Poll: Character customisation: Do you usually make stupid looking characters?

[verdant monkai]

Hello escapists

I was thinking about character customisation the other day, and wondered what people thought about making ugly/funny characters. Usually I don't bother because I find it ruins a games immersion, and at the end of the day if I make a stupid character, it may be funny for a while, but I will enjoy the game more if I find the main character cool.

Whenever I play with friends we always have to make the most hideous character possible, because my friends always find that funny. But customisation is one of my favourite things in gaming, and left to my own devices I will spend over an hour making the best looking character possible. I will make stupid looking characters, but only after I have finished the game. I have never finished a game as one of these guys though, because I lack the immersion I require to want to finish the game with something stupid.

The only exception is my Dark souls guy, and that was mostly due to the character creation being crap in dark souls. He also had a helmet on for most of the time, and even without it he was usually hollowed so he sort of looked like a walking raison. When human he looked like a pretty average guy, but he looked a bit surprised and had a pretty thin head, with a sharp chin and nose.

What are your thoughts on character customisation? Also please post your best monstrosities, I would do some of mine but they are all on xbox so I cant be bothered sorry. So here's a good one from bioware social......

 

[hazabaza1]

On a second+ time through, sure.
First time through I take it seriously though. Can't have silliness mucking up my immerzuns.

 

[tippy2k2]

I always make a stupid looking character...

...cause I base it off of my own looks


Every time I do character creation, I do everything I can to make it look like me.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Nope. Never. My characters tend to usually end up looking fairly similar regardless of game, amd I never make them look silly. It even pains me a little when I have to put them in silly looking or mismatched sets of armour.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I'm extremely meticulous when I create characters, so they rarely end up looking silly. Unfortunately, character creators rarely use the same lighting as ingame footage, so I always bring up the console to start tweaking things until they're perfect.

 

[Full]

I usually go with the default thing, but if I don't I make it funny. Call it stupid, but it doesn't really get "tiring" for me, because after a while I just see a badass hero person who looks likes a puffer fish and a mole rat glued together.

Why can't a gross, deformed looking person be taken seriously and save the universe?

 

[lRookiel]

Nope I'm boring and like to make believable looking characters.

 

[TehCookie]

Depends on your definition of stupid. If I can make a JRPG femboy that is always the first character I go for. If I can't then I go for something more normal looking. I rarely make my characters ugly but I do create characters is odd themes like lolis or steroidbeasts if the character creation is diverse enough.

 

[Catfood220]

I try to make my characters look sensible and for the most part I succeed. However at one point my Fallout 3 character looked like William Riker from Star Trek: The New Generation.

 

[uzo]

I remember seeing a thread on /v/ loooooong ago where some guy would make a character in Morrowind who looked exactly like one of the Dunmer in that first village. He would follow him into the swamps one day, murder him, hide his body and loot his corpse, and then 'assume' his life. The dude had been doing it for a couple of weeks in game and he was becoming certain that the AI was suspicious about his doppelganger.

I only make hideous characters when I'm drunk and in the company of similarly drunken friends.

Although I have to say my first Oblivion character was a Breton I tried to make look like me. I just bumbled with the controls for an hour or so and then

O
M
F
G

Absolute spitting image. Closer than a brother resemblance - more like a twin or a mirror. Only difference was that in real-life I had a zorro/erroll flynn style moustache (which I've sported since 1998).

My wife said "Well .. now I know what you look like without a moustache. Keep it."

Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing ... ? :S

EDIT: Some of the faces people make for their avatars in M&B Warband/With Fire & Sword/Napoleonic Wars are freaky. In Napoleonic Wars most people are involved in Line Battles so they take it kind of seriously; but the Native players just go nuts. I've seen a few look like Admiral Ackbar whilst they batter people to death with throwing axes. It's a trap!

 

[Sack of Cheese]

No! I just make them as pretty as I can!! Manly guys and girly girls!
Although if I'm bored and it is possible, I'd try to put my guys in women clothing.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

I like to make my characters look like unlikely badass heroes. Not stupid really, just like... Dorky, or weak, or meek looking. It gives me such satisfaction to see such a character rise above the odds and get their hands a bit dirty to save the world... Or destroy it, or whatever the game allows me to do.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Not unless the character creator is Bethesda levels of awfulness. Behold.




I try to make characters look as not shit as possible. I think the only ones I really liked were Saint's Row 2 and 3 and Dragon's Dogma. They were really good.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I always take character creation seriously.

And I never make a character who looks like me. I find that dull.

 

[Jfswift]

During my first playthrough I'll make a serious, cool-looking hero type (I was upset at Mass Effect 3 because they scrambled my shep's custom face up. That bothered me more than the lame ending even. )

Afterwards, then yea I usually screw around and make a silly character. :3

<youtube=W326tS0jHWk>

I found this video by aznmeowmeow on youtube. Dark Souls

 

[Tahaneira]

In a game like the Elder Scrolls? Sure, I do that occasionally. But if it's a game where I'm actually going to have to see my character's face on a regular basis, I'd prefer to have it be something I could take seriously.

 

[Da Orky Man]

I almost always at least try to make a decent-looking character, though it doesn't work. My DA: Origins character looks really depressed and glum, yet has an upbeat cheery voice.

 

[Fijiman]

I don't do it that often, and when I do I usually don't actually stick with the character. My brother has made a couple of silly ones though.