Poll: How important is character / game world customization.

[XT inc]

How important is character / game world customization.

Through recent months, becoming a more accepted notion, character customization even in strong character driven stories is becoming more and more prevalent. Which begs the question How important is it really? I for one think it is very important for games to have at least aesthetic options for you character to help it have legs. I personally don?t think I would invest half as much time in some games if it was just a cut and dry game with no venue of expressing myself in the game world.

For me If I am going to invest time into something I believe it should reflect in my game. Otherwise the immersive experience become disingenuous and unmemorable. These experiences have to be vast and complex, not just a generic model change or mild tint, which is something COD black ops almost did, but it was a shame they left it only in the guns section.

What do you think, how important is it to you to leave your distinct personality on a game, to be yourself, or be who you want to be. Even in situations where you are supposed to be someone you are not, maybe you're the kind of person who would have liked a game more if you could have just changed the main characters hair color from the start?

As a side note feel free to add me on steam(link on my profile) if only for a day to help me in their glorious treasure hunt, and my quest for more hats.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Depends on what game it is really. Something like Oblivion where there's very little character customisation in relation to dialogue choices makes up for it with a stupid amount of asthetic choices (especially with mods). For instance, in Mass Effect 2, my FemShep always has auburn hair, green eyes and prodominant cheek bones, it lets me create an experience 100% tailored to my play style. In Oblivion I have a female moonshadow elf (a mod race) with a white bob hairstyle, red eyes and, check this, a female version of Ezio's armour from Assassin's Creed 2 (fuck yeah). That customisation isn't forced on me, I choose it. I'd rather there the options available but not necessarily forced on the player. I have literally spent hours in character creation screens trying to get a character look just right, but I'm anal like that.

 

[XT inc]

Saints Row 2 did a decent enough job getting This Idea going, The player get's to choose almost anything, Well except maybe the most important thing, The gang color, and name. I Understand that that would alter the whole storyline if you changed the name, but maybe I really just do not like purple.

Maybe some day us console gamers will get to use spray tags in multiplayer, Unlikely though seeing how we are babied at everystep, even in spite of the "game experience may change during online play" flag, They really seem to want to censor people, which means a few bad apples really did ruin it for the rest of us.

 

[ElTigreSantiago]

Saints Row 2 did a decent enough job getting This Idea going, The player get's to choose almost anything, Well except maybe the most important thing, The gang color, and name. I Understand that that would alter the whole storyline if you changed the name, but maybe I really just do not like purple.

I totally agree. I spent the whole game like "Damn, I love how much I can customize my character and vehicles. But why the hell can't I change my gang?"

I loooove customization in games. It is a perfect replacement for the boring, unlikeable characters that some developers use. I just love the feeling of playing as my own character, exactly how I want him to be. And I wish more games would be like the Sims and let you make your own house. Imagine if you could make your own house in Saints Row 2...

 

[TerranReaper]

I can really care less about character customization, considering it has almost no bearing on your gameplay experience, for me anyways. Game world customization, depending on how it's done, can either be the same as character customization or a big fucking deal.

 

[The Night Shade]

Depends on the game but i enjoy a game more if i have a character that i can customize

 

[Irridium]

Depends on what game it is really. Something like Oblivion where there's very little character customisation in relation to dialogue choices makes up for it with a stupid amount of asthetic choices (especially with mods). For instance, in Mass Effect 2, my FemShep always has auburn hair, green eyes and prodominant cheek bones, it lets me create an experience 100% tailored to my play style. In Oblivion I have a female moonshadow elf (a mod race) with a white bob hairstyle, red eyes and, check this, a female version of Ezio's armour from Assassin's Creed 2 (fuck yeah). That customisation isn't forced on me, I choose it. I'd rather there the options available but not necessarily forced on the player. I have literally spent hours in character creation screens trying to get a character look just right, but I'm anal like that.

Hell yeah, thats the same armor I use for my male character!

