Huh, that’s something to look into, ways to offer it as a skippable option. The only problem I can see here is it seems like a lot of extra coding and writing to have it be referenced but only if the players took the option to choose their appearance. Something to consider, though!
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They add to role playing and make you feel like you’re really playing a certain character.
Without gender/apperance customization I usually see the character as myself and can’t really think of it as someone else but when you choose the hair/eye color etc you imagine them like you chose and the game will mention your hair color and things like that later on.
The problem I see with it is that some games just ask these questions at the beginning but later on in the story they don’t mention them ever again which makes them kinda pointless and makes you forget you’re roleplaying later on.
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I like when authors take the time to make character creation so I can know if I can be black or not.
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I’ve said this in another thread, but no, not really, it doesn’t mean anything to me since chances are it’ll never be mentioned again.
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If it’s something that never comes up again, or isn’t story relevant, I still appreciate giving us the opportunity to solidify what our character looks like in our minds. And if it’s like Reports from Philomena in that our appearance actually does have some bearing on the story, even if it’s minor, then that’s even better.
shoves own complicated notes about character creation aside
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I honestly kind of like character customization, even if it doesn’t get mentioned in game but, I mean, if it does thats even better
I don’t like when a game assumes things about my MC’s appearance. In SoH if you play as a female MC it makes references to her having large breasts where I always imagine my MC has being flat chested, so now I have to do some mental gymnastics to make it work. Or in HR the game might make a reference to your grandmother being blond but if you imagine your MC, and by extension their family, as being a race where blond hair isn’t common it might break your immersion.
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I really don’t understand why such assumptions are made when one of the biggest pulls to a game like this is playing whoever you want to play, I totally feel you on that. That just seems counterproductive to the genre! Thanks for your imput in any case <3
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I’m indifferent to customization in these types of games for the most part. I would say ZESH is one of the few exceptions where I genuinely enjoy going into crazy detail because it comes up in the story. I want to include similar details in my own WIP as well.
Otherwise I don’t have a problem with it at all. I find the bigger break in immersion to be as @Mewsly said, when the author comments on family members having certain traits that would make no sense in relation to my character. Worse so when the comment is about the MC themselves (i.e. references to heights or skin tone).
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I can’t seem to remember that the Ronin make a reference to her chest size. Which book is this? 
In terms of customization, I like customization even though it doesn’t get reference later on the story. This helps me visualize the MC that I am going to create but sometimes it will be great to be able to see some kind of acknowledgement deep in the story. There are few exceptions like SoH, which seems for me was not a deal breaker. 
Even though I haven’t tried creating a game, it will be a challenge to code on especially if you’re doing a series.
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I recall in the first book after the gender choice she says something about the guy she was talking to “never having seen cleavage before” which, I mean, you need a fairly large bust size to have cleavage, especially in a kimono. And I think in the second book if you wear the kimono the Baron gives you it says it’s tight around the chest area? That one I’m not as sure about that one.
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I don’t think you need to have a large bust size to have a cleavage. XD Anyway, it will broke the immersion for those who are really flat.
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Well, larger than I imagine for MC, anyway.
Anyway, it can just be small things like that which can break immersion in a game.
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I like optional for this. I actually find it the opposite, it’s immersion breaking for me if I have to sit down at the start of each story and answer 20 questions on my appearence (a quick, gender, name etc is fine) particularly when most of it is never mentioned again. I understand why some people like it, but optional to do a detailed creation where it’s never mentioned again is idea IMO so people can pick which is best for them 
. (I did optional with Sea Maiden, for some stories it shouldn’t be hard to do.) Now if it’s going to make a solid difference to the story that’s different though and would have to be manditory, but there’s far less games that do that proportionally to the amount of character creation.
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That’s exactly why 
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Way of the samurai book one
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Personally the first time I had to do it, I thought “AWESOME THIS IS COOL!” Zombie exodus safe haven second playthrough “eh” third “ugh” fourth “CAN I SKIP THIS?!” After that replay “nope not making a character again too many different things to go through”
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It’s become more common yes and I’m starting to think it actually breaks immersion for me and makes me less likely to replay. Stat choices too start to make things feel like a chore a spamming restart gets old fast 100 plus books later bought later maybe it wasn’t that fast but still.
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Way of the Samurai? I think you mean Samurai of Hyuga? But thank you for taking time to reply, @Mewsly have already informed me where it was it. XD
Also just want to let you know to avoid double posting or posting one after another until another person post after your own. You could edit your post to additional info by clicking the pencil icon and you could also reply to multiple people in one post using the @ plus the username. =)
Anyway, just want to add that I do like customization but not the kind that I will spend majority of chapter 1 in our appearance alone. =)
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Copy right infringement doesn’t apply to forum posts does it??? Samurai of Hyuga would be the book and “way of the samurai” is a really awkward xbox 360 title
The game may reside in imagination but it exists within the words written in the story. When a character is solidified into being via the written word or graphical image (as the case may be) the power of the reader to connect to that character has increased many-fold. One of the strengths of this medium (CS games) is the ability to manipulate the protagonist into a character the reader relates better to in a more concrete and less hit-n-miss fashion than traditional writing methods.
The MC/protagonist is a shared creation when the reader has the ability to shape the character to their imagination and instead of a canon character that may or may not fit the vision of the individual reader, that shared connection can create a stronger bond between the writer and reader.
I know that when a character is confirmed by the author to be different than the imagined character I have in mind (by written word or art-work) I tend to experience a disconnect that I do not otherwise experience. This disconnect may be avoided if I am able to build up the character with the author as I read their story.
As a developer, first-person perspective aside, the devices available to “hook” your reader into your story is more limited due to the choice mechanics involved. Some developers avoid this by showing up front you, as a reader are only influencing their protagonist but others try to place the reader in a co-pilot position with regards to the protagonist and as such cedes some control over writing that character’s canon.
If the start of the story is “slow and drawn out” that is something that can be fixed - that is not a set-in-stone characteristic of every CS game that provides character creation.
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