Does anyone sincerely want to play as "ugly" characters in games?

[rorychief]

Attractive characters can be ugly. I find asymmetry, disfigurement, sinew, emaciation, bulbous noses, wild curly hair, non complimentary color palettes, etc. attractive. That's visually attractive, not sexually attractive. I will always choose the freak over the pretty boy. I have never felt the need to role play as a prettier version of myself or escape into a world where I am the sex icon of a generation. I prefer to play as something whose appearance tells a story, whose wounds and deficiencies imply a life less than ideal.

The best character's are built according to an artist's aesthetic preferences. An artist will have a vision for what they character should convey through their appearance, and silly men will tell them no, what the character should convey is what is considered sexy or flattering. I say silly because everyone aspires to different things in terms of their own sexual attractiveness. So if a developer's goal is to cover every man's insecurities at once they end up generalizing and hence the generic white brown haired guy.

In this sense I 'get' that my character is supposed to be sexy to someone, but I don't consider them attractive because bland uninformative things don't hold my attention after the initial cursory sweep. An attractive character can be explored until the elements that make them fascinating can be identified. Handsome joe is what men imagine women want and so he is a handsome costume for men to wear and there is nothing else to 'get' about the choices made in his construction.

 

[Setch Dreskar]

Ever play Planescape: Torment, the main character is a guy who, by description, looks as if he was flayed alive, and is covered in pure scar tissue and tears across his entire body.

Honestly the fact he is hideous doesn't matter, nor does my desire to play him stem from him being ugly but merely that he has a well written character and story arc, and the world he inhabits is filled with actual people, sure not in a physical sense, but they act more like people then just npc's.

So I sincerely don't care if the character is ugly, sexy, average, inhuman, made of goo. As long as the story is well written and presented, I honestly couldn't care what they look like, for me its never a matter of how something looks but if it is part of a well crafted universe, and actually seems like a character rather than a one dimensional cutout.

 

[loa]

My point is, whenever games have given players the option to create an "ugly" character, most of them won't use it. In addition, most of those that do use it generally do so ironically or for laughs, rather than to make any kind of serious statement about beauty standards or body image or anything like that.

Well, it's purely anecdotal of course, but one of the reasons I loved star wars galaxies was the character creation engine was incredibly versatile.
While technically the same engine and system in place for EQ2, in that game they streamlined it and took away a lot of the 'ugly' ends of the sliders.

I mention this as it feeds in to my favorite character.
A human miner who dabbled in gunsmithing but majored in claim jumping, who was a little short, a little overweight and had male pattern baldness.
If you imagine a slightly taller danny devito, touring around on his speeder bike looking for that next big mineral claim, selling cheap guns on the side and despite all physical traits pointing away from it, still dressed as han solo, you'll have a perfect mental image of what he looked like.
So, that's why I loved the character builder in SWG and, I guess, you could call him ugly too.

While occasionally I make an ugly character for laughs, quite often I'll make one if the character idea fits.
Of course, this mainly happens in RPG games, but then you don't see detailed character creators outside of them too often.

Unfortunately someguy1231's point is quite true. Every time I've seen someone specifically make an ugly character in a game which allows character creation, it was done purely for laughs and entertainment rather than some deeper role-playing.

What's wrong having fun playing a game?
I doubt many people make attractive characters to specifically make statements about ideals of beauty. Who even does that?
I doubt many people ever really roleplay no matter how pretty or ugly they make their dudes period and just bumble around through skyrim & co, shooting deathclaws in the face and finding new ways of breaking the game.

"Not many people use it like for reals" is not grounds to rationalize a wider spectrum of character customization away.
The game will be less for it.

 

[DementedSheep]

Wow, I never expected such a massive response! Thanks for all the replies.

Perhaps I should have been a bit more clear in my OP. I think I should've asked whether you'd rather play a character you find ugly or aesthetically pleasing in a game where all other things are equal.

