This past week I came to understand that I’ve learned enough about Skyrim to actually play the game for real. I’ve loved learning the story and how all the game elements work, but when I tamed a Unicorn it was the final sign that playing in the easy levels was done.

I had vast wealth, vast quantities of ingredients, ores, foods, ingots, everything I needed. And I could always use the mannequin glitch to create greater wealth; in fact, I had so much wealth that I was having trouble finding stores that had stuff that I want.

That’s me deep in the night aboard my magnificent Unicorn. This unicorn is also a great combat partner, attacking dragons right in their faces.

I began a new instance at a higher level of the game this weekend. So far, there’s less of everything, attackers are more aggressive, and all the things you expect when you up your level. The difference for me is that I’m studying the details of each quest more thoroughly and making small changes in my gameplay. For one thing, I’ll be able to avoid some of those quests that leave you with excess, unremovable junk in inventory.

I expect that at the pace I’ll still be playing this same game instance next year.

However, I may take a break to play Fallout 76 for awhile (I still want to achieve Level 300), so I’ll definitely still be playing Skyrim next year. Seeing as I’m replaying most of the early obligatory levels now, I’m not sure what I’ll be commenting on.

A decade ago, a friend tried to encourage me to play online multiplayer games and I wasn’t really interested. But now, I know my way around Fallout 76 and the kinds of players that play, I think I can call myself a gamer; not a great gamer, but good enough.