The purest of this bunch of burly guys and busty girls is the avatar that is completely user-created. From MMOs to extreme skating games to RPGs to Nintendo's own Miis, the customisable avatar is a growing trend in game direction. What does this mean for the characters and other content within games? Does it make games more accessible to previously untapped markets? How does it affect story and the involvement of characters within? Is this something we're going to see more of? And if so, do we love it or hate it? We approached some 'not so random' people in the street and these were their responses.
Neil Booth - PALGN Writer
I'm all for anything that lets me get more involved in a game, and there's nothing quite like watching your lovingly crafted, slightly-more-buff-than-in-real-life avatar being bludgeoned by a shirty goblin to raise the hackles. And let's be honest, who doesn't enjoy collecting knick-knacks that you can use to decorate your in-game self. A friend's wife recently referred to Oblivion as "that dress-up game", and it's difficult to disagree.
Interestingly, though, as avatars (and videogames in general) get more graphically advanced, other things fall by the wayside. The more we can see, the less we have to imagine and this can make things less involving. I can remember playing The Bard's Tale on my C64 many years ago and, despite the very rudimentary nature of the characters, they felt alive to me, because I had to invest so much time in imagining what they were doing. Contrast this with Oblivion, which has everything right there on the screen. Sure, my avatar looks pretty, but the moment I'm no longer required to fill in the blanks myself; something gets lost. It's exactly the same argument that's applied to book versus movie comparisons - the pictures you get in your head while reading are always better than what you'll see on a movie screen.
I think this is why some people (such as myself) get so absorbed by hex-based strategy games. A unit might be represented by a simple, coloured counter, but the "behind-the-scenes" character-building and storytelling going on inside the player's head is probably richer and more involved - and definitely more personal - than anything a designer can dictate.
Overall, though, customisable avatars are generally a boon to videogaming. Mii creation has often come close to overshadowing any actual gameplay for the non-gamers that I've introduced to the Wii. And who hasn't, at some stage, spiced up a dull CRPG by naming their character in an inappropriate manner and watching those little cow-eyed anime heroes get all Samuel L. Jackson? "Hey Motherf****, can you go to the barn and get me a chicken?" No arguing with that, is there?
Oblivion let's you fully customize your character, yet you rarely ever see the fruits of your labour in-game.
Harry Milonas - PALGN Writer
Whenever the obligatory ‘customised and open-ended versus pre-determined and finite fates’ issue comes up (you should see some of my uni philosophy classes) a dreadful sinking feeling overcomes me – a sense of apocalyptic unease that could only be matched by the announcement of a Shadow the Hedgehog sequel.
Okay, maybe that’s taking it a bit too far.
Still, there’s something of a dark secret most wouldn’t know about yours truly, and I think it’s about time I addressed it in the public space of all places: Hi everybody, my name is Harry, and I'm a shameful completist. That’s right, I’m one of those guys that finds some demented pleasure in making sure they’ve seen, heard, and explored every nook and cranny of every game they come across. Grand Theft Auto? Every single stupid package, spray paint tag, photo, horseshoe, and oyster collected. Metroid? The less said about covering every inch of every map screen, the better. Paper Mario? I should stop here before the depressing flashbacks of vague recipe-hunting consume me.
"But what does such an annoyingly perfectionist game-playing trait have to do with whether we're allowed to make our in-game avatars look like deformed walking buttocks?", I hear you wail. Clearly, whenever I see the feature of player customisation extolled all over the back cover of a game, I just know I’m in for a world of incomplete hurtin’.
Role-playing games are arguably the biggest culprit here. Whereas the likes of customisation of your avatar in fighting, sports or all round competitive genres is fine and dandy for laughs, it’s RPGs that usually take it just too far. I mean, how many infinite choices in looks, dialogue, and quests, not to mention types of randomly generated rare inventory must be discovered before a guy cracks under the invalidating pressure?
Don’t get me wrong - a part of me loves the sense of freedom and choice that RPGs such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls provide. I truly love getting lost in those worlds. However, another part of me wants to know when there’s nothing left to do in a game, and it’s time to relegate it to the collection shelf (for those nights impressing the lady folk, naturally). And sadly, the shallowly written linear protagonists of Final Fantasy console me more in that department than the never-ending adventures of my avatar in any Western RPG ever could.
Maybe I’m just looking at this issue more from a content and gameplay perspective rather than an over concern with the background narrative of why I’m - yet again - saving the world. Even so, you have to consider there’s only so much a developer can communicate of its characters before the fanbase starts filling in the gaps themselves, whether it’s a customised avatar or not – The Legend of Zelda 'timeline' anyone?
Speaking of which, if you'll excuse me I have to go replay Twilight Princess from the very beginning just so I can get all 16 postman letters. What's that? You didn't know there were more than 15 letters to the game? Well, well, well, now who's giggling? Or should that be Googling?
Nintendo's Miis have been a great hit amongst character-building fans.
Jeremy Jastrzab - PALGN Writer
Video games have been made and played for over twenty years, and you could easily lose count of how many silent protagonists we've seen. Still, it never stopped the games from having compelling stories and gameplay. It wasn't until the time that we started to fiddle with the appearance of our characters, that games started to lose their compelling edge.
Fable is a prime example of this. All the focus apparently went into creating an experience where the player had the choice and the world at your disposal, but it came at the expense of a compelling story. Oops. Then there's the situation of a game such as Oblivion, where choice and story come together very nicely, but for the most part you're confined to seeing everything through the eyes of your creation. It makes us question, would it have made a difference to the quality of the game, whether you picked a pre-made character or made your own?
