Poll: When a game lets you create your own protagonist...
- Thread starter Juste Goose
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... depends?
In games, where there is some "homo-sapiens-normativity" (e.g. The Secret World, EVE), I tend to approximate my own looks (handsome devil that I am). In more species-diverse games, I tend to go for whatever look I happen to find appealing.
Those are not ironclad rules, as I made a "mini-me" in skyrim, just because I didn't find the *-mer races optically appealing, and back in the day, when I started WoW, my only thought was: "Huge awesome Minotaur guy! Alli-who?". But then, WoW humans do look... bad, the males at least.
EDIT: Oh, and if it *is* human-centric (?), but "designed" to be out there (superhero games like DCU Online, City of Heroes), I just go nuts and try anything from Gay Fiery Angel-dude to Tiny, Ridiculously Strong Mummy-girl.
As to how I play them? Depends on the amount of freedom I have. I will play anything from paragon of righteousness to the meanest dirtbag if it comes to me naturally with the flow of the game. In badly written situations, I tend to go with the "intended" choice. Like in Jade Empire, I tend to play Open Palm, even if I do like the Closed Fist *philosophy* more - but because the writers only give you "righteous dude" and "ridiculous, moustache-twirling sociopath", I tend to go with the result where I don't feel punished for my "equally valid" choices.
In games, where there is some "homo-sapiens-normativity" (e.g. The Secret World, EVE), I tend to approximate my own looks (handsome devil that I am). In more species-diverse games, I tend to go for whatever look I happen to find appealing.
Those are not ironclad rules, as I made a "mini-me" in skyrim, just because I didn't find the *-mer races optically appealing, and back in the day, when I started WoW, my only thought was: "Huge awesome Minotaur guy! Alli-who?". But then, WoW humans do look... bad, the males at least.
EDIT: Oh, and if it *is* human-centric (?), but "designed" to be out there (superhero games like DCU Online, City of Heroes), I just go nuts and try anything from Gay Fiery Angel-dude to Tiny, Ridiculously Strong Mummy-girl.
As to how I play them? Depends on the amount of freedom I have. I will play anything from paragon of righteousness to the meanest dirtbag if it comes to me naturally with the flow of the game. In badly written situations, I tend to go with the "intended" choice. Like in Jade Empire, I tend to play Open Palm, even if I do like the Closed Fist *philosophy* more - but because the writers only give you "righteous dude" and "ridiculous, moustache-twirling sociopath", I tend to go with the result where I don't feel punished for my "equally valid" choices.
I tend to make an approximation of myself, if the only choice is human or if I have chosen a human character, because when I play RPGs, on first playthroughs the choices I make are usually what I would do, the weapons I pick are what I would like to be using. Basically, I do what interests me, so, I might as well be controlling me.
Then again, if you give me something I like better than a human being (which GW2 didn't, which is a pretty big achievement, I've never found other races more uninteresting) I'll pick that and from there, I'm RPing.
I'm often disappointed that few games let me create/play as monstrous characters. That's the coolest way to play, I think, not necessarily bad, though, I almost never play evil characters, just...a new perspective. And when you're a monster, you can really rip the bad guys to shreds. That's why I like picking characters in Timesplitters. So much choice. As you can see, I chose Headsprouter.
Then again, if you give me something I like better than a human being (which GW2 didn't, which is a pretty big achievement, I've never found other races more uninteresting) I'll pick that and from there, I'm RPing.
I'm often disappointed that few games let me create/play as monstrous characters. That's the coolest way to play, I think, not necessarily bad, though, I almost never play evil characters, just...a new perspective. And when you're a monster, you can really rip the bad guys to shreds. That's why I like picking characters in Timesplitters. So much choice. As you can see, I chose Headsprouter.
Always go original except Fallout 3 New Vegas. There I made Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly. *squee*
I create myself, and on the second playthrough, once I know the world I'm dealing with, I create an original character to suit the universe.
I create character designs in my head all the time. Sometimes, one of them "sticks" particularly well. I use this design as a template for characters I make in games that allow for such customization. So I'll have many "alternate universe" style designs of one of a small group of characters.
They're not me, but most of them have at least a tiny grain of my personality in them. Most of them share a belief in brains over brawn, for instance, but they often take that a different way than the others (ie. one might be the quiet librarian type, another a mad scientist with a thirst for DRAMA(!), and a third might be an "outsider" type researcher trying to prove discredited theories were right all along.
They're not me, but most of them have at least a tiny grain of my personality in them. Most of them share a belief in brains over brawn, for instance, but they often take that a different way than the others (ie. one might be the quiet librarian type, another a mad scientist with a thirst for DRAMA(!), and a third might be an "outsider" type researcher trying to prove discredited theories were right all along.
I always make sure to make my character exactly like myself. Both looks and personality and skills. So far I've managed to make my character quite skilled at sitting still for hours at a time and not engaging in any kind of social activities.KarmaTheAlligator said:
Well, seriously though I usually don't bother that much with it. In Saints Row 2 I made a fat lady with a man's voice and once I made a fat guy with boobs, but for the most part I just go with default #2. If I enjoy the game then how the character looks will be far from my concerns.
That's oddly enough what I did the first time I played through the Mass Effect trilogy, however, my normal response depends on how much of my personalization will be noticeable. If I'm going to be staring at the back of my character's head the entire game, I might only bother with the hair.FinalDream said:
I tend to create an original character, though it usually ends up being the same long haired, beardy ginger with the most striking green eyes it will permit. Even if it isn't Zantos the beardy ginger though, I never create something that looks myself, I tend to just muck about until I find something that looks cool.
I almost always make a character that's an approximation of my self with wish fulfilment aspects. I'm not much of a "Role Player", I enjoy myself well enough feeling as though it's 'me' wandering through the game's world. However, if I've played a game once or twice through already (or if it's an MMO and I already have a "wish fulfilment me" character) then I'm more inclined to either create a very different character or a novelty character, but that only ever happens with a game I really enjoy/am addicted to.
![[REDACTED]](https://eg-forums-escapist-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/avatars/l/129/129871.jpg?1621054700){kind=avatar}
What if your original character is an eight-foot tall albino woman who lets her fists do the talking?
^SameFinalDream said:
I guess it's mostly cause it's easier to make a female character look good (and red hair is just awesome).Female character with red hair, usually of the assassin variety, so using stealth and backstabbing/long range weapons as much as the game allows.
Always female, and I always make her as attractive to me as I can. You could say I make a character I would either way to boink or be if I was a female.