I'd swear that a couple of times when I've used this and the local yokel was standing with his back to a wall my hero got pushed back. I could be wrong, I have a habit of being wrong, so my wife tells me.
Sometimes distance and angle might affect the "push", along with nearby objects. I try to keep at least 1 character-width between myself and the actor that needs to move because if I'm too close the collider will push the player instead. The "Gain Way" spell should last long enough to experiment with the ideal push range though. It's basically a large crystal model painted invisible that surrounds the player and moves forward, resets behind the player and moves forward again repeatedly for a few seconds.
Just a reminder that in Oblivion, you were able to push the NPCs around by simply bumping into them. However, for reasons unknown, this convenient feature was taken out in Skyrim, thus making it only possible to get rid of NPCs by standing right in front of them and wait until they feel like to move out of your way - with the "Huh?!" and the disgusted expressions on their face as if you're the weirdo for try going through a door - or use any means of hostile activity, such as shield charge perk or fus ro dah.
Some claims that it is still possible to "push" the NPcs in Skyrim by sprinting towards them, which will occasionally make them flinch towards the opposite side where they're currently facing, NOT towards the side where you're sprinting to. And this has some sort of cool-down as well, so you have to wait for about 5 seconds in order to trigger this 'sprint flinch' on them again.
I can't wait to experience this in Cyrodiil when Skyblivion comes out.
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Some claims that it is still possible to "push" the NPcs in Skyrim by sprinting towards them, which will occasionally make them flinch towards the opposite side where they're currently facing, NOT towards the side where you're sprinting to. And this has some sort of cool-down as well, so you have to wait for about 5 seconds in order to trigger this 'sprint flinch' on them again.
I can't wait to experience this in Cyrodiil when Skyblivion comes out.