Watching yourself die...repeatedly

[Vortigar]

I've yet to meet a character creation editor that has my hair. Slightly curled, wavy hair that randomly defies all laws of gravity and styling gel and sometimes decides to play nice and look cool depending on the closeness of the moon or something. My beard growth is also never an option, I have that mediteranean-esque look, slight triangle on the chin, thin moustache, long sideburns. Looks like Brad Burns from VF, only without that sharp trimming job of course. My limbs are also too thin for most editors to cope with as my shoulders are too broad in comparison. And my torso is a tad longer than usual, if I sit up straight I usually tower over guys who are taller than me, I also have trouble finding cars where my head doesn't hit the cieling (I've had this in SUV's even, which baffled me somewhat. The only thing those buckets of ugliness got going for them is their size and then I get in and find that they're too small!).

Despite that I usually try to approximate myself and then play the negotiator/talker/bard/jack of all trades/sniper with hand to hand combat or warrior with magical training thing that can't decide what it wants to be.

I couldn't care less if he dies a million times, I just get annoyed that my chosen tactic didn't work, get a bit annoyed, adjust tack, and try again. I'm pretty clinical when it comes to games.

Thus pirates are superior. Plus Ninjas have to be all "I'm silent and stealthy" whereas pirates would dash into an enemy lair, mug of ale clutched in one hand and cutlass in the other bellowing a sea shanty at the top of his lungs.

I've never seen a pirate fight with ale in hand unless it was in a tavern. You sure you're not messing up your Jackie Chan here? Oh man, this reminds me of the Terrence Hill & Bud Spencer pirate movie. Deliciously bad.

Aside from that, the ninja would've killed the pirate by slipping something in his drink (which the other pirates would find delightfully amusing) or catching him with his hangover the next morning.

The pirates would then just say "to hell with that guy, more loot for the rest of us" and sail out to snag another merchant.

 

[Galletea]

Yeah, just to get my f-n nose look a bit like real life was work, I don't even want to think about the "cyborg pirate ninja Jesus me" stuff... Well, you should see my nose to get that, heh. Anyway, what was the first game to offer a chance to look like yourself? For me it was those wrestling games...

I think the first time I created myself was Tony Hawks Underground 2. It was the first time I could get anything to remotely resemble myself, with a hairdo and sweet outfit.

Pirates? Pah. Give me vikings any day. They had the pirate schtick down and then some a thousand years before those grog-swilling Johnny-come-latelies showed up.

I don't put a lot of thought into my avatars. The only games I've played recently with character screens are the KOTORs, and in my most recent play-through of KOTOR1 I picked a bald, bearded dude because I thought he looked like Ming the Merciless from the 1980 Flash Gordon film, and in KOTOR2 I picked a black woman because I thought she was pretty and had awesome dreadlocks. Even they involved somewhat more thought than usual by my standards just because of the length of time I'd be spending looking over their shoulder once prepared.

-Nick

Vikings had daft gods though, and less charm than pirates. Ming the merciless on KOTOR is an awesome idea.

I've never seen a pirate fight with ale in hand unless it was in a tavern. You sure you're not messing up your Jackie Chan here? Oh man, this reminds me of the Terrence Hill & Bud Spencer pirate movie. Deliciously bad.

Aside from that, the ninja would've killed the pirate by slipping something in his drink (which the other pirates would find delightfully amusing) or catching him with his hangover the next morning.

The pirates would then just say "to hell with that guy, more loot for the rest of us" and sail out to snag another merchant.

The ninja wouldn't even be able to poison a pirate's ale, the pirate would've strung him up by his innards if the ninja came close to his drink. And he'd know because they have a sixth sense when it comes to drink tampering.

 

[Illesdan]

I play City of Heroes and my first character on there (and my first 50) was basically as close as I could get to myself. He's my only original character; I've deleted and remade so many over the years, but yet I kept him, even when he was horrible to play. The rest of the characters I have on there are a little harder to explain; I've pretty much made representations of every aspect of my personality. Once I started making all of my characters like that, it made it not only easier to play the characters, but somewhat made it more important that they actually live and do a better job. I actually learned how to play classes I had previously despised and enjoy myself alot more. I just wish I had done this much earlier, because I kind of feel like I wasted my first 3 years of playing.

 

[Plastic14407]

Frankly i really suck hard at character creation soooooooo i usualy just give him blonde hair (there is no dirty blonde plus when i was younger i was uber blonde) and blue eyes. Then i make him Look cool or dumb. in mass effect i felt like making an ugly guy so i just made his nose huge and gave him the biggest scar i could find! But when ever my character has a helmet like a spartan in halo or carmine in gears i can easily make it me cause its so easy to just imagine my face there. and reap That whole "9 meter reset" make me crack up soooo bad. YES I KNOW i started with and in a sentence.

 

[jebussaves88]

generally speaking, it is impossible to render my hair in a character creation tool. They either don't get the right shape, or they don't give you the option for red hair

 

[742]

well, i dont play like myself, when i make a character i make a character, not myself. im boring. i just dont look like the world saving type (quite the opposite). that being said i DO tend to make them pretty when i can.

and the pirate wouldnt be able to catch the ninja, duh. but yes, vikings are cooler than european pirates partially BECAUSE of the wacky gods.

 

[grimm128]

i meant this whole thing, like on multiplayer campaigns,
i had this freind, ( used lightly) who had this game, about these little monster things (poke men or something) and he, instead of choosing the fasion challengeed dude, picked this fashion challenged girl, because the he liked the girl better, personally i found this creepy, 8 plus thatgame he was playing was really a kiddy game)

 

[FLSH_BNG]

I just kinda created a guy who looked like nobody I know... I thought about making a likeness of myself but I wanted to start playing.

