa since there two sides to this war. For the case of Ulfric, his appeal is that he claims to fight for everyone in Skyrim because he believes they should be fought for. A very noble cause except for the fact his rebels commit some very atrocious acts in his name. The imperials believe it is for the greater good of the empire that Skyrim is linked to the rest of Tamerial because standing united is the best for everyone. This argument isn't nearly as strong in pathos, but in logos it is because the empire has been shown to be pretty fair while under normal circumstances. This is the evidence, the results stated by both sides. The stakes of this war are very clear when spoken to each side, freedom of the land and the people. Ulfric wants the people to be free from empire control, but under his rule. The empire wants the people to be under there control and away from Ulfric's so called tyranny. The desired audience is the player as new players will be given various first impressions to the sides of war. 

4.1 Slaying The Second Cousin

Dragons! You know in some ways, I certainly believe us Argonian folk are somehow distantly related to dragons. I mean we both have scales and tails, that's certainly argument enough. I had to slay my some-what distant second cousin this wake of dawn after I had presented the Dragonstone to Farengar. The Jarl's dark elf steward had come to gather me and Farengar to listen to the Jarl speaking with a guard who recently come in contact with the dragon. After hearing the account of the attack, the Jarl sent me, Ireliah and a squad of troops to the tower to hopefully kill the flame breathing beast. I say hopefully, because we have no expectations to the dragon attack and a rough chance to actually hurt the beast. It turns out, it wasn't too bad.
After leaving Whiterunm, my squad of bloodthirsty warriors and I marched to the guard tower that was ravaged by the dragon. Arriving on the scene, I spoke to a frightened guard who had survived the first onslaught of fang and fire. He started exclaiming about the casualties and then with a tone of fright in his voice, announced that the dragon had returned. We were about to slay us a dragon.
Fire burning within his mighty body, the dragon came down like a beast of nightmares. Swooping down like the natural born predator of the world, this dragon assaulted us with the precision of an eagle, that is if eagles could breathe fire. Those of us who could fire a bow and arrow crafted a nicely occupied pincushion out of the dragons belly which caused him to take the fight to the ground. Becoming a whirlwind of steel I darted around the dragon slicing at his body while the troops brought down their own metal fury onto his scaled body. Also utilizing my shield in this intense melee, I bashed my cousin's head when he attempted to breathe a cone of fire at my companions. The sharp blunt pain of my shield interrupted his attempts to draw in air, thus giving my team opportunity to attack with full force. Knowing the dragon was near his end, I decided to end his suffering quickly. The dragon attempted a bite at me, I deflected his attempt with a sharp slice to his face and took this moment to climb upon his head. While mounted on his head, I delivered several stabs to his brain and jumped off as his body crumbled to the ground. But as he fell, the dragon uttered something in his dragon tongue. I don't know what it was, but it was clearly directed at me... I could feel it directed at me. My companions cheered as the beast lay dead from their hands as well. But then, the dragon started to disintegrate and his essence was drawn into me, like I was absorbing it.
I talked to the soldiers and they exclaimed I was a Dovahkiin.  A dragon born.
This moment in the game attempts a cinematic moment to behold. With an onlookers point of view, best used from first person, this battle demonstrates the games ability to capture epic moments of tales one would find in a fantasy tale. The art style of the crumbled tower with the battle ready look of soldiers with an up beat soundtrack definitely gives an atmosphere of battle. This fight demonstrates player readiness as well; the dragon can easily kill the player if the player does not react to the dragon's cued attacks. When the dragon attacks from air, it is readable to the player and thus the player should move. On ground as well, the dragon will showcase a wind up for attacks such as bites and fire breathing. The player can interrupt these or move away. This gives players control. The player can control the battlefield, thus giving them choice. After fighting numerous other enemies in the game, the player should feel accustomed to combat and at least surviving. This dragon gives players a test to improve their skills in combat. The game also interacts with you as well, giving you many cues that a fight will commence. The crumbled tower gives a visual clue that a fight was near, and the guard remaining gives an audio cue that the fight will begin soon. The game just kind of draws you in and tells you that you're going to be legend, a slayer of dragons. But aha, it one ups that! It makes you a dragon born thus giving the player even more a personal connection to the game.

3.2 Embracing the Storm

Speaking to Farengar, the court wizard, I was tasked with retrieving a relic called the Dragon Stone from Bleak Falls Barrow. Not only am I Murgurth the lizard mailboy, I'm also Murgurth the errand lizard! Conversing with Farengar gave me further details to this location I was traveling to and I was delighted to learn I would be crossing by Riverwood to get to destination. My trek to Riverwood was without conflict and after stopping by Alvor to pick up new armor, I started my hike on the mountain.
Snow. Snow everywhere. Hiking up the mountain initially was without heavy weather, but after I met some conflict with some bandits who were guarding the mountain, I was also met with a heavy snowstorm. I relished it. It proved an artistic backdrop for the combat spectacle that featured me as the lead performer among these bandit guards. With the snow against my scales, I hurried toward the grand ruins of the mighty temple that bore my desired relic. At the doorstep I was met with even more bandits. Their blood stained the snow as I dispatched their numbers, my Argonian healing factor shrugging off their best efforts to slay me. My style of sword and shield proved that no other combo is as invaluable in war.
Walking further into the depths of this tarnished temple, I encountered more bandits and a puzzle featuring animals. It was a rather simple task of matching animals; conquering this I found horrible animals named Skeevers which made me realize how much I hate rodents. And just when I thought I had disposed of the final pests in these ruins, I was met face to face with a giant spider. While I am not skilled in the practice of magic, I used my rudimentary control of fire to keep the spider at bay while I hacked at it's flesh. At the end of the hall of my battle ground, a bandit named Arvel the Swift was restrained by webbing and asking for my assistance.
I cut the poor soul down and was immediately betrayed as he fled the scene at an ironically average speed. I chased down the fool and before I could end his life, an undead warrior stopped his advance. I've heard of Draugrs, nordic warriors who still walk after life, but this was my first encounter of one. While tough, I made short work of the undead warrior. I went over  to Arvels body and looted a golden claw off of him, hoping to sell it after my adventure. It actually became the key to my advance into the temple however. After slaying numerous more Draugrs, I encountered a door that needed the claw to match more animal symbols to advance.
When I finally found the room of treasures in this crypt, I found two amazing things. The wall of words that contained an ancient power that I somehow learned and the Dragonstone. Unfortunately for my scaled hide, I had to battle another Draugr to leave. This opponent was different than the others, he was larger and possessed a shout of some kind that invoked words of power. He too met his end though. I finished my journey traveling back to Whiterun to deliver my relic.
The game introduces players to puzzles through game progress and interaction. When you first encounter the puzzle involving turning stones, you can watch the bandit attempt a sequence and fail, dying as a result. The game does not give you in game text to figure it out, instead it gives the player environmental clues to figure it out for themselves. Akin to this, the next door involving the puzzle requires an item found from a character the player interacts with. This gives players connections to puzzles and relevance as they encounter these clues themselves. Through this organic process player slowly learn the game and how it interacts with the player.