Do you prefer to build characters similar to yourself, or completely different ?

[chocolate pickles]

By this, i mean in both terms of personality AND skills? (also other factors, if you want)

For example, if you have firearms experience in real life, would you roll a character who is also a decent shot, or go for a chainsaw wielding psychopath? If your a handyman, do you roll a competent repairman, or a computer whizz?

Or do you simply pick what is effective in game, regardless of what your actually like?

 

[The Wykydtron]

I have to take lockpicks and speech skills no matter what. Best example is obviously Fallout 3/New Vegas where if there's just ONE door with a lock I can't open I cannot rest until I know what the hell is inside. I make a mental bookmark on where the door is and make it a point to go back for it once I have enough points. Same with Speech really, it's annoying knowing I could have talked a guy in circles instead of doing whatever roundabout quest he wants me to do. I got sick of having to do the space-faring ghouls quest for that one guy in Novac for the info to keep the story going so I just talk him down or if I forgot the Speech check, pickpocket the memo off him immediately and cut an hour off the journey.

As a rule I minmax in RPGs just because it tends to be more fun. Yeah I could put a boring even spread of points into my SPECIAL attributes but how about we start the game with max Intelligence instead. I was REALLY curious on what that 90+ Science check was on the gateway robot going into Vegas alright?

 

[CyberSinner]

Completely different. I like to write novels and so making characters and backstories is super fun for me.

 

[Savagezion]

Mine get randomized as I browse options. Sometimes, I end up with a white guy that looks like me. Most times I end up with something weird. Like a girl lizard with a dagger obsession and paranoia or a black male bow hunter/ranger who has decided to explore the world. I do sometimes show up in my roster though.

 

[Clowndoe]

There's only one way for me to make a character: Push every slider to one side or the other and wonder how this story would play out IRL given the abomination that's trying to convince people he's a hero.

 

[Zhukov]

I don't think I would enjoy create-your-own-character games if the only character I could make was a tall, overweight white guy with terrible stamina, mediocre skills in first aid, melee weapons and firearms and terrible speech/charisma scores.

 

[Drizzitdude]

I usually tend to build my characters as an ideal of how I would like to be. I usually go for the stereotypical knight-hero character and tend to stick with that. People might say it's lame but that is what I like I suppose. When it comes to combat I usually take into account what the game performs well with (for example: Melee weapons in Fallout are terrible if you don't devote everything you have to making perform well) but for the most part it's shield and sword for me.

 

[Saltyk]

Well, I prefer melee weapons and did take martial arts when I was younger. And I tend to prefer melee classes and characters. So, I suppose I do to an extent. At least in what I prefer.

Otherwise, I take skills that support that preference. The ability to make armor or weapons, for example. Healing magic or First Aid. I also tend to like to have some skill in talking my way out of things in games like KOTOR, which I suppose goes in line with my preference to avoid conflict if possible.

I also tend to design male characters to look something like me, though maybe not a perfect replica. Female characters on the other hand, I tend to make attractive and usually with red or black hair.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Skill-wise I tend to make characters who are charismatic (which I am not) and intelligent (which I like to think I am), so I guess it's kinda 50-50 there.

Personality-wise it depends to a certain degree, but I tend to have the most fun when I play characters who have personalities similar to my own and have similar values, or extremely determined chaotic goodish types, so 50-50 again, except I tend to play the latter more often actually. Maybe 30-70 is a better description there.

 

[mrdude2010]

I usually have a standard long range+stealth layout I like to build, but I also usually build at least one other character that's completely different. It just makes the game more interesting for me to play it in a completely different way.

 

[Jhonie]

Well, playstyle-wise I often make my characters similar to myself, as the weapons I prefer in-game are the ones I have some level of experience with in real life, such as unarmed martial arts skills, a rod or a bow, although while I do have some experience in using a katana, I almost never use a two-handed greatsword and always prefer dual-wield, either daggers or swords. Axes and maces are too bulky for me. Also I like to play as either a thief-like character, ranger/druid or otherwise just DPS-ing with some CC added into the mix.

