Why do people lack creativity when creating their characters?

[MackumDog]

They lack creativity because the character customization options are so limited in this game. There aren't many good looking combinations to pick from, so naturally you are going to have a lot of near identical looking characters. There should be sliders for everything including colors. There should be a lot more hair tattoo and accessory options. If these devs want to see a proper modern character creation process and gear customization they should check out Aion. You literally never see two identical avatars in that game.

 

I was just about to say this, the character creation system is so dull and there is very little difference I just accept what I got

[oPURT]

My trooper is type 1 as I wanted a little guy with a cannon.

 

I tried that too cause I thought it would be funny. I deleted him soon though since it looked way to much like a little boy and staring at that toon made me feel, well, like I should be put in jail.

[Majestic_Jazz]

This shouldn't really come as a surprise. A large majority of the human population lacks any real imagination or creativity. Given the option, most will go for the ideal look and will not bother to put much energy into coming up with a name.

 

This is my thoughts exactly. People in this thread just doesn't want to admit that so they all say the same thing "I just did it because I liked it..." or my favorite "Because they don't think like you then they are uncreative?"

 

I just find it a little TOO convienent that I have YET on my server see a burgundy or orange/yellowish skin-toned Pureblood. They ALL have the near similar shade of red. My reasoning is that people do this because they feel that the "ideal" look for Purebloods is bright red.

 

 

 

They lack creativity because the character customization options are so limited in this game. There aren't many good looking combinations to pick from, so naturally you are going to have a lot of near identical looking characters. There should be sliders for everything including colors. There should be a lot more hair tattoo and accessory options. If these devs want to see a proper modern character creation process and gear customization they should check out Aion. You literally never see two identical avatars in that game.

 

 

You bring up a good point, and I don't disagree but one question I have to ask is.....even with the limited options, the Sith Pureblood has a WIDE range of hues from Peach to Orange/Yellow, to Red, to Burgundy. So why is it that on my server, The Shadowlands, most of the purebloods I see are using the same skin tone.....bright red. I only say 2 people use burgundy, one was a make and the other was a female. Other than that, all I see is the same skin tone on all of the Purebloods.

 

With the Chiss, I see a greater diversity and range of blue from very light blue all the way to the dark, near navy blue skin tones. However with the Sith, there isn't that same range of diversity.

[Katsushika]

The char customisation is pretty poor in all fairness, I joined a guild recently and look exactly like the other sniper in the guild, two weeks into my trial there was a new tank invited to the guild low and behold looks exactly like me and one other guildmate. Call this coincidence? or do you call this limited options/options that look good? In my opinion its both something tat Bioware have really failed on.

[Qoojo]

I don't care for washed out colors. The one time I tried to be different, I picked a washed out puke greenish yellow for a twi'lek and regretted it.

[Dawgtide]

I tried that too cause I thought it would be funny. I deleted him soon though since it looked way to much like a little boy and staring at that toon made me feel, well, like I should be put in jail.

 

Well I haven't played mine much yet. I reserved 8 names is really what I was doing on my server of choice. I don't generally worry too much about that kind of thing, but we will see. I like to play females much more as it sounds like you do too. My little trooper cannon guy is a green (Mirawhatever) with a mullet and tatoos. That little guy should be a trip to play to say the least.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Dawgtide

[DoomStride]

I pick the 3rd body type for most things because I like the larger character model, aka, I like dwarfing most NPCs.

 

But apart from that, I don't pick the same things as other people, for Instance I picked that dark and disgusting red colour for my Sith Pureblood. He is named Darth Ception, he received his scarred up face during training when he challenged his trainer to duel to the death, He also has no hair and is forced to wear a respirator due to the injuries sustained in that fight.

Edited March 26, 2012 by DoomStride

[MasterKayote]

People just go with whats appealing to them. Maybe people generally dont like the orange skin on a pureblood? A Commando with bodies 1 and 2 look ridiculous holding that big gun, maybe thats why most go for 3? I personally dislike any body type other than 2 ... all my toons have the same body type save two of them I hardly play which I made as such just for some variety. Does that mean im not creative? I would hope not as my career depends on my creativity.

