Do you like customization?

[MakerOfGames]

I was thinking about game customization on the players part and wish to know what most people think about the option. So here is my poll:

By developers enabling customization in a game they let you decide how certain things will be represented.
Most of the time it is a basic to moderate customization of characters, however, in this poll i would like to know exactly how much people would really like to customize game elements.

Helping you understand the poll options:

None - You simply want to play games, not have to deal with setting up personalizations.

Basic - Customizing names and player details such as choosing from a few character designs is nice.

Moderate - Much character modification is the way to go, let me chose from many character designs and little details such as their viewable decals such as the armor decals in Halo 2/3.

Heavy - I want to customize as much as possible! Let me choose from a huge selection of options for character designs etc... Also, I don't wish to stop there, but customizing weapons, vehicles and other elements would be the way to go!

Feel free to post along with your vote to make your opinion more specific.
We all have an opinion on this so please voice it.


My Vote:
-Heavy Customization-
Personally I like customization options and would welcome a non-RPG to have vast customization. It would be a fresh twist on many generas and open new gameplay experiences.

*to the moderators, I didn't place this in the game designs thread because it doesn't seem to fit in as a discussion on design.

[jonas]

I have to agree with you Heavy Customization. I like to be able to go through and customize every aspect of my game play. Actually if a game doesn't allow me to customize it with-in game I customize it by other means.. lol

[Juutis]

I think being able to customize the gameplay gives the game depth of a sort. That's a good thing, mostly. But what if I just want to kill some time and/or brain cells? What if I don't feel like spending 15 minutes creating a character? I voted for heavy, although I enjoy all kinds of games. Those that throw you into the action instantly as well as those that let you tweak every little detail of your character. I think it's totally up to the game how much customization it should allow.

For example, a game like Painkiller doesn't really need much customization. To those of you that don't know it, the game starts when you press down the left mouse button and ends when you release it. Even if you could see the character, I don't think being able to modify him is important since the game is all about shooting and running.

On the other hand, being able to create a unique character in a RPG is important. It's more fun to play a character that is just the way you want it to be and it's probably easier to care about the main character. (S)He is not just someone who you command, but a person whom you don't want to get killed.


I'd also like to see games that allow you to customize the story. Like the player could make choises that affect the story heavily. There are games that have multiple endings but the story and missions are pretty much the same, like Deus Ex. I'd love to see a game where you could actually make decisions that define which missions you have to do and with whom. For example, there would be a mission where you have to stop terrorists from smuggling a bomb to a country. If you succeed in it you have to find out who the terrorists are or something, but if you fail to get the bomb the next mission would be to find and defuse it. Just a simple example, but I believe you guys get what I mean.

[darksmaster923]

i enjoy heavily modding games till they completely mine.

[MakerOfGames]

Thanks for your opinions! If you haven't voted yet, please do!

Why vote? I would like to get as accurate as possible poll of users preferences for customization because I hope to integrate a degree of customization into my game. As it is now, I have gotten my desired results! If you think differently than the polls show, please vote!