Running

I reach around an unsuspecting leader.  He is wearing a belt with a scabbard holding the weapon of my friend.  My skills of pickpocketing have increased to the point that I can quite literally steal clothes right off people's bodies (a useful loophole to killing people for quest-specific loot), but the incredible intricacy (price) of this scabbard makes my task very difficult.  I roll the dice and hope that fate shines upon me.

Fuck!

I pull back the free sword, but twist the elite soldier my direction as well.

He stares at this unknown Khajiit in shock.  I look at him, then to the sword in my hand, and I book it as fast as my legs will take me.  Battle cries roar out from every corner of the hideout.  I use magic to hasten my feet and protect my body as I make my way out of the cave they were hiding in.

The freedom of such running is what this post was all about.  Out on the plain, sprinting at impossible speeds, and the moment when I realize I am free.  I look around me to the painted landscape and am alive.

This moment was a moment of video games' true artistic power.  When you truly become your character, your emotions bleed into theirs and the actions become as real for you as they would be for them.  The complete freedom to do as you are allows you connection to the character that ALLOWS this to happen.  Even in RPGs that connect you to characters who are not yourself, your CHOICES form a bridge to their soul.  Just watching you can empathize.  Knowing that your choices affect them forces a bit more empathy and even brings you closer to love or even selfhood with this alien person.

Yeah.  Running away is cool.