IGN survey: Customization is the most important thing?!

[Venkman]

When I ran into the GW-hits-a-million article, I made the mistake of poking around IGN a bit more. I came across what some are predictably reporting as an "interesting" survey on MMOers. Of course, they're not mentioning that these are just MMOers who a) love the genre enough to go seek more info about it, and b) actually think IGN has a lot to add to discussions about it. Clicky the linky for the full thing. I didn't copy/paste it because you know this stuff already.

One statement stuck out though:

Above all other features, MMO gamers indicated that character customization is the most important, even higher than character progression.

Character customization? Really?

Character customization is often requested by players as a nice wish. Yet players don't stick with a game because of the color of the lipstick they chose, like they don't stay with a game just because they love the license. The game is either fun and playable or it is not. Regardless of how many different patterns one can choose from for their tendrils, a bug-riddled nigh incomplete and inconsistent mess is not going to have broad sustainable appeal.

Besides, who's playing at a resolution and point of view where that pattern matters in the first place? Sure it might be nice to ratchet the graphics sliders up to see teeth crowns. But who does this for long, and particularly, who cares during the bulk of play which involves either combat, or interactive crafting?

To be fair though, "character customization" could mean both the at-creation look and the  ongoing customization offered through items. That, to me, would make the most sense. People do enjoy looking different from everyone else, regardless of resolution and point of view. Hit Thunder Steppes, Ironforge, or Lok and no two players look the same because of the stuff those characters acquired along their way there.

Equipment-base customization is not typically part of the common defintion of "customization", but I sincerely hope it is for the purposes of this survey. If it's not, then I question the result.

[Merusk]

Anecdotal:

I knew 4 people who hung around in SWG as long as they had because they loved the ability to change their appearance and customize their house.  They were social gamers, and didn't give 2 shits for anything other than dancing/ musicianship and the crafting system.  Oh, and being fast enough to not get killed by any of the mobs as they ran to their house.

COH - people not on hardcore gaming sites talk much more about the customization and freedom of how you look than any of the gameplay.  The gameplay is nice, but the love for the customization is there.

It's safe to say that customization won't save a game, but it can be the basis for it in a social setting (Second Life) or really enhance decent gameplay for 'normal' people who are where the market wants to expand.   Biggest complaint from non-hardcores I hear in WoW is that everyone looks the same.  They don't just mean faces and hairstyles, but that does account for a lot of it.

[StGabe]

Customization is very, very important to me.

Not just how my character looks but what skills he has, what items he has, etc.  It is one of the first things I look for in an MMO.  It almost always has been.  Even back in my mudding days I tended toward muds that had more strongly defined characters and a progression that involved customizability (not that there were many).

Admittedly I'm semi-hardcore.

Gabe.

[Mesozoic]

People also say that they're tired of seeing smut on TV.  Then they turn on their computer and go for the hardcore porn. 

Point being that what people say they want and what they actually want are sometimes different.  Its difficult to imagine that a group of people who want character customization over all have made CoH a modest success while 1,000,000 of them play WoW.  No one wants to say that they are in it for the Ding Grats and the higher-DPS sword.  But they are.

[Sky]

I dislike games without much character customization. It was a glaring fault of EQ after coming from the crazy UO with all the articles of clothes and armor you could don. Sure, there was a lot of decent looking gear in EQ, you just had to level and camp like mad to get it.

Anyway, count me amonst those who feel that customization is essential, the more the better. I don't want to look like every schmuck in the game, it's nice to be able to customize to an avatar you feel comfortable existing as. Being stuck wearing a nasty robe in EQ because it has the best stats just sucks imo.

Most of these mmogs are basically the same anyway, kill, loot, repeat. At least one can look good while doing it.

Even Planetside has a small level of customization via the medals/awards and outfit patches.

[schild]

If you can't be unique, you can't be the hero.

[Lt.Dan]

No one wants to say that they are in it for the Ding Grats and the higher-DPS sword.  But they are.

That's exactly why I play WoW.  It's Diablo with other people - oh and no end.  Ever.

[schild]

No one wants to say that they are in it for the Ding Grats and the higher-DPS sword.  But they are.

That's exactly why I play WoW.  It's Diablo with other people - oh and no end.  Ever.

WoW is a ding generator.

[StGabe]

It's not the "hero" thing for me.

If anything I think the "I want to be a hero" thing is over-rated.  I don't want to be a hero -- I want a fun game.  The "hero" stuff comes from static content, content I can get in a single-player game.  It's the gameplay that really keeps me playing an MMO.

