I read an interview or developer diary somewhere where they said a lot of PC gamers never got past the first screen and went to play DOOM instead
The amount of subjective guesswork going on in a statement like that is so insane, it makes the average baseball writing hack look smart. (Not bashing you, I know you're just quoting something.)
Unless there was a poll where one of the answers was "There were too many options, and so I went to play Doom", this is ENTIRELY made up.
Also, the people that had that problem had already bought the game, so I fail to see how it really matters (thinking purely like a publisher here).
Making your games more stupid is never a good thing.
Having said that, I have no real problem with a bit of railroading at first. It just slaughters the replayability of the game, however. I love Oblivion, but having to fucking slog my way through that cunt of a beginner dungeon every single time I start a character pisses me off to no end.
Creston