How important is it for the games you play to feature character creation/customisation of some kind?

[Princess Mipha]

If there is the option of a custom character, the game is instantly higher on my wanting list than a game that doesn't have that feature.
It doesn't mean that I will buy / not buy a game because of it though. The whole game needs to be worth the money, not just a custom character.

 

[Belle T]

This is probably a weirder take, but rather than character customization being important to me, good character customization is important.

For the most part, I don't mind if a game doesn't have character customization, even in games where the main character is intended to be an avatar for the player. What I really can't stand, however, is when character customization exists, but is extremely minuscule and offers very little variety. Then it just feels half-baked. I don't know whether or not it makes me not inclined to purchase a game, but it does make its competitors stand out all the more if they have a much more robust system.

 

[Envy]

I love character customization/creation. I do think that it's okay for certain games to not have any, but... if the game is online and you're playing with others, it's kinda necessary and is very weird otherwise.

 

[nightglow]

Quite important - I love it as a feature but it doesn't make or break a game for me.
I mean, when I started to play video games, usually the character was male with no choice of female lol. I suppose I have just gotten use to the idea of having a character that I don't relate to at all in appearance. However, being able to customize your player character is an amazing PLUS to the experience. Even if the customization isn't "free range" to where you can have green or purple skin for example. Character customization has come a long way and I do love seeing all the options now in many games. Clothing is always fun, I just wish there would be less gender locking. As a female, I really don't like to be "forced" to wear a skirt or short shorts with a top because for some reason pants and T-shirts are locked in the male category. Good news is that I feel like alot of indie games try to stay away from the gender locking. I would like to see some stuff done about height and weight of characters though. Even if it is just 3 options. And honestly, as time moves on, I am sure we will see even more options to reflect on age like wrinkles and more facial hair options.

 

[Alienfish]

I think it depends. If the game obviously had player characters that are main characters and not supposed to be changed I mean why change them then? Although if they add in customization and leave out like half the features and stuff you are supposed to get like eg. only 4 hairstyles, two coats, 1 hat etc. then you could just leave it and do pre-designed characters. So yeah all in or nothing.

 

[Midoriya]

I voted for the third option. It’s definitely nice to have, but it’s not necessary. In some games it‘s just out of place too and not really needed.

 

[amemome]

Ooof for me it depends. I'm totally fine just playing the default characters when there's no customization option (like early Pokemon games) but when there are customization options, I go all out and it becomes a SUPER important part of my enjoyment of the game.

My opinion is "Games are ok without customization, but when there is the option, it needs to be super robust and diverse."

 

[buginski]

I'll still pick up a game if it doesn't have customization, for example I really want to pick up Dragon Quest XI S, but having customization is always a huge plus for me. If a game isn't considered really good and doesn't have customization I probably won't buy it.

 

[neoratz]

i can easily enjoy games without customization, it's completely unnecessary in a lot of games!

BUT... some of my favorite genres (virtual pets, life sims) are benefitted hugely by character customization OR have it as the main feature (avatar games like gaia online or everskies). and i tend to like games in those genres a lot less without that customization!!! i just love designing a little character to play as

 

[marea]

Very important since the biggest portion of the games i like consists of life sims, i just cannot play those kinds of games with no character customization. I am ok with having the looks of the main character already determined in some games where it might be hard to do, like visual novels.

 

[Bugs]

I find it difficult to get into an RPG If there isn't a way to customise my character, maybe I've been spoiled by games like Divinity Original Sin 2 hahaha

Same for simulation games, I couldn't get into the original Harvest Moon games cause you are locked to playing a male character.

Other games however, it doesn't matter to me at all.

 

[a potato]

It’s not really important to me at all, so long as there’s a default character that I like. Even then, it’s not that big of a deal. I get unnecessarily stressed out by character creators, lol. I don’t really have the patience to design something that’s super creative. As much as I love the Miitopia creator and think the system should be a default for Miis, I don’t want to spend hours trying to figure out how to pull off the magic that other people can do.
It’s somewhat unrelated, but I don’t like game-/level-builders either. I love Mario Maker to see the creativity of the community, but when it comes to building a level myself, I hardly have any interest. I feel like I’m not creative enough in that area. The same applies to Game Builder Garage.

 

[DragonAceSg7]

It really depends on the game and depends on what the story is shaped around. In Vigil, you play as a very specific character for the story so I don't mind you can't customize Leila. Something like the upcoming Cloudscape I will definitely want to be able to control at least some of how I look.

