Leaderboard: What’s more important in an MMO – character visuals or world visuals?

When I first got to Massively-that-was, well over 10 years ago now, one of my tasks became front-page editing, meaning I had to keep the front page of the site, all the widgets and inserts and sliders and eye-grabbers in order (with hand-coded html because that infrastructure was a mess, wheee). At the time, I was told by the bosses at Joystiq that I should always try to use screenshots with faces because people are much more likely to click on faces and images with humans in them.

I don’t have much reason to doubt the stats, so I did what they asked. But personally, I gravitate toward landscape shots every single time. That’s what I want to take. That’s what I want to feature. That’s what I want to click on and see.

Am I the weirdo here? Or am I just an MMORPG player born and bred, somebody who’s used to being sold on how the world looks and feels, more than the character, in a genre where characters are often goofy-looking and are so often hidden behind helmets anyway?

Let’s put it to a poll. What’s more important to you in an MMO: character visuals or world visuals?

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