Having played Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim I ponder the question, have they dumbed it down? Yes and no. I like the fact they've removed some redundancy from the game. There were too many attributes, didn't like in Morrowind you had a skill for axe, blade and blunt weapons, not its one handed or two handed especially considering I like to use all of them. I don't lose points for using one over the other. On the other hand, magic has been completely destroyed in Skyrim. Aside from a few shouts in Skyrim, I don't use magic at all, except for enchanting armor or weapons. In Oblivion I used magic as major part of my weapon skills. I guess in Skyrim, I don't see a use for it much. How about the objectives. I know the showing of where and who to talk to makes people feel Skyrim is dumbed down, but I like how the objectives are listed in Skyrim (although you can turn that off so you don't see such things). Its easy to see what is active and what isn't, unlike Morrowind with that journal with pages you had to flip though. I missed many side quests because I just never knew they were there in Morrowind. I do get the feeling that in today's society younger players want a rich, complex universe and yet, be able to sit down and play the game in an hour.