how do you interact with customisable characters?

[debleb]

just thought it would be interesting to see how you all do customisable characters in games! do you make them look like yourself, make totally original characters for each game, or make characters from another story?

personally, i’m somewhere between original characters and self inserts. usually, my character will start out similar to me in one way or another but over the course of the game become their own character.

[Memory]

I usually go for radically different things. I like playing unconventional or underrepresented characters, using the templates and options nobody uses.

[WingsOfImagination]

I only do original characters. I like to make them look as cool and collected as possible, or a counter to the main theme of the game.

For example, a cute and cheerful looking girl in a harsh world (Maybe like Fallout), or just any character that looks like nothing will make them break any sweat.

Example of one of my characters that I posted in another thread:



(She's got THREE swords! How cool is that? )

[debleb]

shes super cool! the more swords the merrier lol. what game is she for?

[WingsOfImagination]

shes super cool! the more swords the merrier lol. what game is she for?

She's from Nioh 2! A good game with excellent combat, although pretty grindy and loot heavy during the endgame. It has one of the best character creators!

[debleb]

She's from Nioh 2! A good game with excellent combat, although pretty grindy and loot heavy during the endgame. It has one of the best character creators!

ooh it looks pretty fun! i might give it a go some time 

[sig]

My 'strategy' in character creation tends to wildly differ from game to game, it really depends what mood I'm in when starting and the type of game I'm playing. An important factor is the character customization options vs. my level of excitement at starting the game: if there are a lot of options but I don't know if I'll get into the game very deeply I'm much more likely not to take it seriously. My character in Bloodborne looks pretty goofy (waluigi type man) and I did end up liking that game a whole lot, but it doesn't really matter because your head is covered by helmets and masks for the rest of the game after like 30 minutes lol

I did take my time with the Elden Ring customization to make a Cool Guy, but then I named him Giorgio Jackass so make of that what you will 

[Cele]

I either make them look like myself or then I try to make it as close as possible to another fictional character. But I radically changed my appearance recently, so the ones "looking like me" don't really look like me anymore (Suddenly I got the feeling of editing my Mii, Animal Crossing and Switch Sports characters)

[levya]

it depends on the game for me. for casual life-sim type games like animal crossing or stardew valley I'll make a self-insert character.

but for more roleplay heavy games like dragon age or the outer worlds I like making original characters! I used to make self-inserts for rpgs, but nowadays I think it's more fun making an original character that feels like they were actually born and raised in that world. plus I've found that self-inserts in rpgs end up being shaped by the story and turning out nothing like me anyway, so I stopped limiting myself to trying to create a character that looks like me.

I think regardless of self-insert or original characters though I tend to use very similar traits for most of my characters. like I tend to pick female characters with short, unnaturally colored hair (depending on the character creator), and they tend to be bold, adventurous, maybe a bit mischievous, but also very kind~

[SilkSkull]

I've actually been thinking about this recently so here's a long winded post about being trans and making pretty people.

TL;DR: I always made female characters and it helped me realize I was trans

Ever since I first played a game with character creation (oblivion I think?) I strived to make the prettiest character I could. I never understood why but I just enjoyed making my character a pretty girl! This has continued, with me creating a lot of the same looking characters more recently (I guess they are a lineage lol) and as I realized I was trans I started to understand why I enjoyed making pretty characters. I always seemed to make a character that looked like me but smaller and more feminine (if not female) and it always made me feel so happy! I now realize that I was creating my ideal vision of myself. Now I fully embrace it! I usually create something very close to myself, just with features that I would prefer to have. It has also helped me become more comfortable with my looks and enjoy myself a lot more!

[Version]

It really depends on how good the character customization is and what the game is. I'll really try to make them look good/cool(If I have a specific personality for them in mind), try to make them look silly (But only if I don't care for the game all that much) or just not really bother. If there is a "canon" look, gender or name for a character I will usually pick that.

I think the funniest character creator choice I ever made was making a dark side character in a star wars mmo who was an incredibly normal looking woman. Because she would just say the most exaggerated psychopathic, megalomaniac lines you would expect from the usual intimidating SW villains while also looking like someone you would meet at your local book club or something.

[Memory]

I don't usually make my characters look like myself. I have a friend who does, and when I asked him about it he said it was a conscious choice to build up his self esteem.

I tried that out once for myself when I made a new Red Dead Online character, but I found him to be really boring. I see that face (or one like it) every day, so I'd rather make someone more interesting.

I'll usually make a gruff older looking man or, if you can change the skin colour to something unnatural, I'll go for a Hellboy-esque look. In Elden Ring I found a guide to make your character look like a chimpanzee, so I modified that to make him the Red Monkey (I had just finished watching Marvel's "Hit-Monkey" animated series).

I'll sometimes play as a female character, but it usually depends on the voice actor. In Mass Effect I always chose FemShep because Jennifer Hale has been one of my favourites since Metroid Prime and the old Avengers cartoon.

[1337nightbug]

When I was younger, I would make my avatars look very different from me as I had body confidence issues :( but now I prefer to make my avatars look a bit more like me, as my confidence has improved a lot :D

[teatime]

i haven't plated that many games with character customization so i haven't really felt out for myself what i like to do. in animal crossing my player character looked like me, but in splatoon my player character i consider somewhat a version of myself and somewhat of an original character. i once tried to play fallout new vegas with a sort of idealized masculine appearance, but never got far with that game because it was too slow on my computer. i might try another approach next time 

[Necrosia]

@WingsOfImagination
wow that character is GORGEOUS!

I hardly ever play games that dont allow some level of customization, I dont like playing with pre-build characters like those games where you can only change the clothes but not the appearance and gender. 
I always create original characters and give them a backstory (not necessarily the one in the game), and if they can have companions or pets they do get a back story too!

Here the current character I have been playing with, Astaroth, from the critically acclaimed mmorpg FFXIV:



Him and his husband: