Who do you play as?

Treehouse Gamer

Treehouse Gamer

CAGiversary!
Today, I was talking with an art director buddy of mine (who works for a local developer), and we were talking about the importance of customization options in videogames.

Now, customization is always important, but what I was curious about was how does your avatar compare to you? Is there a psychological correlation between your in-game character's image and your personal image?

For instance, in most games that allow it (such as The Sims, Tiger Woods, WWE Smackdown, etc), my character is usually a reasonable facsimile of what I look like in real life. My reasoning is that the game should be telling a tale based on how I would react in the given world. Sometimes, I would go into painstaking detail with the proportions (usually a couple of hours on Smackdown).

So, I pose this question: Who do you play as? Do you recreate yourself? Do you create an image to which you aspire to become? Do you make the ugliest, fat-nasty unholy visage that the game allows? Or even become the opposite sex?
 
I just go with whatever the default is, because I don't really care about customization in an offline game where it doesn't matter even the slightest bit.
 
I love customization. I spend so much time making my characters how I want them.

I almost always make a female character. The thing is if I have to look at a character for a long time, I'd much rather it be a chick than a guy.
 
Either a more awesome version of me, or a cute female (as much as the game allows, at least).

If I'm playing enough to make a third character, that one will be totally hardcore and ridiculous.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']I love customization. I spend so much time making my characters how I want them.

I almost always make a female character. The thing is if I have to look at a character for a long time, I'd much rather it be a chick than a guy.[/quote]

This. Right here. Sums up everything I was going to say.
 
I usually try to make someone who looks like me. If it gets too complex though I just get bored of it and end up with something that looks retarded.

Like in Mass Effect, I started changing some shit to make it look like me, then I got tired of it and went with what I had.
 
[quote name='SpazX']
Like in Mass Effect, I started changing some shit to make it look like me, then I got tired of it and went with what I had.[/quote]

:lol:

Diotto. I now have a dude that looks like an Asian version of me.
 
It depends. If there's a choice, I stray away from human characters because it's so... normal and boring. But if playing human characters, I usually play as a female. And that's basically as far as it gets since you can be blue, green, orange, or red, but black is usually off limits. And you can just go ahead and fuck off if you weigh more than 120 lbs.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']I love customization. I spend so much time making my characters how I want them.

I almost always make a female character. The thing is if I have to look at a character for a long time, I'd much rather it be a chick than a guy.[/quote]

Same.
 
I tend not to play games with character customization, but when I do, I almost never use it. In cases where it's required, I play the opposite sex (a guy in my case).
 
Hmm....thinking back to my SoulCalibur IV creations, some of the guys I remember making are either somewhat recognizable people (AVGN, That Guy With the Glasses, Old Snake, Batman, etc.), or, usually, extremely buffed up guys with near perfect stats (Maxi & Sigfried style in my case). Besides having a few chuckles with your buddies over PSN/XBL, the only point I have ever seen in customization is making improvements over previously established fighting styles (The only real games I have with "in depth" customization modes are SC IV, Oblivion, Eye of Judgement - if you count that, both Sim's and some of the expansions/spin offs, and the LBP beta - if you count that)
 
[quote name='SpazX']I usually try to make someone who looks like me. If it gets too complex though I just get bored of it and end up with something that looks retarded.

Like in Mass Effect, I started changing some shit to make it look like me, then I got tired of it and went with what I had.[/quote]

This. My Saints Row character looked just like me but I gave up on Mass Effect.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']I almost always make a female character. The thing is if I have to look at a character for a long time, I'd much rather it be a chick than a guy.[/quote]
Pretty much sums up my answer. But in a game like KoToR or Mass Effect, I might play the game a 2nd time as a guy just to change things up a little.
 
I think it's totally bizarre that so many of you play as the opposite sex. I guess that some of you aren't really looking for as much immersement in your gaming.

And using the excuse that you'd rather watch a digital female for hours? Whatever. You guys just secretly want to be chicks. :p
 
I usually go for an avatar that looks like the guy on the left there.

If I can't do something similar, I'll make one that looks more like me.

Often I'll make multiple characters and just try something new. Every run through Mass Effect was something different, though my first run was the default guy character.
 
[quote name='Treehouse Gamer']I think it's totally bizarre that so many of you play as the opposite sex. I guess that some of you aren't really looking for as much immersement in your gaming.

And using the excuse that you'd rather watch a digital female for hours? Whatever. You guys just secretly want to be chicks. :p[/QUOTE]
I think it's a better excuse than the immersion one. Sorry, but seeing a character that looks like me in a game will kick me out of the experience faster than almost anything else. I'm well aware that I'm never going to be saving the galaxy with a ragtag group of companions.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']I think it's a better excuse than the immersion one. Sorry, but seeing a character that looks like me in a game will kick me out of the experience faster than almost anything else. I'm well aware that I'm never going to be saving the galaxy with a ragtag group of companions.[/quote]

Hey...it could happen.

For me I always play as a Chick. Chick Ass>Dude Ass.
 
Depends on the game. In City of Heroes I have half female characters, half male... because I like fiddling with all the costume options.

Generally, however, it's difficult to impossible to create a character that looks like me in most games. In those cases, I tend to go for a female character of whatever species is furthest away from human. Such as a female argonian in Oblivion.

Plus, as others said, trying to imagine myself /as/ the character is the quickest way to destroy my suspension of disbelief.
 
I usually just use one of the real characters as I've never been big on wasting time creating a custom character.

If I did, I suppose I'd make someone who looked like myself, but I'd rather just jump in and start playing. For instance, I started Fight Night Round 3 recently and just used De La Hoya rather than creating a fighter, and in Soul Calibur IV I've just been using Mitsurugi rather than making a custom character. I also used the default Shepherd in Mass Effect.
 
my only requirement for customization is that if possible, I give my character a handle-bar mustache.

Otherwise, I'm like Emdub....

[quote name='emdub']Either a more awesome version of me, or a cute female (as much as the game allows, at least).

If I'm playing enough to make a third character, that one will be totally hardcore and ridiculous.[/QUOTE]
 
sometimes i have them resemble me, but sometimes, i just try to make the most rediculous character i can.
 
When I have the choice, I play as a chick. Why would I want to play as a guy, I am one, therefore I want to as the opposite sex.
 
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