 

Character creation isnt exactly a creative endeavor anyway ... you pretty much just pick options that you like and are happy to play as. Hardly anyone is going to make a visually unsatisfying toon to play as for 50+ levels.

[Majestic_Jazz]

The char customisation is pretty poor in all fairness, I joined a guild recently and look exactly like the other sniper in the guild, two weeks into my trial there was a new tank invited to the guild low and behold looks exactly like me and one other guildmate. Call this coincidence? or do you call this limited options/options that look good? In my opinion its both something tat Bioware have really failed on.

 

I'm talking more about skin tone.

 

I am sorry for your experience, but I have been playing since December 13th and I have YET find a Sith Pureblood [female] that looks like mine. Hell, NO female Pureblood has even come close to resembling my pureblood. Why? Because I knew that the bright red skin was going to be the "trendy" pick for people who created purebloods and while I liked that skin tone, I wanted to stand out and decrease my chances of running into a situation like how you described where someone looks nearly identical to my character. I even turn off darkside corruption because I wanted her to retain her original look and not fall into the visual category that 95% of the Sith do on the Empire side.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Majestic_Jazz

[WickedDjinn]

Most people simply want to play something they find aesthetically pleasing, and that narrows the options down.

 

What the OP doesn't understand is that trying to be different or go against the grain just for the sake of doing so is NOT creative. It suggests a level of immaturity that should have been left in junior high.

[Majestic_Jazz]

Most people simply want to play something they find aesthetically pleasing, and that narrows the options down.

 

What the OP doesn't understand is that trying to be different or go against the grain just for the sake of doing so is NOT creative. It suggests a level of immaturity that should have been left in junior high.

 

Yeah, I can say the same thing about people going WITH the grain just because it is "trendy" to do so is also a behavior better left in junior high.

[WickedDjinn]

Yeah, I can say the same thing about people going WITH the grain just because it is "trendy" to do so is also a behavior better left in junior high.

 

It has nothing to do with what's trendy. More people simply like the color red than orange. By your own logic anyone who happens to be doing something the majority likes is being a mindless trend following drone. As if you could peer into the mind of other gamers and learn their motivations.

 

Meanwhile, according to your own words, you make decisions based on what you think everyone else is doing.

[Kalabakk]

I'm still failing to grasp the point of this thread. Why should I care if someone chose a particular look or not? I can't understand the OP's obsession on this. Whether you are "original" or not makes no real difference. Create your character the way you want it and let others do the same. There's no reason to attach so much analysis into why someone chose a particular look. It's nobody's business but theirs.

 

This is starting to sound like an ad for an Apple product. Buy it because... it's different!

[Majestic_Jazz]

I'm still failing to grasp the point of this thread. Why should I care if someone chose a particular look or not? I can't understand the OP's obsession on this. Whether you are "original" or not makes no real difference. Create your character the way you want it and let others do the same. There's no reason to attach so much analysis into why someone chose a particular look. It's nobody's business but theirs.

 

This is starting to sound like an ad for an Apple product. Buy it because... it's different!

 

Do what you want, I just find it funny how 99.999999999% of the Sith Purebloods all look the same on my server and how 99.99999999% [exaggerating] of the Troopers on my server ALL have body type 3.

 

 

Again, I point to this comment which sums it all up.

 

This shouldn't really come as a surprise. A large majority of the human population lacks any real imagination or creativity. Given the option, most will go for the ideal look and will not bother to put much energy into coming up with a name.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Majestic_Jazz

[Toonimator]

I've run into the 'limited options' problem a lot... only a few of the Caucasian faces fit the classes I was rolling. Some looked bizarre, but fit the voices of NPCs they're used on MUCH better. Hairdos, I've only used a handful of. Body types range from 1-3 on my male toons, and my female Guardian's a 3 as well--but she's named after a comic book superheroine who's also built that way.

