Poll of the Day > When it comes to games with custom characters:

(+) Yeah! (+)

Note that this poll is in regards to human customization in games only, this isn't about whether or not you play only human or fictional species.

This topic was recently brought up in an eso guild of mine where a (admittedly younger) guildmate was startled to realize that you didn't need to be of African descent to play a Redguard.

This in turn brought up a general discussion about our various choices in our characters in the games we play. Lotta food for thought was to be had, so I thought I'd share the topic here as well!

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I tend to make myself or at least how I wish I would be so no.

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Generally, I pick my gender. But other customization stuff, I don't bother with (I'm just not into character customization).

In Fire Emblem, I'll pick the female avatar for my second playthrough, so I can get their support conversations (though sometimes the female avatar is arguably better, in terms of what classes they have access to or other benefits).

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wwinterj25 posted...

I tend to make myself or at least how I wish I would be so no.

I just make a character. Sometimes like me, sometimes not. I had to make one recently on Monster Hunter World. Idk why it surprised me. They asked me for my name and then threw me into character creation...
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Sounds like he grew up in a very racially charged environment. My condolences for what should have been his childhood.

Anyway, I never really played any games to my recollection that fit your description. I'm not a minotaur, but I mained a tauren in World of Warcraft for a number of years, but you're asking about non-fictional races, so that's out. Back on the SNES, Uncharted Waters: New Horizons had 6 characters, all with their own stories and all of different nationalities and goals, but the USA didn't exist back in the 1500s when the game's story takes place. I've played through them all, and favor the Italian adventurer, though am not Italian myself. In games where there are different characters and/or different factions, I choose based on things like story and lore, abilities, goals, and other things of that nature.

As far as games with set protagonists go, their race, gender, or species don't make much of a difference in how appealing the game is to me.

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I always basically make a rough avatar of myself, dark hair, medium build, olive skin and yeah, that's about, maybe change a nose or something here and there but I don't go too far into it. But yeah, I don't play like a chick or a Tall Middle Eastern dude or something.

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I usually make my characters as to what I'd want to look like in that world. When I play as a male, I usually want to be myself but actually cool. When I choose to be female which is like 90% of the time, I make them to how I'd want to be as a woman, usually someone I'd be attracted to.

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yeah, I have a habit of making my characters huge black dudes.

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Lawfulgoodness posted...

Note that this poll is in regards to human customization in games only, this isn't about whether or not you play only human or fictional species.

This topic was recently brought up in an eso guild of mine where a (admittedly younger) guildmate was startled to realize that you didn't need to be of African descent to play a Redguard.

This in turn brought up a general discussion about our various choices in our characters in the games we play. Lotta food for thought was to be had, so I thought I'd share the topic here as well!

I probably would have called him an idiot for even thinking that.
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I'm not sure I've played "me" in any RPG at any point in the last decade. Possibly the last two.

Right now, I'm literally playing Fable III again as a sunshine and rainbows princess. Who, like my GTA Online character, is a super girly-girl with everything she owns being pink and white.

I'd say the majority of time, I'm playing a lesbian or bi woman. I am neither of those things.

I also tend to play pretty Chaotic Good or even Neutral Good, but in real life I'm much closer to Chaotic Neutral.



As a side note, 22 years ago I was RPing in online text-based games, and I was playing female characters even then. And it was pointed out that I'm really good at playing female characters because a friend of mine ran a lot of my scenes through the Gender Genie and they were coming up as a female writer, even though my normal OOC writing style came up male. And I basically fooled my guild in CyberNations (and most people in general) into thinking I was female for years.
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Unless there's stats involved I usually just play the default dude.

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In MMOs absolutely, I just play either gender and multiple races. I am very RP oriented in mentality.

In RPGs like Fire Emblem, I stick to what's generally promoted since the character has a set role in the story, so I don't treat it as a self insert. Example: Female Corrin & Male Robin, and their respective children. I don't get any immersion from customization here, unlike in MMOs.

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Almost always as a woman since I dont wanna hear a man breathing heavily for hours while running or a man grunting when I die.

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I tend to make a character that suits either the games themes or the backstory/class it's being assigned in the game. If the game doesn't offer much in the way of context, I just make something random and often choose something weird or non-human for my own amusement.

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Lokarin posted...

Unless there's stats involved I usually just play the default dude.

Only an option for speedrunners and psychopaths.

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I tend to make female characters unless i can make a hot guy.

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Yes. I usually play a female elf when given the chance.

