Wandering around in GW2 I am seeing a lot of muscle bound avatars running around, not to mention the Miss World contestants look a likes.

Having a great looking avatar is great but wouldn't it be an awesome RPG element to be able to only have a really fat or skinny avatars from level 1.  Only then to gain some sort of points that allows you to tweak your avatar gradually through the levels so that by mid to upper tier they are super athletes? (Add a bit to the bicep, shave a bit off the thighs)

That way a player can show off their avatar as well as their gear/clothing and you will feel that the avatar has grown through their journey as well.

thats certainly an idea. If it went with all the other perks of improving a character that might not be a bad idea. But, afaik most developers are under the impression that we want to feel like heros from the get go, despite the various quests/missions/hearts where we help out farmers feeding their cows and whatnot.

If gear also required your toon to be a certain size LOL - well I can just imagine all the hoopla that would follow.

Most players are not atheletes.  MMO's are made to get away from RL so you will see more athletic style avatars and less round ones.  Like Panda's vs Human's.  Which will be more popular if a player was presented with the two?  Also, there is this too: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html - I am personally rocking on the edge with that too.

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I guess it doesn't have to be fat or skinny but at least something that you could earn and adjust so a level 80 character would have access to options that a level 1 player wouldn't.

e.g.

- new tattoos

- hair and beard styles

- scars

even better...for RPG sake. Make a scar available on a very rare opportunity when you die or get X amount of damage in one hit etc.

Just think there are some awesome ways to bring the rpg element into an MMO.

I like your ideas.   I just fear about implementation.  Implementation would have to be made in a way that those things are really unique and make by possible combinations would make your character have it's own look that would reflect decisions you make.   Hard to do propably but very interesting and fun.

I would be afraid that those would be implemented as some kind of 'achievements' people would 'complete and check on the list'.  In that way it would be meh.

Originally posted by chryses

Wandering around in GW2 I am seeing a lot of muscle bound avatars running around, not to mention the Miss World contestants look a likes.

Having a great looking avatar is great but wouldn't it be an awesome RPG element to be able to only have a really fat or skinny avatars from level 1.  Only then to gain some sort of points that allows you to tweak your avatar gradually through the levels so that by mid to upper tier they are super athletes? (Add a bit to the bicep, shave a bit off the thighs)

That way a player can show off their avatar as well as their gear/clothing and you will feel that the avatar has grown through their journey as well.

 

In Shadowbane, a good bit of your character's appearance was defined by your stats. Putting multiple characters of the same race and class next to each other but with different stats, one could visually identify a basic idea of how much of a dexxer, tank, dps, etc they were. I'd really like to see either a system like that in MMOs or a system like Saint's Row's character creator.

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by chryses
 

In Shadowbane, a good bit of your character's appearance was defined by your stats. Putting multiple characters of the same race and class next to each other but with different stats, one could visually identify a basic idea of how much of a dexxer, tank, dps, etc they were. I'd really like to see either a system like that in MMOs or a system like Saint's Row's character creator.

I really like this idea - appearance based on stats. Some classes/races/gender just dont seem 'right' when playing them, like a super buff male human/orc/etc running around in cloth robes and a magic wand as healer/caster, or a tiny hafling/gnome/elin/whatever swinging a battleaxe 5x thier bodyweight. Maybe its just me, but stuff like this damages the immersiveness of a game. Would be great if it was stat dependent, so appearance would 'fit' the role as you progress. 

I'm all for features that make characters look unique.

In this particular case, I would go counter-culture.  My avatar would be a big hairy burly guy sporting ill fitting clothes that show off his plumbers crack.

So would you move and carry things based on your starting size/shape?

All game characters are ripped because A. They're heros, and B. They run everywhere while carrying 400 lbs worth of stuff. Who on earth wears plate while carrying 5 swords, 2 pairs of leather boots, 20 bundles of wood, 60 hides of leather, 30 chicken dinners, etc and then runs and jump around while fighting everything?

If you want realism, then your fat character can carry a few things and has to walk slowly everywhere, gets exhausted after two fights and can't enter combat until the next day. Or if you're character is skinny, they can only carry a few things and break their arm even if they block or parry a critical attack and cannot enter combat for 30 days until it heals. Have fun!

Originally posted by Rusque

So would you move and carry things based on your starting size/shape?

 

All game characters are ripped because A. They're heros, and B. They run everywhere while carrying 400 lbs worth of stuff. Who on earth wears plate while carrying 5 swords, 2 pairs of leather boots, 20 bundles of wood, 60 hides of leather, 30 chicken dinners, etc and then runs and jump around while fighting everything?

If you want realism, then your fat character can carry a few things and has to walk slowly everywhere, gets exhausted after two fights and can't enter combat until the next day. Or if you're character is skinny, they can only carry a few things and break their arm even if they block or parry a critical attack and cannot enter combat for 30 days until it heals. Have fun!

This was actually done in past games that your character strenght affected how much you can carry, there was also stamina which also varied between characters, etc 

Of course total 1:1 realism would not make a good game, but above ideas are not bad.   In example - you can be very strong very musclular but you will be slower or wear out faster.