 

I also pulled names from various EU sources, tho some were already taken. So I got a little creative; my Sentinel's basically a clone of Kol Skywalker in appearance, but as Kol was taken I thought "Maybe it's short for something else" and picked 'Kolton'. My IA's a straight-up copy of the star of Dark Horse's "Agent of the Empire" comic, Jahan Cross (with the best-matching hairdo I could find) named 'Jahan'. My Trooper (a BT3 male) is named Garven, after ANH's Red Leader Garven Dreis. My Scoundrel's modeled after Firefly's Malcolm Reynolds, but as "Mal", "Malcolm", "Reynolds", and even "Tightpants" were already taken (ie, 'Captain Reynolds' or 'Captain Tightpants' for the latter two), I went for a Star Wars surname and called him Car'das, after Talon Karrde's mentor Jorj Car'das, as if he's an ancestor. 'Captain Car'das' will work well enough.

 

But I'd rather see those, the more obscure SW character names than "Trolololol" or "Revvaan" or "Drizzt" or "Monkeysauce" or "Major'damage" or, especially, special-character names "ßossk" (people want the "B", use "ß" instead, and either don't know or don't care that it's actually an 's' sound)

[OddballEasyEight]

Why is it that people lack creativity when creating their characters? I understand that the options are limited, but that isn't what I am harking at. I am talking about people seemingly going the cliche or "iconic" route when making their characters.

 

Why is it that that vast majority of Purebloods I see all have the bright red hue for skin color? My Pureblood has a orange-ish type huge with yellow goldish eyes and pitch black hair. However, most other people with pureblood characters ALL look the same! They all have the typical red eyes, the typical bright red skin and the typical red hair. Why is this? Like I said, there is a orange/yellowish type skin tone for purebloods and there is also a burgundy type hue that nobody seems to use. Mostly everyone who creates a Pureblood goes for the typical bright red hue. Don't get me wrong, I am not by any means complaining because it only makes my Pureblood more unique because everyone else looks the same. I am just curious as to why people go this route?

 

Then there is the male trooper and the ever so popular use of the 3rd Body Type. Before I stopped playing my Trooper [story bored me] I used the 2nd Body Type. He wasn't skinny, but he wasn't some human brute/krogan. He was in shape but not in an exaggerated way. Even worse than mostly everyone using the bright red hue for Purebloods, is ALMOST EVERY Trooper I see when I play as my Sith Warrior and PvP is using the 3rd Body type. Even when I was playing my trooper, it seemed like 8 out of 10 male Troopers were the 3rd Body type. Every now and then you'll see the 2nd and 4th type being using a RARELY you see the 1st. Again, why is this?

 

Why is this? Do people lack such creativity/imagination to the point where they just go with "whats popular"? Do they just go the iconic route and make their Troopers super buff because they are.....supposed to be super buff? Do people not choose the orange/yellow or burgundy skin hues for the Purebloods because they think that it would make them look less.....pureblood?

 

Again, not complaining, but just curious. Are people simply afraid to be different?

 

My pureblood warrior has a dark, almost ashy, red hue on his skin and bright yellow eyes and no hair at all.

He is also body type 3 tho, but thats because he values strenght above all.

 

What really gets me isnt the stereotypes that actually fit (like the type 3 body on a trooper) but the ones that really dont fit, but you know the player picked the look to "look all ****** and stuff"...

Like type 3 bodies on smugglers or imperial agents.

Or the ever so popular red twi'lek/zabrak. Almost never see any other colour of these (at least not on the empire side)

 

But im guessing (and this is mostly from experience in APB which had a superb and extensive character creation system) people just tend to go for the extremes.

sith pureblood? pick the most red skin you can pick.

chiss? pick the bluest of blue

theres a body type thats 2m tall and super muscular? check!

 

in APB almost everyone was as tall and as muscular as they could be, or they were just as short and skinny as they could be (this might have changed now, but thats how it was in the start).

 

this despite there being a plethora of options when it came to size and musculature of your character.

[Grubfist]

Uniqueness means nothing without others being conformist.

 

I like looking "average".

[OddballEasyEight]

I don't care so much about the looks of characters. What I do mind is that people cannot make up a name for themselfs. Often names are taken out of books/films/cartoons etc.

 

When not make up your own name or just pick a name you like not because it is some heroic chacter but just because you like the name.

 

My main character a lvl50 sniper is named Gformutorila (this has no meaning, I just liked the sound of it),

 

My lvl20 alt operative is named Somnium (Somnium is latin for dream or day dream).

 

Edit:

 

names that show from which country you are really suck.

