Starfield Player Notices Interesting Error on the Game's Computers

gamerant.com:

One Starfield player was recently surprised to learn that some computer consoles in Bethesda's latest RPG have a Windows key. Although this keyboard feature was possibly included in error, some Starfield players did come up with a number of viable theories explaining its existence in the game's world.

While neither its critical reception nor fan reactions reached the heights of Bethesda's biggest hits, such as TES 5: Skyrim and Fallout 4, Starfield was still one of the best-selling games of 2023. Millions of players around the world have hence been scrutinizing every aspect of the RPG since its September release, which resulted in an ongoing influx of interesting insights, some more observant than others.

One particularly attentive Starfield discovery was recently made by Reddit user Syxtaine, who realized that some keyboards in the game have a Windows key. The player found this feature to be an odd addition to Starfield's computer consoles, not least because PCs in Bethesda's space-faring RPG don't run Microsoft's operating system. They are instead all equipped with Starware, a fictitious OS boasting a retro-futuristic aesthetic that doesn't seem to have that much in common with the Windows UI.

The discovery eventually made its way to the front page of the r/Starfield subreddit, prompting a popular discussion that yielded everything from jokes to some viable explanations for this oddity. Some players have hence argued that the presence of the Windows key on Stardeck consoles could simply be a skeuomorph, a derivative element that retains some obsolete design characteristics of its functional predecessor in order to help users grow accustomed to it more easily. One modern example of skeuomorphism that many will be familiar with is the fact that most contemporary software still uses the floppy disk icon as a saving symbol, even though floppy disks themselves haven't been in widespread use since the late '90s.

Other players came up with more straightforward explanations,