How critical customization is in your gameplay experience?

drycat

After the post I made in Ripper's topic on customization and women in gaming, I thought it might be interesting see how many of us here, male and female alike, prefer a hi-degree of customization at character creation, as well as  throughout their character's life online. This does not just include clothing.

I suppose, with this, we could bring up another great aspect of SWG: it's character creation process, and the continuing ability to alter your player's appearance throughout their "tour" online. The only reasons I would not want to see a significant amount of customization, would be that it detracts from the other elements that we might otherwise enjoy. So, to add to the options that I would like to see, not to say that it is necessary for FE to have these, I'll start a small list:

1. Tatoos - whether we enjoy having these IRL or not, tatoos can fine tune the perception we hold about our toon, as well as others' perceptions.
2. Makeup - probably not for most of the male players, but it couyld be used as war-paint of some sort. But, definitely highly sought after by female players.
3. Hair-styles - a personal favorite of mine.
4. Customizable Facial/Body features - this could only help to distinguish the player from others online. Features such as: eyebrows, cheeks, jaw, shoulders, arms, legs, etc. etc..

Well, I'll stop there. No since in creating a large list of things that SWG offered, since most of the features I listed above can be found in SWG. Minus the tatoos. Although, I think SWG needs a face-lift. But, that is just me.

But, anyway, if anyone has anyone comments, hopefully we can discuss the pros and cons of these types of fetures in an MMO. And, add more fuel for the devs to ponder over since they have stated they keep their eyes on MMPORG.com for potential content.

sinoth

This is sorta a silly question.... its like asking if anyone here likes money. Of course we want customization, and the more the better. There is no possible reason I can think of to want less customization. Whatever the devs have time and resources to put in the game, we'll take!

mogge666

Indeed, the more option we have during character creation - the better...:)

I would be very disapointed if the creation where like WoW where everyone looks almost the same. But im fairly sure that Icarus will not make us disapointed..:)

drycat

Well, I was hoping for more input than yes or no, but I can't argue with affirmative respones hehe 

I hope there is going to be a good deal of customization as well.  Just trying to find ways to fill the void while we wait for Fallen Earth

Trying to keep the torch lit .. or something like that

Blackmoor

Yes, I like customization, as much as i can get so i don't look like a cookie cutter of everyone else

Also if i remember right you could get tatoos in AO as well. Well if by tatoo you mean the needles and ink kind and not the short guy tagging along shouting DA PLANE DA PLANE!

As to the pros -

You aren't like everyone else. The sense of uniqueness in mmo's has been dropping drasticly of late. Cut a corner here to make the meshes easier at the expense of the character models. Only having a few sets of armor you can't even dye etc etc.

Makes you easier to find in a crowd.

Fun to see just ugly you can get your outfit.

Easier to make just a few of everythign and not have jack for customization on the developers end.

Cons -

You look different , different is bad. You must fit in the mold and be like the rest of the herd or they will mock you!

Fun to see just how ugly you can get your outfit. AC1 was great for this ,, i was always known for having the ugliest gear around. It was good gear but i didn't care how it looked ,, and ohh how i miss my blacklight helm you could see from a mile away. AO , well there was always my atrox in a pretzel bikini. That was the stuff of nightmares.

Harder to do on the developers end.

My thoughts are that lots of customization is a great thing. The uniqueness and attachment to the characters it brings far outweighs the extra effort on the dev side. DAOC AC1 and COH were great on the customization side of things and it did add to the enjoyment of the game a good bit.

Cthulhuvong

More more more! The more the better. But I doubt we will have to worry about this. I don't think they're going to go Lineage 2 or WoW with their character. I think, the best to take notes from would be City of Heroes/Villains. Allow players to choose their clothing, their looks, the colors of things (though limiting them to post-apoc/realistic is a good thing).

caprison

Honestly I think it would even be cool to be able to do things like add a sixth finger, make one eye more droopy than the other.. on a more general note.. In most game reviews where you create a character what's the first thing in the article.. character creation process.. it's also the first interaction the player has with the game.. (except for the extra fun part of clicking next through the installation).. i'd say it ranks pretty high on my list..

ordeith

Speaking of making characters unique, the ONE thing I have missed in games (AO, WoW, Neocron) is the possibility for a character to dye clothes... if I'm gonna try to stalk some mutated animal in the wastelands of Fallen earth, i do not want a red shirt, blue pants with a yellow helmet on top of it all to make me look like a gleeman!

I could stand with less character customisation (facial expressions, tattoos, hairstyles) if we get to dye our clothes/armor. (and in the latest newsletter it seems you can customise the clothes on you aswell! 22 slots and able to open/close a jacket, putting a baseballcap backwards & stuff like that... that sounds awesome)

Slagathor

The more customization, the better. In the beginning of the game, character customization in the area of skin tone, tattoos, scars, hair style and the like are very important for uniqueness. I can understand if clothing and weapon options are very limited at first. Let those things come later as we progress.

Stedfast

Character customization is cool and should be part of all MMORG's. Otherwise it gets real boring seeing the same characters. SWG had it right in that area.