I just get excited about crafting unique builds, looks, equipment setups, etc. for my character.  If I can come up with some unique set of skills or items or look that other people wouldn't have thought would have worked then I'm having fun.  Even if I'm sub-optimal.  I'm that guy that plays around with weird Javazon builds in D2 and end up rocking even though everyone "knows" that bowazon is better.

If nothing else, customizability introduces a "skill" to MMO's that hits my Fun-spot.  I don't just have to whack-a-mob to earn a ding.  I get to find different effective setups and techniques for whacking that mob that others haven't thought of.

Gabe.

[HaemishM]

Customization isn't just physical looks, but that's a big part of it. But I think most MMOG devs have failed at customization, either because they don't build enough into it (/wave WoW) or because they focused on the wrong things (/wave EQ2 and SWG). CoH got it right on the front end, but it does lack a little bit of character customization on the back end, you know in the game itself. But where you can customize your character in COH is in the stuff people will actually see, your size, build, and all kinds of different costume types. In EQ2, they were more concerned with being able to shape the size and shape of your nose or the color of your eyes, all of which WILL NOT be seen by the majority of people who play. You have to approach physical customization on the 3-yard rule approach, i.e. what will look good at 3-yards from the character. Nothing else much matters.

Also, keep in mind this survey was done by IGN, so its participants were all regular Vault-users. Do I have to draw that particular bell curve for you?

[Pococurante]

Also, keep in mind this survey was done by IGN, so its participants were all regular Vault-users. Do I have to draw that particular bell curve for you?

It would have to be you - I can freehand perfect curves all day but drawing a straight line by hand eludes me.

[Krakrok]

Customization is dead last on my list. If everyone in the game all looked exactly alike (which in Planetside they pretty much do) I'd still play it if it had the gameplay I was looking for. Again this is from the perspective that the character is not me but instead is my (s)pawn.

[Kail]

Customization, to me, is EXTREMELY important, but only in as much as it lets me make a character I like the look of.

Morrowind, for example, NEEDS more customization because the artists who put together the character models did an extremely bad job of it.  If you give me sliders for nose length and eye angles and all that, I am highly confident that I could come up with something way more palatable (to me, at least) than any of the artists did.

World of Warcraft, on the other hand, has a lot of models I do like.  Even though there are a lot of zombies with the same hair style as me, as long as I can play a character who I think looks cool, I don't care.  There's enough differentiation in WoW that I rarely run into people who look exactly like me, and that little difference is all I really need.

To me, anyway, this is something of a game-breaker.  If you expect me to play Game X for 100 hours, you'd better ensure that I'm playing a character I like, and if you can't ensure that, at least give me the option to make one myself.  Gameplay and all that stuff needs to be in there too, but if I'm stuck playing some retarded looking ogre fairy elf princess, I won't last long enough to care about the gameplay.

[Pococurante]

In WoW distinction is about the items anyway - when fully equipped we're only talking about facial features anyway and I rarely zoom in to FPP that I'd notice or care anyway.  I'm also in the camp that customization to me means the entire character, skills etc

[Venkman]

Customization based on items is a part of these games. However, there's two distinct schools:

• For look- The folks who have masquerades at Atlas Park or costume parties in Azeroth. These are folks who either acquire gear specifically because it looks good, or keep gear they've outgrown for the same reason. This is obviously done enough or Blizzard wouldn't have bother making the Dressing Room function. Nothing like a 60 Mage dreaming of holding a big ass axe.
• For stats- This is aesthetic as a by-product. In WoW specifically, the sets are designed for a self-consistent look, but the sets are acquired for the set bonuses, if they're good enough (and people build the full set fast enough to not outgrow it before it loses its relevance *cough* Magistrar's *cough*).

There's not a clear divide obviously, but rather, it's the motivation.

Games like SWG and UO went all sorts of crazy with customizable options. CoH eventually patched inline customization as well with the Tailor. A whole minigame develops from that, providing the dual benefit of customization and extended retention.

Finally, while Haemish is right to note what I did (about who's taking the survey), the fact that customization is #1 to the Vault survey taker really indicates something. I wouldn't have assumed that at all.

So I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the survey after all.

[Sky]

CoH's multiple costumes and tailor helped flesh out my mid 20's power focus change and made for a nice roleplaying story arc.

[Llava]

Hits... Ironforge... and no two players look the same because of the stuff those characters acquired along their way there.

