I was reading a discussion in developer's corner whereas people argue for and against integrating detailed character custimization like you see in Everquest 2, City of Heroes, and Elder Scrolls Oblivion

I always assumed this was a key factor. Even in Ultima Online I remember spending a lot time designing my elf. Even in Rainbow 6: Vegas I worked hard to unlock attractive looking face masks.

I always assumed many were like me? This is one of the things that normally turns me off to Asian games when they ignore making players look unique

In EQ2 my friend and I always sorta missed our elves haha I thought they looked so cool. And I liked the music.

Yes, i like looking unique but.... I'm not a graphic designer or artist of any sort, and every character iv tried to custom make in like EQ2 have turned out to be grotesque clones, i prefer uniqueness coming from equipment/clothing.

good point I prefered the clothing I could do in city of heroes to facial features. Unless you mean you much rather be able to attain unique equipment....

character creation is All for me. i need a good character creation and, later on, while playing I need my character to look cool. I can have a noobie character looking weird if I know it will look cool in the future.

Peace!!

To me it is one of the most important feature in a game.

I utterly fail at seeing how this is an important feature to a large portion of the community.  I've never been abled to identify anyone beyond their name.  basing rembering someone on looks just doesn't work

for me character creation is choosing my user name and password, followed by a male avatar with short brown hair.

the most important part of character customization is choosing my name or rather which one to choose now that I have a nice pool that I like.

however armor customization in game is mildly important to me.  though it normally ends up with me sticking to the semi-basic looking armor until I HAVE to switch to the junky looking frilly armors you have to wear at high level.

Originally posted by paulscott

I utterly fail at seeing how this is an important feature to a large portion of the community.  I've never been abled to identify anyone beyond their name.  basing rembering someone on looks just doesn't work

for me character creation is choosing my user name and password, followed by a male avatar with short brown hair.

the most important part of character customization is choosing my name or rather which one to choose now that I have a nice pool that I like.

however armor customization in game is mildly important to me.  though it normally ends up with me sticking to the semi-basic looking armor until I HAVE to switch to the junky looking frilly armors you have to wear at high level.

Guess you never played pre-cu SWG (don't know how it is now). I turned names off because I could recognize people's characters well before I could read their names. It was great--now I keep names turned off in games even if I can't tell people apart just to keep that feeling.

Yeah, it's a key feature!! I don't like games where your character customization is down to a minimum, like in WoW. At least equipment makes up your looks afterwards, but it's not like you can actually choose what you are wearing, since it's always about the effectiveness and level of the equipment. Still, granting a "medium" level of initial customization is nice if it's within an equipment-based system, like in EQ 2.

I consider character customization to be an important aspect of MMORPG's.   However, I prefer options, not detail.  What I mean by this is you are given many choices of face, body type, etc. rather than scaling your characters attributes yourself. 

In some games you move bars across the screen to change the details of your character.  I don't like it. 

I like to see many already created looks that you can mix and match.  Some games do this, but they usually just don't have enough options. 

I imagine most people would like the former style though, allowing more detail and control. 

I like looking unique, but like a poster above do not like sliding bars all over the place. One or 2 are ok, especially for height. Along the lines of CoH. Many options there.

I think it not only helps immersion, it helps with gameplay if they decide to implement features for it like no floating names or NPCs recognizing you to kill you unless you are in a disguise. Something along those lines.

For me, a roleplayer and artist, its very important, but small distinctions like tiny differences in ear sizes on a slider type system is pretty pointless in the long run. However, I like a system a little more robust than WoW's, especially being able to pick my body type, height and width.

I am a big fan of character customization, and I really like games that give many options to make your player look incredibly unique such as CoH. But, I did not vote yes, because I really don't believe it is essential for immersion. Sure it is nice, but is all about gameplay when it comes to immersion. If you are not having fun, you are not going to play the game, no matter how cool and unique your character looks. (I hope that isn't the case for AoC)

--axehero

Customization is paramount..........

There are very few ways for players  to distinguish themselves in these games as armor and weapons tend to look very similar one gets the feeling of being lost in a sea of clones. Only games like SWG and COH have really addressed this issue in such a way that a player may look completely unique which from a roleplay and immersion point of view is absolutely necessary and I dont feel current games give enough attention to this.

Originally posted by paulscott

I utterly fail at seeing how this is an important feature to a large portion of the community.  I've never been abled to identify anyone beyond their name.  basing rembering someone on looks just doesn't work

for me character creation is choosing my user name and password, followed by a male avatar with short brown hair.

the most important part of character customization is choosing my name or rather which one to choose now that I have a nice pool that I like.

however armor customization in game is mildly important to me.  though it normally ends up with me sticking to the semi-basic looking armor until I HAVE to switch to the junky looking frilly armors you have to wear at high level.

For me it has nothing to do with how others see my character. I get a lot more enjoyment from the character if I can customize its looks and stats, dosn't matter to me if nobody ever sees any of it.

I consider it important.  It can be alot of fun in many ways.  Too many games don't pay enough attention to this.  SWG's system was good, but too many people felt the need to cover all that customization up with armor.

Originally posted by 0over0

Originally posted by paulscott

I utterly fail at seeing how this is an important feature to a large portion of the community.  I've never been abled to identify anyone beyond their name.  basing rembering someone on looks just doesn't work

for me character creation is choosing my user name and password, followed by a male avatar with short brown hair.

the most important part of character customization is choosing my name or rather which one to choose now that I have a nice pool that I like.

however armor customization in game is mildly important to me.  though it normally ends up with me sticking to the semi-basic looking armor until I HAVE to switch to the junky looking frilly armors you have to wear at high level.

Guess you never played pre-cu SWG (don't know how it is now). I turned names off because I could recognize people's characters well before I could read their names. It was great--now I keep names turned off in games even if I can't tell people apart just to keep that feeling.

i was just thinking that, character customization was great in swg, i recognized people from their look so i didn't have to read all the names and people recognized me. i hated not being able to design a unique character in wow, everyone is same with different hair and skin color.

yeah to be honest the custimization in city of heroes was far and beyond my favorite I can never understand why more MMOs do it.

in world of warcraft I was never ever happy with the avatars opn Horde side. I see they have Blood Elves now but if you make a Blood Elf Mage you have to wear a dress- I cant stand wearing a dress on my guy toons. Was jkust so much happier with what City of Heroes did.

Not as important as character development. Eventually the games get to a point where everyone is wearing whatever equipment has been calculated to be optimal. What sets players apart is what skills they bring.

Id pretty much agree here.  Character customization is very important, but you dont need to go over the top.  I really dont think you need the amount of facial customization that you have in Oblivion or SWG, but you do need many more options than you have with a game like LOTRO.   Plus, and I understand that there are reasons for this, but most of the important customization areas are usually the ones with the least options:  Height, Weight, Body type, Hairstyle, Clothing.  Those are the features that make a character instantly recognizeable.

Kind of a weird example here, but when you make a character for the Wii, you wouldnt exactly say it has an extensive customization process.  But, its pretty crazy what people can come up with on there, especially  when you can point out their character without even seeing the name.