If you are going to just make it "aesthetically pleasing" the question is so broad as to be pointless because I can find a mutated zombie "aesthetically pleasing" in a cool/creepy way. You're essentially asking if you would rather play something with a design you like than one you don't and the answer to that is going to be one you like 95% of the time.
If you arguing for the removal of so called "ugly" options, what is ugly to you isn't necessarily ugly to everyone else. If your trying to argue against "SJW's" or whatever then most aren't asking for things they actually find "ugly" out of a political statement either.

 

[Czann]

With all the discussion lately about the need for more "innovative" or "unconventional" character designs (particularly regarding female characters), I wanted to ask if you would play a game where the main character is ugly.

...

My point is, whenever games have given players the option to create an "ugly" character, most of them won't use it. In addition, most of those that do use it generally do so ironically or for laughs, rather than to make any kind of serious statement about beauty standards or body image or anything like that.

Yes. Obviously.

If people only want to play as the pretty princess or well manicured, unrealistically handsome guy it's their problem.

I don't care. Of course, pretty 3D models are good to look at but if the characters are all gorgeous it gets unrealistic pretty fast.

 

[Johnny Impact]

I made Shepard a chinless, simian, big-eared, pockmarked, unattractive fellow. Not comically ugly, but he looked like a real person with flaws, probably the least attractive face I saw in the game. My Skyrim wizard was grizzled, slit-eyed, angular, and hostile-looking, definitely a "Charisma dump stat" character.

I confess my female characters are all pretty. I have a penchant for creating Valkyries: tall, strapping lasses with large eyes, full hair, and as much lean mass as the engine allows. Sometimes they look angry or a bit weathered, and my female Nord has large facial scars plus paint, but that's about as far as I seem able to depart. I can get behind females who are off my standard but I won't play a truly ugly woman if there's another option.

 

[WarpedLord]

Sure. I do it all the time when the characters are customizable.

Partially on purpose, but mostly because they never reeeally look quite right, do they?

 

[CrystalShadow]

If the gameplay is decent, who cares.

Well, unless it's so bad you have the kind of gut reaction to want to be sick.
But that's pretty unlikely if you're playing anything even vaguely human...


Also if there's a good reason for it in the game's story (if it has one), then that works too.

Now, if I have free choice of what I can be, then probably not. But that turns into a different situation.

After all, I don't feel like playing a game like 'myself' either.

All those VR and holodeck-like concepts that revolve around a system that automatically creates an avatar that looks like the real me?
Yeah, no thanks. I want a virtual environment to be, well, different to reality.
If I wanted reality, I wouldn't be on a computer...

 

[lacktheknack]

As long as it's cohesive, then yeah, I honestly don't give a rip. If it looks like a mod-job-for-lulz, then it's immersion-crashing. If it looks realistic, then I'm totally OK with it and would go for it.

I highly doubt it would really affect gameplay, though.

 

[Skrofler]

Yes, I usually go for ugly (TV ugly, mind you, not RL ugly) if I have the option.
I played this really old orc in The Elder Scrolls, a fat Sullustan in Star Wars Galaxies, and a few old haggard witches have seen the light of my monitor.

All of these were aesthetically pleasing of course. They were also quite ugly. Those are not opposites.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

I don't care. The character has to be memorbale, believable and be a good overall package. If s/he's beautiful or not doesn't matter.

Also what's ugly and what's beautiful? I've friends that dig women i'd not touch with a 10m-pole. Yes, there is a big bunch of people that like a certain type, but that's far from all people i'd bet you wouldn't get a majority on any specific type of "beauty".
You can only argue about taste, i guess.

 

[Danny Dowling]

No.

The only time I've every played as ugly ass characters is when the character creator allows you to go way out of proportion and great some sort of Elephant Man (ie. Demon's Souls).

Other than that I prefer respectable looking characters. Other than Styx, he was cool.