I think this poll is silly though. A lot of games with custom characters have a limited palette if you pick a non-human race and/or don't deal with sex/sexuality. If I play a Night Elf I'm going to be some shade of purple no matter what I do for example and I'm pretty sure people don't come in purple.

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Unbridled9 posted...

Yes. I usually play a female elf when given the chance.

I think this poll is silly though. A lot of games with custom characters have a limited palette if you pick a non-human race and/or don't deal with sex/sexuality. If I play a Night Elf I'm going to be some shade of purple no matter what I do for example and I'm pretty sure people don't come in purple.

Elf people evidentially do.

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It depends on how sully in feeling.
Sometimes I make myself sometimes I make a hell abomination that God him(or her)self cowers in fear of.

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In Mass Effect I've played a black dude in pink armor, and a total hardass woman. In Saints Row: The Third I played a large breasted woman with red hair and a Russian accent. In New Vegas I have played a guy who looks like Elvis (which made the whole thing with the Kings hilarious), and a woman. In Elder Scrolls I usually play a Khajiit, sometimes a female one.

And then there was Fallout 3...


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wwinterj25 posted...

I tend to make myself or at least how I wish I would be so no.

This. My avatar represents me. Maybe younger and slimmer, but recognizably me.

Where there's no choice, I don't even think about it. I've played spaceships, stick figures, smiley faces, and tons of anthropomorphic weasels, goats, and cars.

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Depends in fallout and saints row I always make a black male on my first playthrough, but in elder scrolls I'm always a male khajjit so I guess you can always say I make male characters.

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I just play whatever comes to my mind.

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nogaems posted...

Only an option for speedrunners and psychopaths.

"What do you mean you didn't spend 7 hours in character creation?"
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I always try to remake myself if I can

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I make them as different from myself as possible... so usually they end up being a hot guy.

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Fierce_Deity_08 posted...

I make them as different from myself as possible... so usually they end up being a hot guy.

Why not a hot girl?
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Revelation34 posted...

Why not a hot girl?

Because Im a girl and the opposite of girl is guy.

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nogaems posted...

Only an option for speedrunners and psychopaths.

I am a schizopath, technically

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Also, I'm curious as to how sex/sexuality really plays a part. I mean, most games either don't touch on that at all or have a set love interest/selection. In Mass Effect, for example, your character has to choose one of three people to romance. If none of them appeal to you as a player, you get attracted to a non-romancable party member like Wrex, or whatever else your character will have no chance to display their sexuality.

I guess what I'm saying is that many times the characters sexuality is defined not by their sexuality but by the avalible romance options. Likewise said options tend to be player-sexual as opposed to any actual sexuality. That is to say that they're only attracted to the player and have no romantic interests outside of them.

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#7 - No, unless the game offers no other choice. To date, the only game I can remember like that is Jade Empire, and even that was less 'custom character' and more 'your only options are vaguely Chinese'.

I've tried to make an avatar of myself in things like Mass Effect, but it just never works out. I usually play as badass women anyway, typically green-eyed redheads, going back to ME1.

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DiScOrD tHe LuNaTiC posted...

#7 - No, unless the game offers no other choice. To date, the only game I can remember like that is Jade Empire, and even that was less 'custom character' and more 'your only options are vaguely Chinese'.

I've tried to make an avatar of myself in things like Mass Effect, but it just never works out. I usually play as badass women anyway, typically green-eyed redheads, going back to ME1.

I make a lot of green eyed red heada too

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Unbridled9 posted...

Also, I'm curious as to how sex/sexuality really plays a part.

I guess what I'm saying is that many times the characters sexuality is defined not by their sexuality but by the available romance options.

That rarely bothers me, because most of the time if I don't have an option to go after a specific person, I assume romance will occur after the fact regardless. Like in Fallout: New Vegas, where in spite of there being no romance option for any companion, I just assume my Courier can easily flirt with or hook up with any of the eligible companions after the main story is over. You basically end as one of the most important people in the entire Mojave, it would probably be fairly easy for you to find a date (and that's not even counting the characters you actually can sleep with along the way, who you presumably might try to get more serious with). And it makes sense that you may be less inclined to try and hook up while in the middle of crisis mode, but more inclined to do so after the Happily Ever After.

I think the only time that sort of thing ever really annoyed me was in Outer Worlds, where you not only have no way to express interest in any of your companions, but the one you're most likely to wind up wanting to romance is a) asexual, and b) eventually asks you to help them hook up with someone else almost immediately after meeting them. So the game is sort of rubbing your nose in it.