 

VaderDK

Legolas123NL

ÄnákínCZ

etc

 

names like that just makes me eyes bleed.

 

Actually, names like that instantly make me think "hello, did you come here directly from call of duty or did you have a nap before?"

[DjSnazzyduds]

Do what you want, I just find it funny how 99.999999999% of the Sith Purebloods all look the same on my server and how 99.99999999% [exaggerating] of the Troopers on my server ALL have body type 3.

 

 

Again, I point to this comment which sums it all up.

 

So because I choose something more of my taste rather than your taste I lack creativity and imagination? There isn't a scale that tells how much imagination one has. Creativity and imagination are what an individual's personal views are. My body type 3 is something that reflects me as a person personally. I like to make my characters after my image, so they all have body type 3 and brown skin.

 

I may not put as much time and energy into my character customization as you may, but that doesn't mean I lack creativity. So that quote you quoted doesn't sum up anything. If someone goes for an "ideal" look then so be it, that's what appeals to their personal taste.

 

I'll tell you one thing though, the way you disregard other people's perceptions because they do not reflect yours is not new or creative. Judgement of an individual's personal preference seems to be all the hype on these forums.

[Kubernetic]

Out of the 5 characters I play, only my Trooper is a BT3 character. In my (developed) character history, he was born and bred to be a Republic trooper, came from a Republic trooper family, and spent years of his late childhood and early adulthood training and building himself to be a strong hulk of a character.

 

It doesn't hurt that his armor looks terrific on him, or that he can ride a Rendili Watchman speeder and actually look over the handlebars, unlike a BT2 character that has to creep up over the handlebars to see where they're going.

 

Granted, I'd have much rather chosen a BT2.5 size for the trooper, but in the absence of that, choosing between BT2 and BT3, I chose 3 because it looked best to me.

 

It also didn't hurt that the first in-game character you meet as a trooper is Gearbox, another BT3 character.

 

All other characters I've created are BT2: Jedi, Smuggler, Agent and even Bounty Hunter.

 

I've never just accepted what the character generator gives me. I always spend time tweaking every single setting until it looks exactly like I want them to look, since I'll be staring at them during cinematics throughout the rest of the game.

 

Other people just may not care, or didn't care at first, but now care and desperately want the ability to redo their toon.

[MackumDog]

I'm still failing to grasp the point of this thread. Why should I care if someone chose a particular look or not? I can't understand the OP's obsession on this. Whether you are "original" or not makes no real difference. Create your character the way you want it and let others do the same. There's no reason to attach so much analysis into why someone chose a particular look. It's nobody's business but theirs.

 

This is starting to sound like an ad for an Apple product. Buy it because... it's different!

 

asking a question on a forum is hardly an obsession, i think the OP made a good comment, and the amount of replies upholds that.

 

To attack the OP rather than comment is a tad immature isnt it?

[WickedDjinn]

asking a question on a forum is hardly an obsession, i think the OP made a good comment, and the amount of replies upholds that.

 

To attack the OP rather than comment is a tad immature isnt it?

 

Both the OP and the comment are equally ridiculous.

[WickedDjinn]

Of course the great irony of this entire thread is that if people actually listened to the OP in large numbers and followed the OPs example THEN they actually would be trendy!

[Kalabakk]

asking a question on a forum is hardly an obsession, i think the OP made a good comment, and the amount of replies upholds that.

 

To attack the OP rather than comment is a tad immature isnt it?

 

His repeated dismissal of anyone else's opinion is what I meant by obsessive. How is my saying that people should be able to create whatever they want "attacking" him? He's free to create what he wants and I'm free to create what I want. I see nothing immature about that. I just don't need my character choices turned into some psychological analysis of my creativity.

[futuredami]

Most people simply want to play something they find aesthetically pleasing, and that narrows the options down.

 

What the OP doesn't understand is that trying to be different or go against the grain just for the sake of doing so is NOT creative. It suggests a level of immaturity that should have been left in junior high.

 

This.

 

Just because you are odd doesn't mean you are interesting.

 

The fact is, nobody... NOBODY cares what your character looks like but you. The fact that you feel smug and superior for choosing one of 8 colors is sad.