WHAT?!

I can't count how many damn level 60 Night Elf Rogues I saw in that exact fucking same armor.

[Pococurante]

We really must permit colored text again.

[Fabricated]

Customization based on items is a part of these games. However, there's two distinct schools:

• For look- The folks who have masquerades at Atlas Park or costume parties in Azeroth. These are folks who either acquire gear specifically because it looks good, or keep gear they've outgrown for the same reason. This is obviously done enough or Blizzard wouldn't have bother making the Dressing Room function. Nothing like a 60 Mage dreaming of holding a big ass axe.
• For stats- This is aesthetic as a by-product. In WoW specifically, the sets are designed for a self-consistent look, but the sets are acquired for the set bonuses, if they're good enough (and people build the full set fast enough to not outgrow it before it loses its relevance *cough* Magistrar's *cough*).

The second part is something that annoys me greatly in WoW.

I get that the crafted sets need to have a small difference in level req. from beginning to end since each of the pieces will probably require progressively higher skill to craft, but Blizz could have set up the crafted sets so the whole set doesn't span 10-15 fucking levels (so if I want better gear I end up looking like a patchwork retard). The Imperial Plate set goes from level 47 to level 56 or so. If I want the whole set bonus I need to keep at least 2 pieces of sub-50 gear equipped, which kind of eliminates the point of the set bonuses since I can make up or surpass the armor and stamina loss from not having the set just by getting green or better equipment my level.

[WindupAtheist]

Hits... Ironforge... and no two players look the same because of the stuff those characters acquired along their way there.

WHAT?!

I can't count how many damn level 60 Night Elf Rogues I saw in that exact fucking same armor.

Has Darniaq actually played WoW?

[Arnold]

How old is UO, and how cool was it to be able to walk into town and identify people by their look?

[Righ]

If they mean the ability to differentiate your character from the norm by skills and abilities, I'm with the Vault respondants, sadly.

Shadowbane gave a lot of variation that allowed you to make a character with a fairly unique combaintion of skills. WoW is less attractive in that manner, because other than talents it mostly comes down to items which tend to normalise depending on the catassery of the participants. EQ was just horrible - every level N foobar was the same as every other level N foobar. I'd much rather have everybody LOOK the same, but have character decisions that set their skills and playstyle apart. Everybody looked exactly the same in Lineage, but they weren't as similar as characters in EQ.

[Sairon]

To me it's just a bonus, if we're talking looks. In DAoC for example I had a grey hat, 2 purple sleeves, grey chest and green pants for a very long time. I looked totaly unqiue, in a bad way, but I didn't care all that much. It doesn't bother me all that much that everybody looks the same in WoW. It's geting a bit better in WoW though, new stuff arrives all the time.

[Shockeye]

While I like new items, I don't go much for an overall "look" unless of course that look happens to be "garish".

[Venkman]

Has Darniaq actually played WoW?

For probably an embarassing multiple of the time you put in.

Please understand that I was talking about intention, not what everyone here has seen during their X number of hours in the AH every night/day/week/month. With so many friggin people playing it, I imagine everyone's reality may vary.

Mine, on a PvE server (Icecrown) shows a vast array of clothing. Nobody looks the same, unless they're all nekkid. But then, if they are, I ain't in that room. There's only so much immersion I want.

If you're playing on a server where everyone's got the best orange gear, fine, then I'm wrong as it pertains to the reality of your server.

[Dren]

How old is UO, and how cool was it to be able to walk into town and identify people by their look?

It was very cool and I miss that aspect.  I can remember when I'd change my look after 3-6 months of the same and people wouldn't even talk to me for awhile if they had "show names" shut off.  They didn't recognize me.  Many times I'd have other people immitate me and get a lot of laughs.  That's when I knew I needed to change again.  Little things like this kept me interested in the game and community through my periods of burn-out, lack of content, etc.  It prolonged my subscription longer than I probably know.

CoH has the best macro-look (the 3 yard rule) customization out there right now and it wasn't enough to get me to play more than 2 months.  WoW has the worst and I'm still playing it from launch.  If you have both of what I want from those two games, I'll stick with you for the same length of UO which was 6 years.

As for games that let me resize my nose (hairs,) I care not.  I usually just skip over that part in character creation.  Nobody else cares to look that closely, and I don't either.

[Pococurante]

How old is UO, and how cool was it to be able to walk into town and identify people by their look?

Very cool - for example ImaNewbie wouldn't have existed.



