Rampant Coyote has an excellent blurb discussing his view hopping through meadows and picking flowers — as an assassin.

My character class, determined early in the game from my tendency to hide when bad guys show up and strike from behind, is an ASSASSIN. That’s right, a bloodthirsty, amoral killer assassin. One of his key skills, which needs to be increased through in-game practice, is alchemy. For making all those vile poisons to coat his arrows and knives with, of course. To get enough materials together for constant alchemy practice, I take the ’scenic route’ from place to place so I can take time to … pick flowers.

Another of the assassin’s key abilities is Acrobatics, which is increased over time by hitting the jump key. So long as endurance doesn’t run out, I find myself hopping around as I go from place to place to increase that ability. Which means that as the vile, evil, bloodthirsty assassin, I am spending MUCH of my time hopping and skipping through meadows picking flowers.

People who know me will confirm that I frequently rant about use-based systems, primarily because they create unrealistic behavior, all the while claiming they create REALISTIC behaviors. People jumping repeatedly to learn jumping, speaking gibberish to learn languages, and seeking battles from low level monsters but not fighting back just to increase their dodge skill are all behavior I’ve witnessed (each, come to think of it, in more than one game).

The article goes a step further, pointing out that in an attempt to create a realistic alchemy game, they ended up creating an assassin experience that feels nothing like one. Could they have done so, without sacrificing the world simulator that was the crux of the Oblivion promise? Certainly yes.

Original comments thread is here.