Visual cutimization is nice.   Nothing is more annoying than seeing everyone decked out in the same high end gear.   But that's just annoyin and stays that.

I would say it matters a great deal to me, cause if I can't make a custom character why bother playing?

Of course most games make it moot since the camera is so far away you can't see your or other peoples characters and everyone will be covered in the same suit of generic medieval armor anyway.

So I prefer if customization was more than just face and body but clothing as well and the camera was much closer so you can actually see peoples faces and such.

Visual character customization is extremely important to me. If I can't play a character that fits my visual tastes, then I have a lot of trouble enjoying the game. This is my big problem with WoW, I refuse to play Horde (I dislike everything about them, specifically the visual atmosphere), so I only play Alliance. But there's a problem, if I want to be a male character, then I'm stuck with the choice of 3 roid-monkeys or 2 midgets, neither of which appeal to me one bit. So I played a female human, which I can sorta tolerate, but it just feels awkward. Not to mention the character models in WoW are trash, they're all blocky and deformed, there's no sort of robe/dress physics, all the armor is just painted-on textures, and of course the characters can't wear hats or helmets without their hair disappearing. As a final note, what I find interesting about that last point is that there's several NPC's who wear hats and still keep their hair, just goes to show how lazy Blizzard was when they designed the avatars in their game. Though if they ever change this, like by giving the character models a much-needed facelift, (They improve the graphics in other areas, so why do the character models have to look like crap?) then I'll be happy to return.

You know it doersnt matter a lot, until you go into a game where there is little to NO character custmization. When you can see clones about you with the same armor, same race, same look. I dunno, it just makes you feel ...'blech'

Character customization is a feature that some games (CoX) thrived on. Champions Online may recapture that (remains to be seen ..but hopefully they have good gameplay in addition)

For me, it's the second most important element in an MMOG.

First is gameplay.

I would add that character customization experiences diminishing returns.  If you were to graph ammount of character customization and player enjoyment then the more customization you the less enjoyment it adds per addition.

So if you have 0 customization being able to change the hair adds a lot of fun for the players, changing the face adds some more though a little less, adding the ability to change the body adds more but less than the other two additions.

My point is, there is a point where all the minutea does not really matter to the players, and I am thinking about Oblivion here, but the ability to change the width of my character's sellion doesn't really matter to me, infact it burdens me with all the small details that I know I will never be able to turn into a decent looking face.  Rather than let me adjust all the tiny little details per part, just give me different shapes, like 10 nose shapes and then let me resize a bit, same for other body parts.  People are more apt to notice 10 or less distinct shapes per body part rather than tiny details that even the player wil not see.

Originally posted by flguy147

hey everybody, i wanted to see everybody's opinion how much VISUAL character customization matters to you?  ONLY how your character looks from your initial creation of your character to the armor and weapons you get to make your character look truly unique in the game. 

It's really important to me. I can't play a game if I dont like what I see. And this is in the most dirty way you could think. In the other hand. I cant play a game if its boring. So graphics matter to me as much as gameplay.

Although Fight Club insisted, "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake," I like to still think I am.

If I can only select from 5 premade faces, 3 haircuts, and a handful of eye colors, I think the develpment team has missed the boat somewhere. Never underestimate the value of customizing the little things. EQ2s facial construction is over the top, but has anyone ever (legitimately) complained that they have too many options so they won't play the game? Not really, but I've heard the opposite complaint countless times.

Now a character's face can barely be made out up close, much less at a distance. That is why armor models, color changes (dyes), and visual accessories are huge to me. If someone wants to add spikes to their shoulders to stand out, they should be able to. This doesn't have to be a whole new armor set; they should be able to pay a smith to add this to their existing armor.

Of course, the best looking/customizable characters will never be played unless the gameplay/mechanics are good, so I rated a "9" here.

I posted recently about wanting to eliminate a bunch of the clutter of lots of annotations, markers and such all over the screen. I'd also like to see the floating names vanish, but have other ways of identifying everyone. If character faces were truly unique and floating names were abandoned, then it would be interesting to be able to hold down a button to see an enlargement of the visible characters' faces overlaid on the characters. (Conceivably, that could be applied to any part of the character, permitting visual inspection of jewelry, weapons, etc)

Hopefully, players would get into the habit of spotting characters by their gear first, and confirming who they're looking at by a quick 'glance' at the character's face. If you don't know who the character is, you don't know their name. To make that work would require a certain amount of stability in character gear over time. If the gear is constantly changing, players would be obligated to identify characters by their faces. The faces don't change.

It also dodges the fact that players can have really annoying character names, and they're always billboarded all over everyone else's screens.

In any case, it would place greater emphasis on the appearance of a character as a gameplay issue. Today, I like to see variety in player gear, but would prefer subtle realistic variations instead of the garish stuff that exists today.

I gave it a 9. I identify a lot with my chars, so how they look is of high importance to me.

It is very important, but not only when you create the character. We need custonization all the way to the end.

WoW has little customization and when you hit the end game, every class looks the same amongst each other.

WAR was nice because you can atleast dye your armor, so you have the same look but different colors.

