I would say that the general disconnect between fans of ‘superfluous’ information and detractors is perhaps more telling of most people’s particular play-styles. I think many who dislike picking things that aren’t ‘useful’ (hair, eyes, body structure etc) are choosing to engage with the text as a game first, rather than a story first.
That doesn’t mean they’re not interested in the story, its just they’re dropping superfluous information because it doesn’t synergise with their character build. Those who prefer that superfluous information seem to be more interested in the story as a piece of fiction than a game.
For example many of the complaints about not wanting those choices put in are based on what tangible benefit it provides the player. For example:
If it isn’t useful in some regards, then get rid of it.
Whereas to that second group who do enjoy the extra choices, they don’t view the story as a game as much as a roleplaying experience, where any extra information one can glean from any particular choice is considered a good thing because that’s more information.
That may contain some bias because I would place myself firmly in the second camp, to the point where my WIP doesn’t even have a stats screen yet, just choices that encourage the player to make decisions based on what they remember from the text itself. Looking to start a fight with a giant grey golem? Remember that he was slashed across the belly earlier, so go for the vulnerable mid-section or risk a beating.
No min-maxing, no statistical saves, just application of things learned from the text.
However I would agree that characterisation choices that are never mentioned again are not a good thing at all. In my game I make sure every choice made unlocks more information about the world, and will be used again later. For example when choosing hair colour, you have ‘traditional’ colours (blonde, brown, black, red etc) and then a collection of stranger colours (purple, white, green, blue etc).
Rather than just being there to help people look ‘cute’, choosing any of these colours unlocked information about the extensive genetic engineering the human race has undergone before the story. This information is contextually important, allowing players to feel a little bit closer to the world they’re trying to inhabit.
Naturally these colours are mentioned sporadically as the text goes on so as to properly ‘place’ a character in a scene. Much as Harry Potter’s glasses are periodically mentioned almost invisibly throughout the Harry Potter series, so too do these little choices help remind us who is talking and orient ourselves.
I would argue that in this particular medium, that is a powerful tool. If you can allow someone to roleplay a character in such minute detail that they begin to really inhabit that person, you as an author can start to play with that perception, making your stories more complex because you exploit that relationship and indeed the reader themselves.
…if you do it right, that is.
If I raise my strength significantly or a professor commenting on my smarts if I raise my intellect skill significantly or something like that and not negative.
It’s 
And I use 550 words for the scene, so it’s hardly overinflating the wordcount. (And I’m not entirely sure we have the same definition of “superfluous”, for that matter.)
). Unless, of course, you write the game as though the player had made one of the choices, no matter what was actually picked. If, for example, you choose to be “tall”, then half the cast shouldn’t tower over you (unless the story is about meeting literal giants). That would certainly be bad.
Although I probably would like the “light person making it across” Or be more accepting of it in a realistic setting.
As far as I’m concerned