While they may look similar on the surface as both are open-world first person games, there are fairly big differences in the actual design of Skyrim and New Vegas. Skyrim encapsulates what tolknaz talks about. There are no limits placed around the player, it doesn't really matter what you do in the context of the game world. You can bash your way through the Thieves Guild questline, there are very little choices to make within any given questline, there are several characters with plot-armor. Even the one part where things diverge (stormcloaks vs imperial legion) has very little things reactions to what you actually do. Even if you murder people, you can essentially reverse any negative consequences through various means.
New Vegas has a *lot* more choice in how the player can solve situations, you can choose which factions to support and not with boons and consequences. In the main quest you have 4 big ways to go about it, with many smaller differences within each one.
In New Vegas I have absolutely no problem in coming up with character concepts and roleplaying. In Skyrim I do because very little of what I come up with with gets a reaction from the game. It's a wide-open world, with a big list of almost completely linear quests. I could come up with a kick-ass character concept in Skyrim, with interesting views on things but what does it matter? I would have to A) imagine the consequences and B) actually restrain myself in engaging in a lot of the content. And those two points are very important tasks of the GM (or in this case, the game), not the player if you ask me.
I quite liked Skyrim as long as I had more of the world to explore, but once I'd seen most of it, my interest dropped like a rock because… While the world itself is really nice, the actual interaction with the world is *extremely* lacking. And that interaction is a very important part of the more open RPGs to me.
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