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When a game allows for a customizable protagonist, what do you do?
- Thread starter Hey Please
- Start date
14
I'll usually roll a woman protagonist in JRPGs since they are very rare (and most are not done well. Doubly annoying when the woman option is mandatory skimpy clothing, however). In MMOs, I usually have multiple characters with various races, genders, etc.
I'll usually roll a woman protagonist in JRPGs since they are very rare (and most are not done well. Doubly annoying when the woman option is mandatory skimpy clothing, however). In MMOs, I usually have multiple characters with various races, genders, etc.
Either Option 4 or 12 (me being a skinny black guy). As of recently, I set my Officer Howard (Akane Howard) to be a black woman.
I create all kinds of characters, sometimes serious, sometimes goofy, though never based on me, males with short brown hair are well represented.(only unique thing is I am fat and wear glasses)
It depends on what/who I want to roleplay as. Sometimes I will play as favorite characters from a book series. My current Mass Effect run is w/ "Elayne Shepard" and I attempted to model at least somewhat in the image of Elayne Trakand from The Wheel of Time.
Sometimes I will try to re-create a design from character's I've played in the past. For example my Monster Hunter character was designed to look like my Blood Elf Hunter main from WoW back in the day.
Almost always I will play as a woman if the character creator gives me the option. If it's closer to like FE Three Houses where the choice is only between Gender, I will choose whatever is necessary to achieve a desired romance option. I can't remember the last time I chose to create a male character in a game though. Dudes are boring.
Context: CIS white male. So almost always female (opposite gender). Normally I choose a skin tone darker than mine, so rarely same race. I guess I'm a 14?
Sometimes I will try to re-create a design from character's I've played in the past. For example my Monster Hunter character was designed to look like my Blood Elf Hunter main from WoW back in the day.
Almost always I will play as a woman if the character creator gives me the option. If it's closer to like FE Three Houses where the choice is only between Gender, I will choose whatever is necessary to achieve a desired romance option. I can't remember the last time I chose to create a male character in a game though. Dudes are boring.
Context: CIS white male. So almost always female (opposite gender). Normally I choose a skin tone darker than mine, so rarely same race. I guess I'm a 14?
9/13.
I always aim to make cute male characters whenever possible (only resorting to female avatars when the male options are too ugly/limiting). I most typically make them white, but do ventured into different skin tones occasionally when I really like the palette combos of skin/hair/clothes/etc.
I always aim to make cute male characters whenever possible (only resorting to female avatars when the male options are too ugly/limiting). I most typically make them white, but do ventured into different skin tones occasionally when I really like the palette combos of skin/hair/clothes/etc.
I play as a woman always, I decided to make a Highlander buff woman of colour in FFXIV and I love how she looks. In Nioh 2 I'm all about the eastern look. It's always different depending on how good the character customization is.
Usually #7 for me, WoC.
I only play as a guy in special cases, like when I'm particularly peeved by female walking/running animations (any mods to fix this in DA: Inquisition? lol) or big boobs.
But I always make my female character dark-skinned, butch, and - if the game lets me - flat-chested, buff, and Amazonian as fuck.
This is just making me thirst for a Dragon's Dogma sequel.
I only play as a guy in special cases, like when I'm particularly peeved by female walking/running animations (any mods to fix this in DA: Inquisition? lol) or big boobs.
But I always make my female character dark-skinned, butch, and - if the game lets me - flat-chested, buff, and Amazonian as fuck.
This is just making me thirst for a Dragon's Dogma sequel.
I usually try to make it look like myself. Then if I ever have to make another character, I usually go with features I like.
I usually make my character, Vaelan, from the shitty novel I'm writing.
Here he is in Dragon Age: Inquisition
Here he is in Mass Effect: Andromeda
Here he is in Ni-oh 2
Here he is in Dragon Age: Inquisition
Here he is in Mass Effect: Andromeda
Here he is in Ni-oh 2
Depends what looks good in the creator, what kind of gear is available in-game, how the character needs to fit the story, and - where applicable - what backstory I can come up with. Also, what fits with their VO, if they have one.
I've made everything from a black gunslinger (RDO)...
...to a trans-female samurai (Dark Souls)
Whatever works.