Noone here proposes total realism, just elements of preudo-realism that would make game more interesting.

Originally posted by chryses

I guess it doesn't have to be fat or skinny but at least something that you could earn and adjust so a level 80 character would have access to options that a level 1 player wouldn't.

e.g.

- new tattoos

- hair and beard styles

- scars

even better...for RPG sake. Make a scar available on a very rare opportunity when you die or get X amount of damage in one hit etc.

Just think there are some awesome ways to bring the rpg element into an MMO.

Now you're definitely talking.  I think those are all great ideas that would play very well to anyone interested in progressing their character.

Although, I'm not sure what beard I'd want to put on my female characters....

Originally posted by Rusque

So would you move and carry things based on your starting size/shape?

 

All game characters are ripped because A. They're heros, and B. They run everywhere while carrying 400 lbs worth of stuff. Who on earth wears plate while carrying 5 swords, 2 pairs of leather boots, 20 bundles of wood, 60 hides of leather, 30 chicken dinners, etc and then runs and jump around while fighting everything?

If you want realism, then your fat character can carry a few things and has to walk slowly everywhere, gets exhausted after two fights and can't enter combat until the next day. Or if you're character is skinny, they can only carry a few things and break their arm even if they block or parry a critical attack and cannot enter combat for 30 days until it heals. Have fun!

Actually, that would be hilariously interesting.  A type of MMO where you start off realistically, which then builds up and changes as you do various things in-world.  Maybe you start off overweight, but then find yourself forced to take up the gauntlet because of some earth shattering problem and you're one of the few (or many subscribers) that decides to get off the couch and do something about it.  So you run around, stamina bar depleting rapidly, having to rest frequentily until your body gets used to the activity, visually changing as they perform more and more.  Same with the skinny 'twerp' start up.  Might not have to rest as long, but strength being an issue.  Might have to be more sneaky, until all that working out starts to build muscle. 

Also, keep in mind all the stuff you 'eat' in order to regain health/stamina.  You might have gained stamina with a ton of quests and built up a lot of muscle, but those 5 chicken dinners, 3 fish meals, and a dozen sodas to regain strength/stamina during your adventures is starting to give you quite a belly.

Originally posted by Duranu

Originally posted by Rusque

So would you move and carry things based on your starting size/shape?

 

All game characters are ripped because A. They're heros, and B. They run everywhere while carrying 400 lbs worth of stuff. Who on earth wears plate while carrying 5 swords, 2 pairs of leather boots, 20 bundles of wood, 60 hides of leather, 30 chicken dinners, etc and then runs and jump around while fighting everything?

If you want realism, then your fat character can carry a few things and has to walk slowly everywhere, gets exhausted after two fights and can't enter combat until the next day. Or if you're character is skinny, they can only carry a few things and break their arm even if they block or parry a critical attack and cannot enter combat for 30 days until it heals. Have fun!

Actually, that would be hilariously interesting.  A type of MMO where you start off realistically, which then builds up and changes as you do various things in-world.  Maybe you start off overweight, but then find yourself forced to take up the gauntlet because of some earth shattering problem and you're one of the few (or many subscribers) that decides to get off the couch and do something about it.  So you run around, stamina bar depleting rapidly, having to rest frequentily until your body gets used to the activity, visually changing as they perform more and more.  Same with the skinny 'twerp' start up.  Might not have to rest as long, but strength being an issue.  Might have to be more sneaky, until all that working out starts to build muscle. 

Also, keep in mind all the stuff you 'eat' in order to regain health/stamina.  You might have gained stamina with a ton of quests and built up a lot of muscle, but those 5 chicken dinners, 3 fish meals, and a dozen sodas to regain strength/stamina during your adventures is starting to give you quite a belly.

Pumping Iron MMO.  They can get Arnold Schwarzenegger to do the voice overs.

I had a similar ideas for mages/wizard/sorcerors and long white beards.

You start clean shaven, and as you progress your beard gets longer and greyer until at top tier where you sport your long white mages beard as a badge.

Fable, the MMO.

As you use magic your hair turns white. As you get hit with metal/magic/death, you gain scars. As you age, your hair gets longer. You want to use a giant 2hander, you have to build strength. So on and so forth.

I would dig a bunch of that stuff.

I like the post about huge muscle bound avatars running around in mage cloaks.  How incredible would it be if, as a mage, you gained symbols, markings (that you choose to use or whatever) as you become more powerful.  Having athletic mages running around like knights isn't that realistic. 

Still think it would be a lottery thing though.  e.g. each time you died, got bitten, fell from great heights, cast critical spell or critical hit, there was a tiny chance of getting a new option for your avatar.

Would love to see some level 80's running around with tons of scars and symbols.

This is a great idea, in my opinion. Character creation should not stop before even entering the game. Scars being earned, body changing as you engage in activities, changing hairstyles and/or facial hair, and all the rest suggested is great!

Unfortunately, I see these being introduced in the cash shop, like WoW's barbers, and the changes becoming buyable, not earned. The again, a real barbershop (using in game cash) to trim your hair as it grows or change the color/style would be kinda cool. It also helps one feel the passage of time, which is totally lacking in MMOs.