It's funny though, I put a ton of work into my Fallout 4 character but I mostly played in the first person because it was easier for me to navigate.

 

[CrankyCupcake]

I don't need a customizable character in every game I play. It really depends on the nature of the game I want to play. I had a blast playing games like Darkest Dungeon and Loop Hero, where character customization was next to non-existent.

On the other hand, I do love that RPGs usually offer character customization, even if the character you play is a preset one. The Witcher games require you to play as Geralt, but you can change his hair and outfits. Larian Studios' Divinity: Original Sin 2's character creation options are great, but Baldur's Gate 3 has even more to offer! One could spend hours at the character creation screen just going through all the possibilities. Right now I'm playing Wildermyth. Not only can you change the appearance of every character in your party any time you want, their background and personality traits (which affect conversation choices) can be changed as well.

 

[Maymeows16]

I don't think it's necessary for Customization to be in a game, but it definitely makes it fun and more enjoyable to collect all the accessories and stuff. I think Monster Hunter is one of my favorite games where you can use different armors depending on the monsters. Pokemon also made me happy when they released Customization and really think it's more fun that way~ But in general, it doesn't matter if a game has it or not, but it definitely is more enjoyable with Customization :>

 

[petaltail]

quite important! i love customisation and personalisation in games and when i can create my own characters that's just chef's kiss. but it's definitely not a dealbreaker
character creation is probably one of the biggest reasons why i love roleplaying/simulation games so much lol

 

[Dunquixote]

DAI's customisation was definitely questionable. Like, how many bald options do we really need Bioware? I also wasn't a fan of the voice options - having two was generous but none of them really fit my elf inquisitor.

And you're totally right, they could have easily scrapped the multiplayer for DAI, it was very short-lived even during the games peak. Such a bizarre choice.

I found a very bad quality picture of how I customized my character. This was on the ps3 version.

Spoiler: DAI customization

This gear is amazing (though too bad they nerfed the class because of multiplayer; well, what if we don’t play multiplayer… oops sorry off topic), but omg it is so ugly. My design in AC looks better than this looked in DA .

Going back to what I said, I think customization is a little important to me if it is the type of game that gives you a lot of first person perspective like Dragon Age, where you feel like you’re that character (if you’re like me and when you get into a story, you feel like you’re in the character’s shoes). The customization is dragon age was never the best - especially the mage hats (thank goodness there were no cone head hats in Inquisition but I’m not a fan of cowboy hats either ), but when they announced Inquisition they brought up how customization was improved and how you can customize your gear. Sorry, Bioware, but I was not impressed.


Side note: I hope you’re doing okay. Hope to see you back here eventually .

 

[S.J.]

For most games, it’s very important to me to have character creation. It depends on the type of game and what the purpose of the game is (e.g. whether you’re simply the ”hero” character, or whether you’re playing out a specific protagonist’s story). But generally, I find that I wish there was some additional element of character customisation.

Depending on the game, I’m happy with having sliders to adjust every detail, but also happy having a variety of choices for preset options (e.g. eye shape, face shape, lip shape, hair style, etc.). I was very happy with Dragon Age 1,2 and 3. Also happy with Fable and Divinity Original Sin 2. Skyrim was fine.

Because Diablo doesn’t have interactions that come with choices, I’m reluctantly, sort of OK with not having character creation. But, it’s also frustrating, because I would really love if it did. I couldn’t really get into The Witcher at all, because I just didn’t want to play out that character.

For games where you play out a specific protagonist’s story, I still think having character creation would be a nice bonus. One of my favourite games of all time though is Portal 2, and no character creation, but I’m completely OK with that because it wasn’t important. I think with puzzle-type games like Portal and It Takes Two, it’s less important to have the character creation, because they’re not RPGs/ games where you immerse yourself in the world. I probably could have summed that up in one paragraph, sorry.

 

[GuerreraD]

Honestly, I couldn't care less. While the customization is a nice feature (won't deny it), the game remains exactly the same no matter how you look or what you wear. There have been games where even with customizations choices, I ignored it and just went with the pre-set design. Or maybe I customized my avatar in the first round just for the sake of it, but when replaying a second or third time I didn't bother with it.

There are other more important facts and details that I look for in a game, and if it's lousy made or uninteresting to me, not a thousand of character customization choices is going to change my mind.

 

[Meadows]

Depends on the game and if they have it, I want it to be good. I hate character creation and then offer 10 of each customizable part and only 20 outfits. At that point, they're trying to trick people into the game that enjoy character creation.

If the game has multi-player, I like it a bit more, but ifbnot, I don't care that much.