I was reading Shrug and came across this story about Acclaim’s upcoming game Dance. Apparently, the default character is white, but you have the ability to customize the character, including color. Which seems great, right?

It is.

But… you have to buy the non-white option.

For years now, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen that I think customizable characters are a great thing. The ability to alter what my character looks like is a huge selling point for me. Take a game like Samurai Western- it’s a sort of fast paced brawler in the same family tree as something like Double Dragon. It’s got a couple of nice features, like the ability to earn new swords, and deflect bullets, but the aspect that pushed it from “check out” to “buy?”

The ability to not only open up new skins, but to earn equipment that can be attached to your character. Not only can you, for example, get a variety of hats for the character, but you can manipulate the size and location of the object- you can make it absolutely huge, rotate it around, and stick it on the character’s back if you want.

Very cool.

Allowing the player to customize characters is fantastic, but I don’t think it’s been used as well as it could be, and things like Acclaim’s call to make it an option you have to buy is exactly how. The Tony Hawk games did a pretty good job- they allow you to not only change the clothes you wear, but to alter things like your height, hair-style, color, weight, sex, etc. right out of the gate. I think it’s great to have locked items that you can earn or buy- t-shirts, hats, boots… whatever. 

Not skin color or sex.  

Most games don’t require that the player be of a particular gender or race out of some necessity to story. There’s no reason why Snake couldn’t have been black, or Asian, or a woman, for example. The story would play out pretty much the same, I think. Obviously, there’s a commercial advantage in creating lasting characters, though. By creating a specific character, instead of letting players choose, they create a franchise. That also allows them to create a lasting story in the form of consistant sequels- Snake has history now, and is a lasting figure. 

Which is fine. That can also be a great thing. I love the Metal Gear games, and I’m a big fan of Mario. Not every game is intended to have a permanent character, though. For any particular game, the creators have to weigh the options- do they push for a lasting character, or do they give the player freedom to create their own character? Most of the Castlevania games go with a new character for each game. Mega Man is the same character between games. Different franchises, different choices.

What are the advantages of letting players create their own characters? The most obvious benefit is that it lets players create a stand-in for themselves. The default character in most games tend to be white men. That’s fine for me, I guess. As a white guy, it’s something I barely register. That’s not necessarily fair to the rest of the planet, though. By giving the player some choice, it allows them to play as someone representing themselves.  

I understand that it’s not necessarily practical to let the player completely build a character from scratch in every game. But, for any game that’s not establishing a franchise, I don’t see any reason not to give some choices to the player. Personally, I’d like to see the industry move towards a new standard of allowing the player to choose the sex and color of the character. Given the number of games that allow you to add or remove costume pieces, or that include new skins for the player as bonuses, I think that the ability to play as a woman or to play as a non-white could become standard without that much trouble.

Games are starting to get better about these sorts of things, I think. Most MMORPGs, I think, let you choose your sex and color. The newest Soul Calibur game also let you create characters of different colors and sexes. It even includes the ability to make your character young or old (limited to one old face each for men and women, but, still, a nice touch). Games like Tenchu included both a man and a woman as playable characters (and encouraged you to play as both- a nice touch).

Unfortunately, as Shrub points out, things are far from perfect. Looks like we’ve still got some distance to go.  

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2007 at 1:27 pm and is filed under feminism, gaming, pop culture, video games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.