I bought Oblivion when it first came out about a month ago. I played it for about 6 hours that night and haven’t touched it once since. Though I have been playing other games.
I’m not quite sure why, it really is a great game. I’ve got some ideas though.
To play Oblivion I feel the need to turn off all other stimuli. I can’t listen to other music, watch tv, browse the web, or work while playing Oblivion. With the other games I’ve been playing recently, I don’t feel this need, I can do one or more other things at the same time, so I have difficulty setting aside time to only play Oblivion.
Where I stopped playing after those 6 hours was dying immediately after starting a part of the main quest. Immediate death at the beginning of a long battle sequence doesn’t bode well for my chances of making it through without many tries. So whenever I think of going back to playing I remember that this battle is ahead of me. I could just do some other side quests but I’ve heard tales that if you level up too much before playing the main quests it makes it that much harder so I’m reluctant to go that route.
I tend to get bored very quickly with most games, I think the longest I’ve ever played something is World of Warcraft and Dark Age of Camelot, both for a month or two (reaching low 20 levels in each). I also very rarely finish single player games. Now I don’t think this is my problem with Oblivion (atleast not yet). I’m not bored with the story or gameplay yet.
I guess at some point I’ll get a craving for Oblivion and get back into it. I just feel kinda bad that I have such a great game and I haven’t been playing.