Still a WIP but in Freak amidst the Neonlights the MC’s appearance influences how easy the ROs fall for them. Basically if MC is their type.
In other games it influences the appearance of relatives (Seven Heirs of Ophaesia) or if the player chooses an appearance that is not close to their parents it’s possible to have npcs make remarks about it (Purple Desire… pretty sure that one has a different name by now but I don’t remember the new name).
So yeah it’s completely possible to work it in and have it affect the gameplay and various author work on it even if it didn’t find it’s way into most of the already published works (besides Zombie Exodus Safe Haven, which is crazy when it comes to MC costumization but you certainly get reactions for it. It’s also one of the games that includes a skip option as far as I’m aware for the detailed character creation)
Besides…it may not be important for various people but for others it is very important to see an option that represents themself.
Anyway it just depends how the game works with it and for that we have the forum and people testing the games. Also…I personally think if a skip option is useful can not be said universally. It really depends on the game and how it presents/uses the options.