The ones I really like are my team in Wasteland 2. There's a stoic female muslim sniper with a permanent limp; a sinister male Russian science-punk with a penchant for drugs and treachery; a grizzled male hippie who kills in the name of Buddha; and their leader - a smart-arse female Mexican gunslinger with a good throwing arms and a bag of explosives. They've all got what I consider decent, humorous backstories and skill-sets to match. Really enjoyed coming up with them.
I have to admit though, I do have a major bias towards giving characters white hair.
I've made everything from a black gunslinger (RDO)...
...to a trans-female samurai (Dark Souls)
Whatever works.
The ones I really like are my team in Wasteland 2. There's a stoic female muslim sniper with a permanent limp; a sinister male Russian science-punk with a penchant for drugs and treachery; a grizzled male hippie who kills in the name of Buddha; and their leader - a smart-arse female Mexican gunslinger with a good throwing arms and a bag of explosives. They've all got what I consider decent, humorous backstories and skill-sets to match. Really enjoyed coming up with them.
I have to admit though, I do have a major bias towards giving characters white hair.
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I always create a guy and if possible make him look similiar to me. If that's not possible then I make him look cool/interesting to me.
I have a problem with getting into "create your own character" games if I am not playing my own gender tbh. I just feel a disconnect without it.
I have a problem with getting into "create your own character" games if I am not playing my own gender tbh. I just feel a disconnect without it.
I try to recreate myself (male). I enjoy female protagonists all the same too (Horizon ZD, Tomb Raider, etc) but if I have a choice I just like to see myself in the game. I connect to the character more.
Default look if available at first, then custom if I really like the game.
Like in Pokémon Sword, were I finished the story with the default look. Then been rocking longer pink hair, rainbow eyes and fairy type costume.
Like in Pokémon Sword, were I finished the story with the default look. Then been rocking longer pink hair, rainbow eyes and fairy type costume.
In story-heavy games, especially when there are companions and romance options, I usually try making myself first. Only when I'm not satisfied with the result do I go with a woman. In other types of games, like Pokemon or Dark Souls or RDR2 online, I'm about 70/30 when it comes to male and female characters. In terms of race I always make a person of color but I try for black characters first. Sadly, the hair options are always a fucking problem so I also end up with a lot of other POC characters.
Always choose same gender but different race. It has been a CC tradition ever since choosing Redguard for Skyrim.
For me I always like to be as generic as possible and let the companions or whatever be the real charecters of the game.
OP
OP
An important point I'd like to stress here is that when I create these characters who are unlike me (be it gender and/or race) despite my best efforts, there is always a level of dissociation involved. While they are my avatar and I do inhabit them, a large portion of me role-plays "as them". Essentially, I am not making my own decisions, so much as I am making decision on their behalf given how I perceive their personalities.
It helps me better try and understand how I deconstruct and then reconstruct personalities of (mostly) women (fictional and non-fiction) I admire whilst knowing that I am not pretending to be them. This makes it all the more easy for me to select PoC (more specifically WoC).
So for me, it is like emulating, "what wouldJesus Geralt do?" but with folks who are not him.
And perhaps consequently, I cannot ever recreate some ideal version of "myself" in a game. It would make me feel like a pretender/imposter.
It helps me better try and understand how I deconstruct and then reconstruct personalities of (mostly) women (fictional and non-fiction) I admire whilst knowing that I am not pretending to be them. This makes it all the more easy for me to select PoC (more specifically WoC).
So for me, it is like emulating, "what would
And perhaps consequently, I cannot ever recreate some ideal version of "myself" in a game. It would make me feel like a pretender/imposter.
Always a woman with slightly brown skin which is basically me but gender swapped (or uhh not gender swapped depending on how you look at it), and the bluest and prettiest hair i can find.
When customising characters, I tend to have them look like me, I don't know about "race", but I give them my same skin colour and gender.
I take the 'fantasy' aspect of games as an explicit opportunity not to be me.
Usually just create a guy who looks cool, not myself because I'm not able to grow some of the awesome facial hair some games give you. Think Skyrim is the only time I didn't just have male characters.
I'm a white woman with a disability so I make my characters as close to my real world self as I can, cause I gotta make my own representation. Unfortunately disability isn't usually a common toggle in customisers... I also just like playing dress up, lol.
