MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on May 7, 2020, 12:15:
Interesting question. I was going to say "most people" customize a character, but I have no real data to back that up aside from anecdotal evidence. Personally, if the options exist, I make at least one character look SOMETHING like myself, but since those options usually don't exist, usually I just settle for a character that isn't the default, looks different enough from the default that we aren't all clones if it's a multiplayer game, and remove all tattoos/scars. Ive noticed every multiplayer game, every character is covered in tattoos/scars/facepaint/whatever. Also all tacti-cool gear in Division 2, etc. Less is more, but the more serious the game, the more likely I am to make a sillier looking character just to not look like everyone else dressed in gray/black/white armor.
Also, hey new buttons on Bluesnews, nice.
In MMORPGs, yes, having enough character customization is important so that my character doesn't look like every other character running around. Still, for those MMORPGs that have 100 different facial sliders, I'm never going to customize to that amount of granularity. Give me a good array of faces, skin color, hair, facial hair, hair color, and eye color, and that's basically all I care about.
In the past whenever I have really gotten into character appearance customization I can become way too obsessive over how they look. I remember in Oblivion spending far too much time changing my character's appearance, then I got them into the game and the lighting was different so they looked ugly. Then I would delete the character and start over again. It was so tiresome.
I honestly prefer that the developers give me an iconic character to play with because they usually put extra effort into making that character look good and then I can get straight to playing the game. I didn't mind not having any choice about what Geralt looked like in the Witcher games. I chose the default Commander Sheperd in Mass Effect. I chose the default Hawke in Dragon Age 2. I'm currently playing the Wolfenstein games and I never once wished I could change the appearance of B.J. Blazkowicz. In Cyberpunk 2077 in all likelihood I'll be playing as the iconic male character seen in the trailers and that is entirely fine with me. Even if they had no character appearance customization I wouldn't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I'd rather the developer's efforts be put into something else.