OT: Well, it means quite a bit to me. Hell, I'd spend hours with the Universal Dye Kit Dragon Age Mod getting all my tints just right.

The dye kit lets you color items. And weapons. Its awesome.

I also spend hours in character creators, making my characters just right. This takes longer thanks to mods.

As for world customization, well thats really damn important, as I also include mods in this area. Take Oblivion as an example, its still on my Hard Drive after almost 5 years solely because of mods. Same with Morrowind. And neither are coming off it anytime soon.

Another example is Dragon Age, where there's plenty of mods that re-design the characters. From you, to your companions, to everyone else. The re-designs vary from lore-based, where characters are made to look more like their personality, to pure aesthetically pleasing, which probably isn't really lore-friendly. The point is that they allow you to make the world how you want it. How you want to play through it.

They also allow the community to fix massive problems with the games. See: Oblivion, Fallout 3, and New Vegas user-made patches.

Mods are amazing, and give you the ability to make things exactly how you want it.

 

[Ruzzian Roulette]

There is nothing I love more than customizing my character. From the in-depth customization of Saints Row 2, to Halo's armor permutations, even to changing Nico's clothes in GTA4. To me, it's important to be able to shape my own gaming experience, to generate my own immersion. If I can put myself in the game, it's that easier for me to get addicted.

For example, I love Left 4 Dead, it's one of my favorite games. Adding an extremely in-depth would skyrocket the immersion level into space for me. My dream game is a free-roam zombie-apocalypse game with in-depth character customization and up to 4-player co-op. Admittedly, I know that'll probably never happen, but Left 4 Dead comes close, and that one added element would make that game near-perfect. IMO of course.


EDIT: 1337 posts! EPIC.

 

[jamradar]

Yes I love making my character look just like I want them to.
If they dont look just right I have to do it over.
I have replayed the first mission of Mass Effect more times than I can count.To me the first mission in that game is just a testing ground to see how my characters look outside the character editor(they always look different in game than in the editor).

 

[Zedayen]

Character customisation is always nice, though sometimes you can never get it to look the way you want. As for game world customisation,in relation to modding, it's cool sometimes, but in relation to the game itself, I like the idea that what I do in the game has direct consequences to the world around my character, but most games do very little in this regard, apart from changes through the main plot of course.

 

[Erana]

In terms of story, I can accept a character different from my tastes, but if I'm expected to decide their very being... Well, if I can feel like the character is mine, I can feel more free to make a choice, rather than feeling obligated to choose what I think the character would want.

 

[Something Amyss]

Saints Row 2 did a decent enough job getting This Idea going, The player get's to choose almost anything, Well except maybe the most important thing, The gang color, and name. I Understand that that would alter the whole storyline if you changed the name, but maybe I really just do not like purple.

Maybe some day us console gamers will get to use spray tags in multiplayer, Unlikely though seeing how we are babied at everystep, even in spite of the "game experience may change during online play" flag, They really seem to want to censor people, which means a few bad apples really did ruin it for the rest of us.

One of the things I liked in SR2 as well was that I could choose all sorts of ridiculous stuff for my character. From a Jason Vorhees deal, to a "ballin'" outfit to (My personal favourite) running around in a trench coat, stoner glasses and a sombrero, I could be as classy or ludicrous as I wanted, and even swap rapidly.

I'd love to be able to use custom tags, but there's a problem with that, too. More custom options means more technical issues online. Loading and such. Every option can be an issue. Though Saints Row 2 managed to not push graphical limits, so it might be doable.

I'm a big fan of customisation, though. The more, the better. If I could change the colour of my guns, I would. I'd customise every vehicle I'd get that wasn't locked. I have like 5 different characters with different styles, gang appearances, etc. And while lack of custom options has never stopped me from buying a game, it can be a huge plus or con relating to my interest.

Still, depending on the game. I mean, I care less about dressing up a fat italian plumber than I do about the option of making my own character in a sandbox game.

 

[Something Amyss]

I think my post was eaten by the postivore monster.