Character customization in WoW a bit of a letdown?

Everybody wants to be different. After all, homogeneity is already boring in itself, why drown yourself in it? That’s why we have our own rules, style, personality, quirks, etc. This holds true when you’re playing games as well. You want your character to be claimed as your own, which is different from everybody else. In that sense, character customization is important, even if it’s easily dismissed as a minor feature of the game.

Minor or not, there are people who value character customization in video games. I have friends in Guild Wars (okay, myself included) who have color-coordinated armor, and went great lengths to achieve it.

Let’s face it, there are those who prefer their characters to look a certain way, and if a game doesn’t offer character customization that much, the said title loses its appeal, no matter how popular it is.

Garett Fuller says that may be a problem with the oh-so-popular Blizzard MMO, WoW. He noticed that the game is a bit lacking in the character customization department, which is a sort of pity. After all you don’t want your lean, mean orc shaman to look like everybody else’s shaman, right? And it’s not just about the looks, as the specs need a little work, too. After all, it would be fun to experiment with different builds.

And well, I get his point. The fun in playing role-playing games is to put yourself in the shoes of somebody else, except that you customize that said “person” such that it still exhibits your qualities or preferences, despite how different you are from that person in real life. Of course, you might not agree with that, but well, it’s something to ponder on. Whaddya think?

Via MMORPG.com

Everybody wants to be different. After all, homogeneity is already boring in itself, why drown yourself in it? That’s why we have our own rules, style, personality, quirks, etc. This holds true when you’re playing games as well. You want your character to be claimed as your own, which is different from everybody else. In that sense, character customization is important, even if it’s easily dismissed as a minor feature of the game.

Minor or not, there are people who value character customization in video games. I have friends in Guild Wars (okay, myself included) who have color-coordinated armor, and went great lengths to achieve it.

Let’s face it, there are those who prefer their characters to look a certain way, and if a game doesn’t offer character customization that much, the said title loses its appeal, no matter how popular it is.

Garett Fuller says that may be a problem with the oh-so-popular Blizzard MMO, WoW. He noticed that the game is a bit lacking in the character customization department, which is a sort of pity. After all you don’t want your lean, mean orc shaman to look like everybody else’s shaman, right? And it’s not just about the looks, as the specs need a little work, too. After all, it would be fun to experiment with different builds.

And well, I get his point. The fun in playing role-playing games is to put yourself in the shoes of somebody else, except that you customize that said “person” such that it still exhibits your qualities or preferences, despite how different you are from that person in real life. Of course, you might not agree with that, but well, it’s something to ponder on. Whaddya think?

Via MMORPG.com