Though I do prefer Bioware's "These handful of very specific people are available as romance options" over the Fable/Skyrim method of "You can romance/marry pretty much any NPC, but very few NPCs have anything resembling a personality so there's no reason to care about any of them." I very rarely marry or romance anyone in those games because of that. But I feel the lack more when I'm playing a game that feels like a Bioware RPG but lacks Bioware romance (*cough*Obsidian*cough*).

I basically have ridiculous headcanon involving Veronica and my Courier from my first New Vegas run. She literally caused my game to have a radically different ending than it otherwise would have (I was like 100% behind House until he tried to get me to wipe out the Brotherhood - especially since, in that run, Veronica and ED-E were pretty much the only companions I'd even recruited).



Unbridled9 posted...

If none of them appeal to you as a player, you get attracted to a non-romancable party member like Wrex

Because of how I tend to play, which ones appeal to me as a player are rarely the determining factor for which ones I romance. Because I'm trying to construct a unique personality in my head for my character, and basing their decisions on that personality, it can dramatically affect who I choose to try and romance.

Just in terms of Mass Effect, I've had characters who preferred Liara, and ones that preferred Kaidan (almost no one would prefer Ashley, because she almost always dies on Virmire - and the one character I played who probably WOULD have preferred her couldn't date her because she's not bi/lesbian). My Ruthless Colonist Shepard who was a xenophobic racist wound up with Garrus (which I didn't actually plan on happening - it just sort of evolved organically, mostly because the Jacob romance is brutally strict and I failed out of it without meaning to - which made it a really interesting narrative when it happened because it felt like it was super out-of-character for her, but also simultaneously had happened entirely organically and unforced... she'd essentially evolved as a character). I've had characters who break up with Kaidan over Horizon, and ones that stay loyal and rekindle things in ME3.

Dragon Age is a bit more complex - the mechanical dynamics differ, which makes for more potential options. In Origins, my Human Noble, Circle Mage, and Dwarf Royal all wound up hooking up with Alistair (the Human noble basically married him to become Queen while the other two broke up with him to put him on the throne - then the dwarf survived by letting Morrigan do the Ritual while the Circle Mage sacrificed herself and died), but my human-hating City Elf wound up with Zevran and my Dalish Elf and "selfish" Circle Mage wound up with Leliana (and I did one "evil" Circle Mage run specifically to romance Morrigan). In DA2 I never really know when I start if I'm going to wind up with Fenris or Isabela (I've done runs where I wind up with Anders or Merrill, but the other two are way more common), and in DA:I my Qunari wound up with Sera, my human mage (who in my headcanon was one of Hawke's and the Warden's cousins) wound up with Cullen, and my Dalish mage wound up with Solas.

Even when I've played a game before, I often have no idea which romance interest I'm going to wind up with in a given run until I get a feel for who that person is and what motivates them. And sometimes I kind of assume I know which way things will go only to find I've kind of surprised myself.

It does kind of suck when I feel like a given character would absolutely pursue a specific NPC who isn't interested (like wanting to romance Tali as a female Shepard and being shit out of luck), but it feels more realistic that way, which I do like. In the real world you're not going to have a 100% chance of success with any person you flirt with - some are going to be incompatible due to any number of factors. The idea that a protagonist can essentially bend everyone's sexuality to their will [like the jokes about everyone in DA2 being "Hawkesexual"] is kind of lame. Even if it does mean that I tend to get screwed over from playing female characters 99% of the time if the best love interests aren't lesbian/bi (hence why I had to do male runs specifically to do Morrigan and Cassandra romances in DA). But I actually liked how DA:I kind of overcomplicated things (Cullen and Solas would discriminate based on race as well as gender, Sera will make negative comments about you being Dalish and a mage if you romance her, etc).

And yes, there are games/runs where the choices for romance partner are so terrible, or so antithetical to the character I'm playing, that I just avoid bothering with romance at all. That was a problem in early Bioware (male PCs in Baldur's Gate can romance Aerie, Jaheira, or Viconia... female PCs... just get Anomen; the KotOR games are straight-romance only, because Lucas used maintain the idea that everyone in the Star Wars universe is hetero, so licensees had to follow that rule), and like I mentioned, I almost never bother getting married in Fable or Skyrim because of it.
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What the fuck.

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

"Wall of Text'D!"

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I am a dude.

I like games with strong female lead protagonists so when given the option I usually go with a female character.

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Llamachama posted...

I am a dude.

