Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Master Thesis

Hello fellow gamers!

I could really use some help, Im currently writing my masters thesis about character creation in MMORPGs and I would like your input on some questions.

Feel free to just answer one or two, or answer them all :)

Really appreciate all the help I can get!

So here goes:


  •  What do you usually "use" your character for, Rp, PvE or PvP?



When you are creating a character:


  • What is the most important element to be able to customize, and why?

  • What is needed for you to get immersed (deeply involved) in your character?

  • Does your character need to feel unique for you to be able to create an identity for it? – And in that case what does that mean in forms of character creation?

Thank you all!

/Sahga

Comments

  • nolfnolf Member UncommonPosts: 869

    Originally posted by Sahga

    Hello fellow gamers!

    I could really use some help, Im currently writing my masters thesis about character creation in MMORPGs and I would like your input on some questions.

    Feel free to just answer one or two, or answer them all :)

    Really appreciate all the help I can get!

    So here goes:


    •  What do you usually "use" your character for, Rp, PvE or PvP?

    all of the above



    When you are creating a character:


    • What is the most important element to be able to customize, and why?

    I'm not sure this can be pidgeon-holed into one important customization option.  Each character should be unique and in order to do this, you must give players control over character dimensions.  Height, weight, etc.  Beyond that, their clothes can be very distinguishing as well, depending on if the game mechanics allow for it.  It also helps if you can really get in there and work on the face.  While most of the time we find ourselves staring at the back of our characters' heads, being able to customize our face is important to being unique in the game, and not just a soldier in a clone army.

    • What is needed for you to get immersed (deeply involved) in your character?

    Absolutely.  My character has to be unique.  Mine.  I don't want to run into myself 15 times a day.  In games where the players all have the same dimensions, wear the same few sets of gear (class/level depending) and can really only customize the hair and face with a dozen or so choices, its impossible to feel connected to the character.

    • Does your character need to feel unique for you to be able to create an identity for it? – And in that case what does that mean in forms of character creation?

    I beleive I've covered this one.  Shining examples in my book of character creation?  SWG.  CoH/V.  SWG was great because of the slider system.  You really could get a lot of milage out of that.  My favorite toon of all time was a morbidly obese weaponsmith who looked like he smelled like rotten garbage on a hot day.  City of Heros/Villians is the shining example of clothing customization.  They really truly did that VERY well.  Check them out.

    Thank you all!

    /Sahga

    Just a friendly thought here, and I say this with all due respect.  These questions are pretty elementary for a master thesis.  I would go a lot deeper than this if you're really planning on writing a thesis on character creation.  Your questions barely scratch the surface on this.  You have a good resource of gamers to tap into here, if you can sift through some bull.  If you're really planning on incorporating players' opinions into your thesis, I would also plan on coming up with far more compelling questions for us to answer.

    I really hope that *insert game name here* will be the first game to ever live up to all of its pre-release promises, maintain a manageable hype level and have a clean release. Just don't expect me to hold my breath.

  • SahgaSahga Member Posts: 3

    Thank you so much for your answers and opinions!

    First of all I think maybe masters thesis is the wrong name for it, here in Sweden we have a different system and according to google translate (!) this was the best word to describe it. I do think a masters thesis a one step higher than what Im currently writing...

    Second, this is only a small part of the thesis, Ive allready conducted interviews with a number of players, and the questiones posted here were a result of these, I guess I wanted to see if there is a lot of different opinions about these topics :)

    Third... Thanks again! :)

     

    /S

  • JB47394JB47394 Member Posts: 409

    Originally posted by Sahga

    What do you usually "use" your character for, Rp, PvE or PvP?

    PvE


    Originally posted by Sahga

    • What is the most important element to be able to customize, and why?

    • What is needed for you to get immersed (deeply involved) in your character?

    • Does your character need to feel unique for you to be able to create an identity for it? – And in that case what does that mean in forms of character creation?

    Character customization is completely uninteresting to me.  What I want most from a character is that it isn't a distraction from the game. Many players are uninterested in playing a spaceship in EVE Online while I don't have any problem with it.  That's because I'm not playing a spaceship.  It's just my game piece in the game, like the top hat in Monopoly.

    I also don't get deeply involved in my characters.  They're just a way of getting to game content.  Sometimes I find myself roleplaying a little bit because the situation naturally invites it.  However, that's fairly atypical.

    I don't require uniqueness in appearance for my characters.  I'm what that makes my characters unique.

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,347

    1)  I use my characters (yes, it's usually plural) to play the game.  Most often, that means PVE, but it can mean PVP in a game appropriate to it.

    2)  Physical size.  I know where my character is on the screen, as it's always in the same spot, in the middle horizontally, and somewhat below the middle vertically.  What I need to see is everything else that is going on.  A smaller character blocks less of the screen and lets me see more.  So I make small characters.

    3)  There is no such thing.  Sorry, there just isn't.

    4)  It doesn't need to feel unique.  If I can make a unique character, I likely will, so in Champions Online, for example, my characters have a wide variety of backstories and costumes.  If I can't, it's not that important.

  • SahgaSahga Member Posts: 3

    Very happy for all your answers, thank you all so much!

    This thread will be open until sunday, so I hope I can get a few more answers :)

Sign In or Register to comment.