MMORPGs are traditionally games where people spend a lot of time designing their characters. Even in titles where there’s not much to character creation, we often care what we look like (even if we are still willing to look like clowns for stats). So it struck me as an interesting question when I saw a Reddit thread a while back about whether people would play MMOs with randomly generated characters.
It’s not at all unheard-of, I hasten to point out. Remember back when RUST randomly assigned gender and skintone and, um, other interesting bits? Not a pure MMO, of course, but even in a free-for-all sandbox, people didn’t love it. And then there are games like Realm of the Mad God and One Hour, One Life where you’re dying kind of a lot, so maybe it matters slightly less whether you get to customize your toon for three hours. By your fifth character, you might not care that much.
But if I went into City of Heroes and had to go with the first “random” costume the random button generator made for me? Oh please no. That should be a challenge mode or something. (Speaking of, where are the “worst costume” contests?!)
What do you think – do you need to customize your MMO character to feel invested? Would you play an MMO with randomly generated characters?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
