Well, it comes down to whether I just live in the world or I get to be a hero or someone special in that world.
Truthfully being a normal person in most video games would blow chips because everything is in crisis/threatened which is why you need the heroes to save it. I suppose the action and stuff is cool for the heroes when viewed from outside, but really would you want to be "dude #64 crushed during scene of mass destruction"?
The Forgotten Realms might be cool as an adventurer as long as I wasn't pathetic and penniless all the time.
Brittania (from Ultima) would also be fairly nice.
As far as most future games go, despite being a science fiction fan most of the ones in games are extremely grim so I'm not sure if I'd go for that. To use Fallout for example, I'd imagine it would be an exercise in constantly worrying about starving to death, dying from radiation, or winding up on the menu of some mutant. The "Vault Dweller" heroes are by their nature very exceptional individuals, it isn't like that for most people.
When it comes to things like Conan, or Warhammer 40k neither would be bad if you were close to the top of one of the cooler totem poles, but living there as an average person? No... just no.
>>>----Therumancer--->