Appearance-wise preferences does shift with time, but at the moment I usually shift around, with a few preferrences. If I can play as some kind of beast race, I will almost always play as that, like the Khajiit and Argonians in ES. I pretty much always play as Sylvari in GW2, because I really like plants. Also the female Sylvari player character is voiced by Jennifer Hale, and that should speak for itself.

Lastly, I always play as a female character, for three reasons: 1: As I am a girl myself, I feel most comfortable playing as one. 2: Female characters usually have better voice acting for some reason. 3: I detest bulkiness, especially in armour and weaponry. Female armour, regardless of skimpiness level, is almost without fail a LOT less bulky than male armour, especially in fantasy scenarios.

So to conclude: While some of my preferences are based on me and my own abilities, I do like to switch around and make different characters appearance-wise, but I have a fairly solid playstyle that I'm comfortable with and rarely deviate from.

 

[Ieyke]

Just completely depends.
One of my favorite characters is my Saint's Row 4 character. He was President/Cardinal/gangster/Sith Silver Surfer. We was a surprisingly awesome character design that just kinda organically happened as I was playing with the options to find what looked the coolest.

CAPTCHA: "Fool's Paradise"

 

[HellbirdIV]

As a rule I default to female characters in games where it's an option. So, that's a "no, completley different" from me.

 

[Ferisar]

I never make myself in games, but I don't find myself particularly interesting. I tend to idealize a bit, but lately all I've made has been female characters. As far as skills, nah. None of the skills I'm particularly decent at translate well into games, so can't really have much there. Hm... Yeah, no idea. I've never really given it that much thought now that I think about it. It'd be easier to do if I ever played a tabletop RPG, but don't have the people to do it with. Maybe I'll try one day.

Maybe in DA:I.

...

WHO AM I KIDDING, I CAN PLAY THE QUNARI

FUCK HUMANS MAN.

 

[Trunkage]

I'm a mage so I first pick anything that lets me do this. I did a run through the ME trilogy where I tried not to use any weaponry on Insane. (On a side note, the first mission on all three games where the hardest, esp ME3). TES I have only ever picked Altnmers, so I can use spells all the time. I actually found I had to use weaponry all the time in TES even with Altmer, I cant imagine how bad the other races were.

I parties like DA I usually go 2 wizards, thief/archer and warrior. I think I did 3 wizards, 2 warriors and a thief in Baulders Gates.

I usually pick the option for best result. I usually demand payment when the option is available unless I find out it has consequences further down. I "suck up" to get people on my side so I can get what I want but will call them on being idiots if there isn't a consequence (like yelling at the Quarians and the Geth in ME3 when they were blatantly being stupid.) My "morality bar" in ME series is usually full paragon, half renegade.

That generally not how I am in real life. I'm a teacher, so I'm pretty patient, ask questions to further the students own investigations, and do thing to benefit the other person.

 

[Schmeiser]

Well if there is a choice to wield katanas i will always wield a katana even though i have no sword training in real life, katanas are fuckin awesome. But personality wise i always project myself and since i'm a good guy i always try to do the right thing in games. Even though i would like to be evil in games it's just so hard for me not to mention how devs usually suck at making evil chars

 

[The Funslinger]

I don't think I would enjoy create-your-own-character games if the only character I could make was a tall, overweight white guy with terrible stamina, mediocre skills in first aid, melee weapons and firearms and terrible speech/charisma scores.

Yeah, I think it's probably more appropriate to say that in games, people more aptly make idealized versions of themselves.

 

[FancyNick]

Well, when I was younger I just made the characters based on what I thought was cool. Now I make all my characters based off what my old characters have. For instance, my first character in fallout 3 had long black hair and his skills were given by that questionnaire in the beginning. He was a "priest" with medicine, heavy weapons, and science. Now all my first characters in games after him have a similar appearance and similar type of skill set. My demon's/dark/2 souls first character has the same name, appearance, and he is a priest who uses big weapons. I have more examples and they all fit that theme. It's kinda a habit but also brings a sense of togetherness with all the games I play.

 

[Rattja]

I tend to make my opposite on every level. Usually really short/small female, high strength, good charisma/speech, agile and innocent looking, and tanky as I can make it to withstand as much punishment as possible.