With that said, custom-made character avatars do have their purpose and place in the world of gaming, particularly online, and especially as developers and publishers try to push the message of gaming communities. As the online scene tries to become pervasive, this needs to be matched by ever evolving methods of creating customised characters and recreating yourself in the game.
There have been plenty of half-arsed efforts (and most of the attempts on the PSP have been severely lacking), but with games like Rainbow Six Vegas including the ability to include a picture of yourself in the game using the Xbox Live camera, there's hope. There's certainly potential for the future, where top players will be known by what their online avatar looks like, rather than just by their names.
Going back to my original point: while it's somewhat gratifying to have the ability to create your own character for a single-player game, I'd prefer that the developer concentrated on bringing me a diverse and personable set of protagonists if I'm going to be stuck with them for the long haul, as seen in games like Tales of Symphonia. The thing is, if developers are going to include such features as customisable avatars, they need to be well-thought out. Bioware is a developer which happens to be quite good at customisable characters, but there are a lot of ordinary efforts out there. The PSP is certainly one culprit, but even Nintendo's Miis and the latter efforts of EA's "Gameface" left a lot to be desired, despite their novel nature.
There's certainly room for personal avatars in the gaming world; indeed, there's even room for them in single-player games, when applied aptly. As long as it's not at the expense of story or the personable nature of the characters, or requires you to sit through several load screens, it can be done, from RPGs to sports games. With that being said, I still want my pre-set worlds that are left there just for me to immerse myself in. Also in terms of online gaming, customisation needs to continue a cycle of improvement and distinction. Oh, and props to Harvest Moon for allowing me to name all the animals after people I work with.
Neville Nicholson - PALGN Writer
I don't think the issue is whether or not user-created characters or avatars are a good thing. They're certainly not a new feature... Before Oblivion, there was Morrowind... Before Phantasy Star Universe, there was Phantasy Star Online. The tools themselves have improved, but the idea itself is the same.
The REAL development is that, case of Nintendo's Miis and PlayStation Home, we are being presented with the opportunity to create a single avatar that can be used for a multitude of titles.
Which, in my opinion, is a great development.
As much as I love creating a character for a game like Oblivion - me being the perfectionist that I am - it starts becoming a chore to spend hours creating a new character before you get to start playing... especially when I decide ten hours in that I don't like how my character turned out, and have to start over.
For my money, the games that use this "one-avatar-for-all" approach will be games that don't usually include an avatar-creation tool - online titles where your avatar is simply a more visual representation of yourself than your User ID. MotorStorm 2, Gran Turismo 5, Wii Sports Online (inevitably), etc.
If the PlayStation Home avatar creation system is robust enough, it could be possible to give players the choice of using your avatar's face for games like Oblivion - though still leaving us the option to create a new character. That way, less fussy gamers aren't "wasting time" on a feature they don't appreciate.
Miis, unfortunately, are slightly more limited in that regard, as they could only be used for games with a more "simplistic" visual style. I recall reading that in the Wii version of Spider-Man 3, the developers were originally going to include a feature where players' Miis would be wandering around the city. And while that's a cool implementation of the idea, I can't imagine it would match the visual style of the game. But then it's a certainty that many of Nintendo's online titles will keep with the visual style of Wii Sports and Wii Play, and Miis will be perfectly at home. And for the more casual gaming crowd, creating a Mii is undoubtedly a more enjoyable experience than the chore that a character creation tool of Oblivion's scale represents.
All in all, I hope that developers make use of these tools, but don't force them on us. For multiplayer online games, custom-made characters and avatars are a wonderful addition that make your online identity more relevant than simply having text floating above your head. For the majority of single-player games with storylines and character development, however... Well, let's just say I don't think Kratos, Solid Snake and Master Chief should be considering retirement anytime soon.
One of WoW's major drawcards is skinning your character.
Tristan Kalogeropoulos - PALGN Writer
Maybe it's because I'm getting old, maybe it's a lack of imagination, but customisable avatars are beginning to give me the proverbial... Well, let's just say irrits. From Oblivion to Warcraft, I feel a sense of nothingness when ploughing through levels or the many quests scattered throughout. Where's my motivation, people? Maybe it's because I tend to play games more as a detached observer, seeing my characters not as an extension of myself but rather someone on the screen I can identify with and help out of the colossal mess they've been dropped into, by merely tweaking a control stick here and tapping a button there to assist my on-screen friend to find what it is they're looking for.
In RPGs and adventure games, the thought of having a character with little or no back-story doesn't allow the player to experience as much empathy for their on-screen counterpart. And that's where I think the current crop of games with fully customisable skins are missing the point. Looks aren't everything.
It all seems like a bit of a cop-out by game designers. With an inability to write characters that are complex and from varying backgrounds, along with not being able to endear these protagonists to their audience, it feels as though the easiest option for them to go for is customisable avatars. The kids will be happy with that, won't they? We'll the kids might be, but I'm not. At least for the most part.
That said, customisable avatars do have their place. Sports games and other titles where narrative is non-existent (or tacked on for no apparent reason, but that's a whole other roundtable) provide a fantastic home for skinning characters. Creating Miis is great fun, and a greater amount of games that use them is indeed welcome in my home. However, I'm not about to go out and spend time discussing these avatars with my friends. The thing with these types of characters is that they aren't enduring, and feel almost as disposable as the plastic wrapping the game came in.
So a note to game designers everywhere: don't give me more of a chance to customise and carry out pixel plastic surgery on my characters, it's time to start writing better ones yourselves. There's more to inventing involving protagonists than simply playing dress ups.
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We'd like to hear your thoughts on the issue of customisable characters/avatars. Are you all for them, hate them, or somewhere in the middle? Do you like your character to come with a story, or is creating their story while playing through the game more of your thing? Let us know on the forums.
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