I like games with strong female lead protagonists so when given the option I usually go with a female character.

Yeah, that was the first thing which made me notice Control. A supernatural/sci-fi themed third-person shooter starring a redhead with superpowers ticks so many boxes on my list that it's almost a little embarassing. ^_^

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Llamachama posted...

I am a dude.

I like games with strong female lead protagonists so when given the option I usually go with a female character.

This. A little eye candy never hurt anyone either.

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Just in terms of Mass Effect, I've had characters who preferred Liara, and ones that preferred Kaidan (almost no one would prefer Ashley, because she almost always dies on Virmire - and the one character I played who probably WOULD have preferred her couldn't date her because she's not bi/lesbian). My Ruthless Colonist Shepard who was a xenophobic racist wound up with Garrus (which I didn't actually plan on happening - it just sort of evolved organically, mostly because the Jacob romance is brutally strict and I failed out of it without meaning to - which made it a really interesting narrative when it happened because it felt like it was super out-of-character for her, but also simultaneously had happened entirely organically and unforced... she'd essentially evolved as a character). I've had characters who break up with Kaidan over Horizon, and ones that stay loyal and rekindle things in ME3.

Man. I really hate it when people say they killed off Ashley 'because she's a racist/xenophobe' because...

First off, if you actually pay attention, she's not xenophobic from the outset. She doesn't trust aliens because she feels that they don't treat humanity as equals yet. We do see this play out multiple times across all three games in which various aliens treat humans as lesser/inferior due to being a new part of the galactic community. Secondly her fears about what the council would do to humanity were SPOT ON! They threw humanity under the Reapers to try and buy time to protect their own worlds. They even did sort of the same with the geth whom they let humans and human colonists fight off/get killed by instead of responding with proper force or even sending a specter to investigate. That's not to mention that having a bunch of aliens, not all of which have even demonstrated loyalty to Shepard beyond their mutual desire to take down Saren, on the most cutting edge ship humanity had at the time was a very risky move. She has no problem working with the aliens personally and even outright says she'll follow her orders no matter what. Shepard says 'kiss a turan' and she says 'which cheek'. She outright refuses and rejects the pro-human racist group in 1 as she recognizes that they care more about hating aliens than humanity, in 2 she refuses to join Shepard because she detests Cerberus that much because of how they treat aliens, and in 3 she's not only become a specter, which is a tool of the council, but she's forged close bonds with the likes of Tali whom she outright compares to a little sister. Yes, she puts humanity first, but she's not racist. She treats aliens with respect and as friends and rejects racism. She isn't perfect and her dealing with her issues is part of her character arc, but it's clear if you pay attention that she's also not about to treat a race like they're inferior or anything. Not saying you kill her off on Virmire because of that, but that's by far the most common reason I hear for it. Drives me batty especially knowing she was right.

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Ashley was a racist and she was ugly.

Much rather have a no count like kaiden who I can just ignore.

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Unbridled9 posted...

Man. I really hate it when people say they killed off Ashley 'because she's a racist/xenophobe' because...

Not saying you kill her off on Virmire because of that, but that's by far the most common reason I hear for it.

Well, to be fair, being a justified xenophobe doesn't really change the fact that she IS a xenophobe. And as even she admits, her attitude is mostly due to inexperience and the bitter emotions of personal history rather than anything logical. Which is partly why she makes friends with Tali so easily (it's mentioned that by ME3 they sort of think of each other like sisters), and why she tends to mellow out as the series progresses. And for people determined to play Shepard as Captain Inclusivity, that kind of attitude can definitely be annoying regardless.

But I mostly kill her off because it's easily the most logical scenario. Kaidan outranks her, and is one of the most powerful biotics in the human military with years of operational experience. Ashley... is basically a grunt with a gun who has self-admittedly never had a shipboard assignment before. She may be a good soldier, but she can easily be replaced.

Yes, there are extenuating reasons for that (her family history), but the end result is that, if you're using the sort of "ruthless calculus" that Garrus refers to in ME3 when you have to decide who to sacrifice and who to save, Kaidan is pretty much the only logical choice. As a commanding officer trying to make a dispassionate judgement in the heat of the moment, he's the one Shepard should pick.

And that's only made even more extreme depending on how you deploy troops earlier in the mission. If you send Kaidan off to coordinate tactics over the radio (which you should, because he'd arguably be better in that role than she would, and he outranks her), then saving him also means saving the Salarians. So it's not really a 1:1 situation. Whoever remains behind with the bomb is basically 1 person - the other person is part of a larger group. In terms of pure value, your choice should always be weighted towards the group.