I have, on numerous occasions, had the pleasure of watching my character meet his end rather badly, i.e. watching my limbs fly off after getting hit with a fat man.

And other times I have gotten to see some of the funniest things too. Like my little twerp of a guy punching a super mutant's head off.

I can't get enough of that game... and I've only had it for three days!

 

[SimuLord]

Certain elements of my personal looks tend to make their way into my character designs, particularly my +1 Goatee of Awesome, my love of blue shirts, that sort of thing. Sports games are where I always create myself (as a pitcher, quarterback, point guard, left wing, outside midfielder, boxer, golfer...I think that's all of 'em!) Thankfully I'm still young enough that I can put my date of birth into the game without it immediately making my character retire, although lately I've been putting my birth date as 1987 rather than 1977.

Apart from sports games, my characters tend to be entirely fictional --- in The Sims 2 in particular I have a tendency to create stereotypical characters (I created a black guy with an Afro named Johnny B. Goode who spends all his time on community lots playing the guitar as his source of income), but even there I tend to go generic with it.

 

[sallene]

I can take or leave playing a character that looks like me. Granted I do get a moment of feeling awesome and powerfull when the my digital doppelganger forcefully ejects a raiders skull through the back of his/her head but overall so long as I am having fun I really dont care what my character looks like.


Now, if they only gave you options to dress up as cartoon/muppet characters that would be awesome. There would be something amazing watching the cookie monster fisto-ing supermutants to death in fallout 3.

 

[Liverandbacon]

Vikings had daft gods though, and less charm than pirates.

You're calling the gods of my ancestors daft?! Well, maybe, but at least their idea of a good time was something more than just raping pretty young women in the form of some animal or other like some inexplicably popular gods...
They could be killed too, so it actually took guts for them to get involved in problems, which they did.

And as for your claim that vikings lack charm... I'm hurt.

Back on topic: I sometimes (but not always) make my character look like me. However, in some RPGs I like to make my character's skills and actions be based on mine in one playthrough. In Fallout 2 for instance, I made my character's SPECIAL based on myself (and was sometimes brutally honest). I also had my character act as I do, and do only what I would do. It was great fun seeing what the people in the game world would think of me. Then I did more normal playthroughs.

 

[Bagaloo]

I tend to avoid making characters that look like me. Partly because I lack the patience to sit in character customisation for ages, but mainly because I don't like the way I look, and instead prefer to make characters the look like how I want to look.

As far as feeling attached to characters goes, it doesn't really bother me when my character gets killed in a horrific fashion.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Video games involved with action never present the option of having glasses, so I never get to represent myself fully in games with character customization, so I don't bother.

 

[Liverandbacon]

Video games involved with action never present the option of having glasses, so I never get to represent myself fully in games with character customization, so I don't bother.

I forgot about this. That's a problem for me too. Which is why I only occasionally make a character that looks like me. On the topic of glasses: How do Gordon Freeman's glasses never get dirty or scratched or broken even with all those zombie slaps, headcrab leaps, and HECU and Combine bullets to the face? I mean, my glasses get dirty just from walking around during the day.

 

[geldonyetich]

Watching a personification of myself die in a game is not nearly as horrifying as it is liberating to see my awesome powers of quicksave.

 

[hellthins]

Video games involved with action never present the option of having glasses, so I never get to represent myself fully in games with character customization, so I don't bother.

I forgot about this. That's a problem for me too. Which is why I only occasionally make a character that looks like me. On the topic of glasses: How do Gordon Freeman's glasses never get dirty or scratched or broken even with all those zombie slaps, headcrab leaps, and HECU and Combine bullets to the face? I mean, my glasses get dirty just from walking around during the day.

His minor was Maintenance of Glasses...ology.

 

[boyitsme95]

I do in fact make my character look like myself, but I always add a beard to myself. I do it not because it helps the game seem more realistic, but because I think it's actualy fun to sit and recreate myself in a video game. I've gotten pretty good, too.

On a different subject: Fallout 3 lets you take Jones' glasses in the start, so if you think about it (Since the glasses wiegh nothing meaning no disadvantage), you can make a character in Fallout 3 to look like yourself. It dosen't help if you don't have/want the game, but still it is one of the few games with that option.

 

[Galletea]

Vikings had daft gods though, and less charm than pirates.

You're calling the gods of my ancestors daft?! Well, maybe, but at least their idea of a good time was something more than just raping pretty young women in the form of some animal or other like some inexplicably popular gods...
They could be killed too, so it actually took guts for them to get involved in problems, which they did.

And as for your claim that vikings lack charm... I'm hurt.

Yes, I believe they were quite daft. I'm not saying Vikings aren't cool, I just like pirates better. But yes viking gods are better than the greek ones.

The glasses thing was why I questioned someone making Gordan Freeman in everything. Glasses are an integral part of some people's identity. So I can see why there'd be no point in creating yourself without them.

Remember I'm more interested in your reaction to the demise of your likeness, rather than if you create yourself in one game or another.

 

[grimm128]

hell, i always make the charecter look as much as m as i can, because, with the bad, comes the good, its always more awesome when you are the one who killed _______ or conquered _______


on the other hand, i hate those guys who make their characters as girls, most likely those 14 year old scum bags
its just so weird and unnatural, you should be declared gay just by THINKING about making a female character if yer a dude.

And what's wrong with being gay? :/

absolutely nothing.
did my very hateful comment make you think im homophobic or something?
Ps. yeah, jees..... i have no idea what i was thinking when i posted that, i look lke a douche