I rented the game from a rental shop shortly after release.I was amazed at how many things I could do. My own little personal world right on my console.Since then I've converted to PC and with the excellent modding community Skyrim has I still have this sense of awe every now and then.It truly is a great game.
The first time I played Skyrim, I hadn't played many games like that before (I mostly played things like Nintendo). My first character was an Argonian named Prisoner, and I got her to level 7. Then I got off for a long time. One day I was like, "Man, I wish I owned Skyrim! Oh wait, I do!" So I booted her up and my adventure with Foo the Khajiit began!
And then I made over 30 characters.
Most of them I loved to play on (i.e. Radvir Rock-Breaker, my Nord mage, and his son, Tryggvar Ice-Melter, also a Nord mage ).
I didn't get Skyrim on the day it was released. But I badly wanted to.
I ended up waiting until Christmas to get the game because it would be too great of a distraction during semester finals. I spent the next month or so looking up articles, watching lets plays, planning my character, and ultimately hyping myself out on the game even more...
Not exactly a great way to wait for something, but it helped to actually make playing the game that much more enjoyable. When at last the time came, I was ecstatic.
The two games I got that year at Christmas were Skyrim and MW3 (I used to like cod a good bit - still do, but I don't really play anymore). Of my time spent playing those games, Skyirm dominated. I received a new graphics card and surround-sound headset as gifts that year as well. Both of these things lent well to the immersion of the experience (especially the headset - it really complemented the game's sound design). I played for days on end as long as I could.
No other game has yet to produce such an experience as Skyrim did. There's a reason its my favorite game of all time.