From what I've seen from people discussing it, the people who save her tend to do so because they're playing male Shepard and intend to try and romance her, because they like her as a character, or because they dislike Kaidan.

Ironically, the one run where I did save her was also the run where I probably would have romanced her if she was a lesbian, so I basically ended ME1 with no romance that run. Because my Shepard in that one tended to agree with her politics and identified with her as a ground trooper who liked to bludgeon her way through things as opposed to Kaidan, who tends to be a bit more intellectual (they're basically a deliberate dichotomy between logic and emotion - they're basically playing the Spock and McCoy to your Kirk). That particular Shepard was easily the most emotional/knee-jerk version of the character I've ever played, and she made the emotional choice to save the trooper she was friendly with rather than the higher ranking officer and tactical asset (even if he was sort of flirting with her).
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Well, to be fair, being a justified xenophobe doesn't really change the fact that she IS a xenophobe.

Well, there's a difference between xenophobia and properly placed paranoia/precaution. As mentioned she was right about how the council would treat humanity, she is correct that a lot of aliens don't treat humans like equals, and so-forth. Her fears being reasonable and well-placed makes them extremely different from if she assumed those things and was totally wrong. Especially if said fears come about as a result of a reasoned application of logic as opposed to unreasoned hatred for the other.

I really hate it when people play 'Captain Inclusive' as well. I mean, I include aliens in my crew and trust them and everything, but that's because I've come to trust them as individuals. If I reject a crew mate for any reason (and I certainly have cases in ME2/3 where I wouldn't mind sending someone packing) it's because they aren't personally working out. I'm not going to include people simply because 'diversity is good and xenophobia is bad'. Give me an all human crew, an all turian/asari/quarian/whatever crew and I'll be just as fine. So long as I trust the individuals in said crew.

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Unbridled9 posted...

Also, I'm curious as to how sex/sexuality really plays a part. I mean, most games either don't touch on that at all or have a set love interest/selection. In Mass Effect, for example, your character has to choose one of three people to romance. If none of them appeal to you as a player, you get attracted to a non-romancable party member like Wrex, or whatever else your character will have no chance to display their sexuality.

I guess what I'm saying is that many times the characters sexuality is defined not by their sexuality but by the avalible romance options. Likewise said options tend to be player-sexual as opposed to any actual sexuality. That is to say that they're only attracted to the player and have no romantic interests outside of them.

This is more coming from a tabletop or Roleplay server on MMO's where you are only limited by your imagination.

Although, as you noted, romance options are becoming increasingly open ended in other styles of games as well.


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Never!

I really am a stalking clown by day

https://imgur.com/a/cKZy2h3

and a dancing kitty by night.

https://imgur.com/a/JvZQFTn

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EvilMegas posted...

Ashley was a racist and she was ugly.

I mostly did it because of the hair. ME3 Ashley all the way.

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Unbridled9 posted...

Well, there's a difference between xenophobia and properly placed paranoia/precaution.

Especially if said fears come about as a result of a reasoned application of logic as opposed to unreasoned hatred for the other.

But that's not why she had that attitude. She explicitly tells you that most of her cynicism comes from the fact that aliens essentially destroyed her grandfather because of Shanxi, ruined her father's life, and has made her own life way harder than it should be.

Her own experience means that she's never really met any aliens, and is basing her entire opinion mostly on hearsay, her own bitterness, and a bit of paranoia. She's never had the opportunity to meet aliens who would give her a more sympathetic view. It's why her view becomes more nuanced once she actually starts working with aliens.

Once she starts seeing most aliens as being "just like us", most of her distaste stops being focused on "aliens" and more on "politicians" (where she's much more justified). She's not as overt as Presley is, but her motivations are mostly the same (and they both change their minds once they actually interact with aliens on a regular basis).

Again, Shepard will literally say at one point that they see Kaidan as the head and Ashley as the heart. Ashley's opinions are more emotion-based than logic-based.



Unbridled9 posted...

I really hate it when people play 'Captain Inclusive' as well.

