Oblivion is full of depth and stupidity

Depth (early spoiler)

On my way to the first quest in the main storyline, I took a side trip into the Imperial city to sell things in the market district.

While I was browsing shops, I learned of a rogue shopkeeper who refused to join the chamber of commerce and was selling items at "unfairly low" prices. The local merchant association then hired me to find proof this shopkeeper was selling stolen goods so that they could run him out of town.



Stupidity

I visited a quaint little town in an outlying farm region to talk to someone at a monastery. With that accomplished I was encouraged to explore the town proper. I joined the local branch of the Fighter's Guild to get missions. As soon as I joined, it was no longer considered stealing for me to take items from the guild hall and sell them down the street. Characters wandered around discussing the best place in town to buy armour as I stole everything that wasn't nailed down right under their noses. Even the book merchant thought nothing of me pawning a first edition of the Fighter's Guild History that previously sat in a locked case under the watchful gaze of my guildmates.



Love/Hate

I love the work that Bethesda Softworks puts into their games. The problem is that such a richly detailed world with open-ended design eventually becomes its own worst enemy: The arbitrary game rules that would otherwise go unnoticed instead become glaring "flaws" in the simulation that draw the player out of the experience.