BTW he is now selling his complete comics collection on CD.  He makes the comment he's had to change hosts several times now and he can see a time when his stuff is no longer online.  From a nostalgia point of view that would be unfortunate since his comics really are a highwater mark of UO's most interesting years.

[jpark]

Customization is big for me.  In WoW it's not reaching a new level - it is allocating that next talent point I enjoy so much - despite their minor effects.  The relative lack of customization in EQ2 killed me early on.  Shadowbanes advanced customized templates was amazing and was the sole saving grace in that game for me.

CoH is the best overall I have seen for customization - for visuals and abilities.  But the genre, absent endgame and lack of economy hold it back.

Customizing your character is one of the few times I truely think in a MMORPG.

[Bunk]

Customization is a major selling point in getting me initially interested in a game. Lack of it was one reason I never played EQ and a reason that I stayed away from WoW for quite a while. By customization here I am referring to a combination of Avatar customizing and class customizing.

I don't think there has been a single game out there that really covered all three possible aspects:
 - Base avatar: customizing height and build, facial, hair, etc. WoW falls short here because everyone is the same body with changes to hair and skin tone. CoH is one of the few to offer this.
 - Clothing/Equipment: customizing the look of what you wear. I advocate the idea above of having a crafting option to modify or accessorize loot items. UO and AC did this well, SWG also. CoH broke new ground in this aspect. WoW does ok, but is hurt by the fact that at certain levels, everyone wears the same optimal stuff.
 - Character Customizing: Stats, skills, powers, etc. I'm personally a fan of the skill based approach, or failing that, classes as a base with a assortment of alternate paths. Obviously I favoured UO and AC for this. I like to be able to make creative (aka Gimped) characters if I want to.

All in all, this stuff really affects my decision on whether to try a game or not. In the long run, its a combination of things that makes me continue playing - mostly whether or not I'm having fun.

[Llava]

CoH doesn't have a lot in skill customization.  The power pools help, but for the most part a fire blaster is a fire blaster is a fire blaster.

The exception to this are Kheldians.  Two Warshades could be radically different- one might be a blaster, another might be a tank, another might do both well but not at the same time, another might do both decently at the same time, another might be a weird mix of controller/tank... unfortunately, the player base hasn't really taken advantage of the flexibility they have.  Most consider human-form specialists gimped... meanwhile, I have one at level 31 who does just fine and it only gets better from here.

But unfortunately, you make the major decisions about how your character is going to be played at creation- which is funny, because that's exactly what they wanted to avoid.

Of course, in terms of appearance and theme customization, CoH tops everyone else.  Not only is the costume generator extremely robust, but the superhero genre allows for just about any story you want to tell- magical, technical, time travel, fantasy, detective, soldier, apocalyptic, pretty much any theme for a character can work.  So of course everyone makes DBZ clones.

[Rodent]

How old is UO, and how cool was it to be able to walk into town and identify people by their look?

Very cool - for example ImaNewbie wouldn't have existed.

Wow, Imanewbie... Hadn't read that comics in years. Thanks for the link and the jolt to my memory =).

Gets me nostalgic though, WoW might be on every PC-gamers lips, but I've yet to see communities like the ones UO spawned during it's peak.

[Pococurante]

I go back twice or so a year to read them.  I'll probably buy his disk.

It would be hard to recreate UO - it was a captive product with no real competitors and it's open-ended sandbox meant very different kinds of people could create very different kinds of communities.  All the very things a lot of people in this community claim not to want.

[Arnold]

I go back twice or so a year to read them.  I'll probably buy his disk.

It would be hard to recreate UO - it was a captive product with no real competitors and it's open-ended sandbox meant very different kinds of people could create very different kinds of communities.  All the very things a lot of people in this community claim not to want.

While we are on the subject, we can't forget "Bonedood and Platedewd" or "The Dread Lord Morvan".

[Xanthippe]

You say tomato, I say tomato...

My daughter and son play games for completely different reasons, yet both are very committed to their particular games.

Daughter is a social gamer.  Her favorite thing to do is to buy things, decorate, change her look, dance and play hide n seek -  she plays Toontown.

Son is into achievement.  His favorite thing is to advance, get new items that will help him, etc.  He's revisiting Pokemon right now.

My son cares little about customization; for my daughter, it's the whole game.

[Yegolev]

I am always a tad disappointed when I equip something and it doesn't look the same in the world as it does in inventory.  Or worse, it looks like the thing it replaced.