Random Dialogue: Character Identification
Dialogue, 2004-05-10

In most second generation MMOGs, your appearance is entirely a function of your equipment. Physical attributes are a mish-mash of a few pre-selected options and most of a character's individuality comes from the loot a character obtains along their level progression. There is a lot to be said for this style of game design. However, if identifying with your character is one of the keys to immersion then shouldn't we be given ample opportunities to make our characters unique? If I'm playing a hafling thief and I show up in the gameworld looking *exactly* like all the other hafling theives, isn't that going to detract from my gameplay experience? As good a start as the City of Heroes and Star Wars Galaxies character creators are, they still suffer from some areas of banality. As unique as your character may be physically in SWG, they'll still show up in the same outfit as everyone else who picks their starting proffession. The costume of a CoH hero can really stand out, but their body appearance is still very stock. CoH heroes are all in great shape with very similar faces. Height changes are admirable, with short characters being *very* short and tall heroes being *very* tall, but that's really the extent of the body modification available.

So where do we go? In a recent interview with Richard Garriot about his upcoming game Tabula Rasa, Garriot revealed that players will be able to fully customize their appearance via statless clothing and equipment. Stat enhancements will come in the form of slot-in modules that can be added or removed to clothing, weapons, and equipment. I think this is a really great idea. Combine this with a CoH-like clothing/costume creator and a SWG-like appearance manipulator and you have a great recipe for immersion. Obviously you want to leave some options to the players once they're in the game, but providing a bevy of clothing options and appearance choices at gamestart will ensure that players identify with their characters (and your game).

A lot of people play the "can I make myself?" game with character creators. From CoH to SWG to Tony Hawk I've tried to get my doughy overshirt and slacks wearing self to appear on the screen, but never with any success. Someday, I will.