I think it depends. If you're playing a Spacer War Hero Shepard who is going full Paragon, it makes sense that the Alliance picked you to be Spectre to be a diplomat as much as a soldier. That kind of Shepard probably is going to be open-minded, potentially optimistic about the prospects for cooperation and cultural interchange, and generally willing to treat everyone they meet as a person more than a race. "I'm willing to like and trust you until you give me reason to do otherwise" could sum up that sort of personality. And it's often helped by the fact that, even when the politicians are screwing you over (the human ones as much as the alien ones), there are always soldiers (of every race) willing to support you. Not just your own crew - Kirrahe flat-out tells you that his superiors are wrong, you're constantly interacting with sympathetic Turians, Calyn is super-nice when he doesn't have to be, Doran clearly cares about his human waitresses, Han Olar mourns letting a human die, etc. - and there are always evil or selfish humans to contrast against. It makes sense that you'd be more willing to try and win people over by being nice than make things even worse by assuming everyone you meet is a potential enemy.

(and keep in mind, from the in-universe perspective, humanity went from being a fractured ball of endlessly warring kingdoms and nations into a single unified Alliance. Humans have learned to set aside their differences and self-centered worldviews to work together to benefit everyone as a whole - an idealistic Shepard could easily see that as a model for how humans need to integrate and cooperate with other races, and how you can't let initial distrust and difficulties poison future relationships)

On the other hand, a Renegade Ruthless Colonist Shepard who has literally seen everyone they've ever known and loved murdered by aliens, and who are so motivated by aggression that they were willing to sacrifice half of their own troops to guarantee that they wiped out an alien enemy, who was clearly recruited to be a Spectre because they're willing to do ANYTHING to get the job done... THAT sort of Shepard probably isn't going to be as understanding. That's the kind of Shepard who probably hates most aliens (and human politicians) themselves, and really only bonds with aliens like Garrus or Tali or Liara because they prove useful and trustworthy.

Again, it's sort of the contrast between Kaidan and Ashley. Ashley represents the darker side of alien contact, where you can't trust "the other", and where paranoia and cynicism color most of your perception. While Kaidan is "the romantic" (and Shepard can explicitly refer to him as such) who is more moved by the idea of expanding outward into the vast galactic ocean, meeting new exotic races and learning their ways, and making new friends so you can all thrive together (and this in spite of the fact that Kaidan has more reason to dislike Turians than Ashley does - but he explicitly says you can't judge an entire race by its worst members, and that if you do humans are pretty shitty as well). Neither are necessarily wrong - both are valid ways to see the galaxy, and both are valid ways for Shepard to express themselves.

So I don't think playing xenophile Shepard is any less valid than playing xenophobe Shepard. Both are pretty valid based on how you interpret the backstory. If you want to play "Humanity first, aliens second", that's fine. You could even agree with most of what the Illusive Man says in ME2 (and only really disagree because you like individual aliens as "your crew" and disagree with some of Cerberus' more extreme methods, but still agree with their overall goal). Or you could be a Shepard who feels like every race has its own pros and cons, but that the gestalt of all races standing together in peace and unity is far stronger and superior to all races standing alone.

It's not really until you get to Andromeda that you're sort of forced into the "Everyone is wonderful!" mindset where race becomes almost meaningless compared to factionalism (other than the Kett, who are basically always bad). A xenophobic Ryder probably wouldn't BE part of the Initiative in the first place, and their backstory very much makes them out to be an idealist (even if they're snarky as hell).
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I typically pick the least-human race so... not much in common. For Oblivion, I picked Argonian despite there not being a ton of water in the game (thus limiting the racial perk's usefulness). For Skyrim, I mained a Khajiit both for the look (Argonians didn't look great) and because they had great racial bonuses, especially the nightvision perk (which was great for exploration). If non-human races aren't available, I often just pick whatever look I like best.

Lawfulgoodness posted...

This topic was recently brought up in an eso guild of mine where a (admittedly younger) guildmate was startled to realize that you didn't need to be of African descent to play a Redguard.

Sounds like digital blackface to me! But yeah, once upon a time, it was cool to play whatever you like, but now with SJWs running rampant, people think twice based on the whims of white allies who are outraged on behalf of minorities >_>

Personally, I don't assume that avatars are a reflection of a person's real appearance, although I'm still sometimes thrown by people picking the opposite gender in a MMO particularly when it's a woman crossplaying as a male character. (By contrast, I just assume most female characters are being played by males.)


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First time I played each game in the Saints Row series, I would attempt to duplicate how I looked IRL. That's probably the only series I played that involved customizing the main character - haven't bothered with any other games that do that.

Saints Row 2 (only one out of the series I did multiple playthroughs) - after the first one, I did playthroughs where the main character looked like AVGN, Leonidas from 300, Beavis, Butthead, Mr. Rogers, and several others.

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