CoX have the best customization, there is no gear, only your superhero/villain suit and you can have many different one.

Like someone already said, we dont care about 200 settings for the nose/mouth/eyes, but as long as you can choose from many style of face/hair and choose your heights and weights.

In the overall scheme of game design, it is very low on my list of importance.

Originally posted by JB47394

Hopefully, players would get into the habit of spotting characters by their gear first, and confirming who they're looking at by a quick 'glance' at the character's face. If you don't know who the character is, you don't know their name. To make that work would require a certain amount of stability in character gear over time. If the gear is constantly changing, players would be obligated to identify characters by their faces. The faces don't change.

This is a very cool idea.  In fact, it's so compelling to me because there is a possible historical precedent for it.  And it would just be pretty damn cool to live in a gaming world where people actually had to pay attention to those around them and how they fit into that world.

.....

I remember reading something about how in classical societies warriors/knights/etc. of unknown origins would flip up the face guard attached to their helmets as they approached each other (or lift up their hats/helmets).

Doing so signaled respect and (at least temporarily) peaceful intentions... flipping up your mask allowed the other stranger to see you... the real you, and it also was a good faith gesture because by opening up a delicate part of the body to an attack (the face), you show your adversary that you are willing to give diplomacy a chance.

Plus, in order to flip your mask up and keep it up, you need a free hand (which means you have to sheath your sword)... another gesture which greatly reduces your potential threat  and ability to defend yourself.

This practice of flipping ones mask up/removing ones helmet/hat, etc., etc., is possibly the basis of the modern salute.  There are other theories, but just think of the way a knight or warrior would hold their hand as they flipped up their mask and held it open.  It's a probable basis for where the salute came from....

.....

Now, imagine this in game.  You are traveling along, and notice somebody approaching from a distance.  They are wearing strange armor, a suit that you've never seen, and you don't recognize the coat of arms or colors they are displaying.  As they approach, you worry if you are facing a quick PK death and the loss of what little loot you are carrying on you in these troubling times....

But, as the stranger approaches (and you desperately zoom in on their covered face, hoping to figure out who it is that's about to kill you), they pop open their helmet and there, under all of that scary armor, advancing fast... much. too. fast. is.........

your stupid damn friend, sporting an obnoxious grin, as he starts bragging on his new suit of XYZ armor... just before you not-so-stealithy stab him in the face and laugh at his PC's body slowly dropping to the ground.... that will serve him right for scaring the crap out of you, then rubbing it in your face like that... won't it?

;^_^

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Originally posted by MustaphaMond
This is a very cool idea.  In fact, it's so compelling to me because there is a possible historical precedent for it.  And it would just be pretty damn cool to live in a gaming world where people actually had to pay attention to those around them and how they fit into that world.

---

It would be my hope that players would find themselves behaving in a way that makes interactions with other characters match the environment more naturally. Not roleplaying per se, but just staying consistent with the game context. For example, everyone who plays fantasy games talks about spells, armor and such. That's not roleplaying, but it's staying consistent with the fantasy context of the game. It happens because it's a natural thing for the players to do.

With the need to rely on seeing character faces, players would spot a character at a distance and perhaps only know that the character was primarily wearing red. "Which way did the guy in the red cape go? Did anyone see?" That, as opposed to asking in the zone-wide channel "Where'd ImaPseudonym go? Did he log?"

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't even see the gear on other characters. I scan the name off the billboard floating over their head and then I'm pretty much done. I know who they are. That billboard IS the character's face. I suppose I glance at the character to note its class.

Dark Age of Camelot had guild crests on shields and capes. It would have been interesting to see how things would have gone if the billboards were removed and players started to rely on what they saw on the character to determine who was who. They might start to ask for a quick and easy way to see the character more clearly.

It kills me to see games like EVE Online build these great spaceship models - and then not be able to see anything more than a targeting icon.

The downside to all of this is having to remember a bunch of character faces instead of names. They had better be pretty distinctive.

The hundreds of sliders for faces is completely unnecessary.

You dont look at your own face and others can barely see it. Chews up a lot of resources for something that has little impact in-game.

I would rather have lots of races, hair styles, armor models and body types.

One thing I liked about Lineage 2 is that melee classes and caster classes had different body types.

(vague machinima idea)

he slurs, "yeah doc, I just need a little nip and tuck and these tattoos removed..nah, don't touch the hair"

..he glances at his watch on the surgical table. This was sloppy,  he should've already been way out of town, by now..

*darkness*

the doctor examines him.

inventory:

worn on head: a stylish doo

worn on face: a crappy homemade tattoo

worn on neck: a crappy homemade tattoo

worn on body: a crappy home tattoo

Worn on arms: a crappy homemade tattoo

worn about body: a hospital gown

*darkness*

someone's scalpel cuts his face.

Character customisation is extremely important in a modern day MMORPG. I think the most essential thing is to have a very wide variety of hairstyle/face options. And I do mean very wide, as they typically are the things people notice, height and minor body tweaking is cool but not necessary for me, personally. Aside from that I think it should be standard for each game to have an appearance system in place, so that you can customise your character to look the way you invisioned them looking for that game.