If it's a first person game with a character creator, I don't even play the game.
Joking (sort of) aside, I don't have a "rule". Sometimes I make male characters, sometimes I make female characters, sometimes (like in Dragon's Dogma's case) I make hideous monstrosities that I can troll other players with. My Main Pawn in Dragon's Dogma was a 7-foot tall juggernaut who looked like Dr. Phil, dressed in wizard's robes, and was obsessed with collecting buckets. Only buckets. He would stop casting spells in the middle of heated combat to pick up buckets and bring them to whoever he was helping.
He was my favorite idiot.
Joking (sort of) aside, I don't have a "rule". Sometimes I make male characters, sometimes I make female characters, sometimes (like in Dragon's Dogma's case) I make hideous monstrosities that I can troll other players with. My Main Pawn in Dragon's Dogma was a 7-foot tall juggernaut who looked like Dr. Phil, dressed in wizard's robes, and was obsessed with collecting buckets. Only buckets. He would stop casting spells in the middle of heated combat to pick up buckets and bring them to whoever he was helping.
He was my favorite idiot.
OP
OP
This is true. But I think our approach does differ slightly. Also...
My god, that's a well thought out roster of characters you wanted to play as.
Aha, Dragon Age Inquisition comes to mind.
SolVanderlyn I really like you taking one character and dropping him in different circumstances. The ultimate cross-over.
Yea, it is the nature of the beast unfortunately that diagetically there are almost no customizable disabled (in some way) characters. IIRC, Senua from Hellblade is the first character who is shown to have a psychological crisis in earnest. In terms of (one of many) physical disabilities, the closest I can think of who is not Barbara Gordon are folks shown in Deus Ex or in general cybperpunk games where said disability has been negated and then some courtesy of cybernetic augmentation.
My next topic will consist of asking able bodied folks about their obligations towards those who are not. In a multi-billion dollar industry turning a blind eye or espousing the attitude of "got mine, fuck you" needs to be eroded away. Thankfully, thus far some companies/devs have been stepping up and I'd be most grateful to hear the perspective of our able bodied and disabled brethren on this forum when I do make the thread.
Recreate one of my friends and then send her a picture of it.
Then I usually create a short haired female character to play.
Then I usually create a short haired female character to play.
OP
OP
Talking of Dragon's Doggo, my PC:
Apparently, DD considers freckles as scars.... wtf.
Also, the number of people who make their pawns as exceedingly pretty and busy women to satiate thirsty bois is insane. That said, once in a while I have seen examples such as yours that were clearly made to fuck with others.
I pretty much always make women characters. What I base them on depends on what my favorite (or one of my favorite) characters is mixed with what tools I have available to make a facsimile of how they'd play based on their character. For like a decade, it was Rika Nonaka from Digimon Tamers, Sprinkled in with some Lightning here and there and, now, it's Ronnie Anne Santiago, which is my current favorite cause it gives me an excuse to make a cute brown girl a lot.
The Outer Worlds has them under make-up I believe.
I guess they just didn't want to make a separate slider for freckles or beauty marks. Which is OK if you can add as many elements as you like. But it's disappointing if you have to choose between freckles and make-up/scars, when you want to have both.
I always play as a woman if given the choice (I'm male). I'm pretty genderfluid though so I think it's more just me expressing an aspect of myself in a way I can't really do in every day life. I dont have a set race I pick though, it's dependent on what looks better in the character creator
14 usually. I never liked to self insert so I like making characters that are very different from me.
I'm" pretty boring, if I don't have an idea in mind it's almost always darker skinned black guy with a fade/short hair (if it's available otherwise bald). I do switch it up from time to time on alternate playthroughs; zero issue creating and playing as women.
Cheers. It's cos Wasteland 2 has a little bio box. Couldn't bare to leave it blank, even if it meant writing it all out on a dual shock. The character creator has some cool little ancillary choices too (religion, cigarette brand, etc.) so I just went with it.
Also, I'm a massive saddo. :D I get my jolly's where I can.
A combination of these two:
Unfortunately, many character creators are far too limited, so I sometimes find myself creating a white person if I want a halfway decent looking character.