 

[go-10]

I don't really care either way as long as the game is cool, I mean I think Bayoneta is ugly with her long legs and wird head but I still enjoy the game, same goes for Dante. Then you have characters like Master Chief and Samus who spend 99.99% of their game in armor, not necesarily ugly but not pretty either it's just an armor and I still love those games, and looking at reviews I would argue a large majority of people feel the same, as long as the game is good who cares

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Yes.

Like it depends on your definition of ugly, would Quentin Tarantino or Steve Buscemi count as ugly? And would I play a game if my character looked like them? Yes. Would I create a character that looked like them? Hell yes if I had any skill in creating characters.

I mean I'm pretty sure GTA5 is quite popular and those characters aren't exactly pretty.

I agree with you here... I loved playing as Trevor and he definitely wasn't a looker!
Also, GTA IV, Nico wasn't that good looking either!

OT: I don't mind uglier characters if they still have a cool factor... One of my common Role Playing characters is an evil wizard whom I would make ugly and uncharismatic! It's the contrast to my angelic paladin I usually play!

 

[MonsterCrit]

I have always made a point of making but ugly characters when given the chance. Because I love being able to imagine my character saying:

"Think I'm ugly? Look in the mirror when I'm done with you"
Or
"You think I'm ugly? Heh, you should take a look at the last guy that called me ugly"

Or
"Is that any way to talk about your mama!"

 

[SweetShark]

If the character is well-made and it have an interesting/enjoyable personality, then I don't have a problem.
Also if a character is ugly is subjective.
Finally this rule don't apply to the fighting games.

 

[Gray-Philosophy]

For me it comes down to a question of charisma rather than physical attractiveness, and I dare say it's the same for a lot of people.
I don't mind playing an ugly character if it has some kind of charismatic appeal to it, despite being hideous.

Things like Orcs, goblins, trolls and other monstrous races in some games are a good example. Even though these are horribly ugly looking creatures to human standards, they can still have a certain appeal to them through their behavior or other characteristics.

I think it's easier to like an attractive looking character though, whether its conscious or subconscious. So I imagine it's often easier to be more succesful by creating a good looking protagonist.

 

[Malkav]

It's entirely human to feel more sympathetic towards good looking faces, but I'm ok with some diversity. They can look average or below average, if their other qualities are presented well. It must fit the game.
You can play as a Nosferatu character in Vampire the masquerade: bloodlines. This turns you into a monster on the outside as well. You get a whole different insight on your clan's culture and how other Nosferatu deal with it. It turns the game into a stealth game entirely, and many story characters get freaked out by you.
Trevor from GTA V is clearly below average, and he has no redeeming qualities. I don't want a hardcore psycho meth junkie to look even normal.

Lastly, character looks can reflect or break the game world. In Skyrim, I want different bodytypes on both men and women. I want viking like women here and there. If they are living in nordic, rough, monster ridden wastelands, they shouldn't look like muscle- and fat-free models who wear bagloads of makeup. Why would their hair be flawless and their skin look like Photoshopped? They seem much richer than they should be, but many mod creators like doing that.

 

[Kingjackl]

I usually don't consider my character's physical appearance that much when I'm playing them. If they're good looking in a way I find appealing, I certainly won't complain, but at the same time playing as an ugly bugger can have it's own charms.

I have a lot of fun making characters with a visual personality in character creators, and that usually means avoiding conventional attractiveness. My Skyrim main was a poe-faced thug who looked like he belonged in chains, my Saints Row IV boss was a huge intimidating black man styled after Michael Clarke Duncan (imagine my annoyance to find there was already a character like that in the game, presumably because the devs assumed Saints Row IV's target audience were least likely to pick the black guy), and my third Commander Shepard was a red-headed step-child with his hook-nosed face perpetually screwed up into a look of extreme irritation, which fit perfectly with his 100% Renegade attitude.

 

[NoDamnNames]

If it counts i prefer to play as the non human classes in skyrim. my favourite is the Argonian because i really like that water breathing. I dont think it is for novelty of just being able to play as a non human, I'd just prefer not to be a human in certain fantasy/science fiction scenario if given the choice.