A lot of talk going on about character models, their diversity, the number of races available to play, and having an ugly character instead of the 28 year old ex-Governor of California.  So it makes me think about having the game developers create the characters for us (like many games), and making sure it's done well.  Of course, clothing options could always help differentiate your character from the next.

I didn't vote because I'd play a game like that if there was customization for hair style and color, beards, etc.

I think that something on this order could be the best choice, actually. Make 10-15 body shapes and sizes (maybe more?) and allow for facial (noses, eyes, hair, etc.) and color choices based on the base appearance. You could also have "race" affect this within races. Such as, a race of human woodmen being typically tall and light haired and with hooked noses of several sizes, etc.

I voted no just because I would feel like I'm the same character as everyone else.

Even if everyone of the same race looks identical, you still think "I am a different goblin than this other goblin who looks identical."

In such a game, I would think "Oh, I'm the fat warrior. Wait, this guy is the fat warrior too. Why is he ME?"

Originally posted by Emergence

I voted no just because I would feel like I'm the same character as everyone else.

Even if everyone of the same race looks identical, you still think "I am a different goblin than this other goblin who looks identical."

In such a game, I would think "Oh, I'm the fat warrior. Wait, this guy is the fat warrior too. Why is he ME?"

Yeah this is how I feel as well.

Although that's mostly in context of games (like MMORPGs) where player expression and character creation is meant to be a big part of gameplay.  I certainly have enjoyed TF2 (even back before the advent of hats) because player expression simply wasn't why it was fun, and that's an example of basically 9 player models making a fun game.

Originally posted by Emergence

I voted no just because I would feel like I'm the same character as everyone else.

Even if everyone of the same race looks identical, you still think "I am a different goblin than this other goblin who looks identical."

In such a game, I would think "Oh, I'm the fat warrior. Wait, this guy is the fat warrior too. Why is he ME?"

 i voted also no, but from completely different reason - why should i care how my char looks like? only moment i would care would be, if the game wouldnt show player names, than it would be important to have visual clues.

In most MMOs, my name and gear would be much better identifiers than any amount of chin and cheek adjustment sliders, so I wouldn't mind preset images. In half the games I play the choices seem to limit the player to that amount of combinations anyway.

Voted no.  The ease of picking a character based on your suggestion would last a few minutes.  The turn-off in seeing tons of players that look just like yourself will last months or years. Character creation is the initial 'hook' that can get you into a game.  It can be an effective way to portray an alter ego of yourself and your personality.  It helps you connect to the game world. 

TC

Originally posted by Axehilt

Originally posted by Emergence

I voted no just because I would feel like I'm the same character as everyone else.

Even if everyone of the same race looks identical, you still think "I am a different goblin than this other goblin who looks identical."

In such a game, I would think "Oh, I'm the fat warrior. Wait, this guy is the fat warrior too. Why is he ME?"

Yeah this is how I feel as well.

Although that's mostly in context of games (like MMORPGs) where player expression and character creation is meant to be a big part of gameplay.  I certainly have enjoyed TF2 (even back before the advent of hats) because player expression simply wasn't why it was fun, and that's an example of basically 9 player models making a fun game.

Oh yea, in a game like TF2 I have no problem with it.

Oddly enough, I still feel like I'm "an engineer" or "a heavy weapons guy" instead of "THE engineer" or "THE heavy weapons guy".

Of course, FPS games do that easily because they make you feel like you are playing "Me". "I am a engineer." "I am a heavy weapons guys."

RPG's assume the role of someone ELSE "I am this character."

Odd, but how it works for me. If I could relate to the characters, maybe...but I can't relate to "The fat warrior" or "The skinny mage" and the character I would like the best would most likely be the character everyone else likes the best, such as "Vincent from FF7" or "The Rogue" because he looks so much "cooler" than "The fat guy". It also depends on class. What if I wanted to be a warrior, but didnt want to be fat.

The choice I wanted wasn't there in the poll.  Because I'd put a "Hell to the F**kin' No."

I already dislike the growing trend of lazy ass developers putting a limited selection of character customization when you make your toon.  DCUO is a nasty example of extremely limited customization of recent note.

Character customization is big for me because it's a chance for someone to put a stamp on their character to try to make it theirs.  I don't like limiting it to only a handful of limited possibilities, and I definitely would hate the idea of being able to pick only from a completely standard character from a predesignated lot.

I like the freedom of choice in making the appearance.

I wouldn't mind it if it was an option along side the normal huge customization. Normally you have all these ways to customize your character, and then there is as a random generator for the lazier people. For most games I know exactly what person I want, but often with newer games (with their ever widening options), I'm not positive what person I want to play right away, so I use the random generator and some freak shows up (I think random is code for clown person or something). So it would be nice to choose basic pretty, dark female mage and just check out the world, get an idea of how easy it is to RP and stuff.

While I want to say it doesn't matter, it kinda does.

Case in point; AoC beta.

If you played through Tortage, you may recognise the NPC that wants you pick up fish at the harbor area for him... he's fat as all hell. You used to be able to make characters with the same proportions, and I grew real fond of my fat-ass-assassin. There were major clipping issues with the clothing though, including a  "jungle bandana" found in the first moments that had most hairstyles poke through it (but it actually looked great that way, since it became a headband on most characters).

IMO, they should have tried to do what they can with both the fat chars and that bandana, because in the latter case it was an unintended effect that worked out quite well aesthetically... but I guess the art team figured that making lemonade out of those lemons wasn't part of the plan. As for the removal of fat chars, I can understand the reason, but it's still a bit of a letdown, since I had first-hand experience with them.

Another thing to gripe about was having a lot of hair styles and facial paints removed just prior to launch. I made a Dark Templar with a really pointy nose and a "dead presidents" white face paint that ended up being removed. My guess as to why? I think they wanted to make the only NPC in the game to have it (Askia in the underhalls) be more unique. I was quite displeased with that in general.

Summary: More is BETTER.

Thanks for the replies.  From what i infer is that most people want the various body types (ecto, endo, and meso if 10th grade science class taught me correctly :) ), but also the customization of that already exists in some of today's brighter character models.  For some reason, I'm not sure this can be done.  Don't know why, but I get a feeling that it's really really tough.  Even the cut scenes of some of RPG's and Action/Adventures still don't have what the mmo players want.  Anyone know the reasoning behind this?

As for the original post, I think many people don't seem to realize how much the clothes make the person.  In the question there's a lot more variability than what I think people are thinking.  50 different "types" of people is pretty astounding.  You could have your thief be played by: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Will Farrell, Anderson Silva, etc...