Stedfast

Character customization is cool and should be part of all MMORG's. Otherwise it gets real boring seeing the same characters. SWG had it right in that area.

ordeith

Yeah, SWG had a really good character creation feature, if something like that is implemented in Fallen Earth it would be awesome, but really... facial expressions and stuff like that is only visible if you zoom in or actively tries to look at a character, clothes and armor apperances is more visible than IE a piercing in the nose.

mogge666

According to the newest newsletter, we will have our wishes granted..:)

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We've implemented thousands of combinations of faces, hairstyles, skin tones, body and facial hair, tattoos, piercings, and makeup. Players will be able to mix and match to their heart's desire, then go nuts with clothing, armor and accessories (up to 22 slots), and carry up to 6 active weapons, all of which are visible.

But wait! We're just getting started...

Everyone likes feeling unique, and we're shooting for unprecedented levels of customization to enhance your role-playing enjoyment. You'll be able to zip up your jacket to protect yourself from the chill of the night when you're wandering the wastelands or wear your jacket open when toiling under the scorching noontime sun. You can even tuck in your shirt when someone complains that you look like a slob, or flip your baseball cap backwards when you're getting ready to wade into a brawl... how cool is that?

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maimeekrai

How critical customization is in your gameplay experience?

Hi, my name is Maimeekrai. and I am an Alt-o-holic...

Character customization is probably the #1 thing that attracts me to a MMORPG.

I've been known to spend hours in the Character Generator in CoH. I've spent more time designing some characters than actually playing them. I got burned a few times during CoV beta because I was still in the CG when they shut the servers down for the day and I had to do it all over again the next day...

The best thing that EQ2 did was release the Char. Gen. before the game went live. It's what finally sold me on it over WoW. Oh, and the braids!

The #1 reason I try to do betas is so I can check out the Char. Gen.

I agree, being able to change all the aspects of your appearance is better than picking from "presets". When I played AO, I was often frustrated by the fact that the hairstyle I wanted for my char didn't come with the face I wanted.

One thing I'd like to see is a "realistic" hairstyle mechanic. What I mean, is being able to change your hairstyle yourself, within reason. Within reason meaning you wouldn't be changing the color or length every 10 minutes. You would, if your char had short hair for example, be able to choose different short hair styles like spiked, slicked back, side parted. Long hair, choose between loose, braided, or up. Buzzed or bald, well, you'd be SOL I guess...

While some people do have a personal style, like a woman who always seems to wear a ponytail, being stuck with that ponytail 24/7 is kinda ridiculous. Sometime you just wanna "let your hair down", so to speak.

SWG was on the right track, but you had to be an entertainer or track one down, everytime you wanted a change.

 

Hardware-DC

Hands down, everyone lieks to customise.  Big example of disappointment was from Matrix On-Line.  Going from SWG where you could change EVERYTHING possible to a game that had preset faces to chose from and 3 body types was very sad.

I want to be able to make myself look like whatever I am in the mood for, and the chances of someone picking the same stuff is 100000 to 1.

Nierro

I'll put as simple as this.

If I start a game, and people look remotely similar. I put it away and never come back.

I don't even like people being the same class as me.

Atheraal

Have you ever tried Second Life? The character customization in it is ridiculously awesome. It took me an hour, but I was able to create a face and hairstyle that looks nearly exactly like mine.

Hardware-DC

Hence MXO being shelved after 7 days.........talk about another sad ass game.  And guess who took it over to screw it up ever more.

Yes, SOE, the makers of SWG own MXO and it is getting its first major revamp...the combat upgrade.  Those SWG players remembering how well that went and what came after will understand that MXO is about to become an even bigger failure.

 

GOD PLEASE FE HURRY THE HELL UP!  lol

Nierro

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Originally posted by Atheraal
Have you ever tried Second Life? The character customization in it is ridiculously awesome. It took me an hour, but I was able to create a face and hairstyle that looks nearly exactly like mine.

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Is it free?

Atheraal

Yup. You need a credit card for age verification though. I can send you a referral link if you want.

Hardware-DC

Second life rings a bell, but I can't place it.

Atheraal

http://secondlife.com/

It's the most polished looking and feeling metaverse at the moment. Pretty neat concept, if I do say so myself. If you decide to grab an account, tell me first, and I'll give you my account name. If you put me down as your referrer, it gives me some cash, and ill give some to you once you're in-game.

Hardware-DC

Is that the game that is a like a pyrimid scheme game.  Where you use REAL money to buy property and clothing and can sell things in the game for real cash, etc.  I can't remember if thats the game or not.  But I heard of one you actually pay like 100 bucks a month to own a "dance club" but can charge people real cash to get in and pay real cahs to DJs to play live music, etc.

Atheraal

Yeah, you could do that. I'm a bigger fan of the PvP content areas than the "dance clubs" myself, though.

Hardware-DC

I didn't know there was PvP, I will have to take a closer look at it now.

Atheraal

Yeah, there are entire zones dedicated to deathmatching, a few more rpg-based, and some random stuff in between. You can use the in-game scripting and modeling to create pretty much anything, so people have gone to town on it.