I can’t lie – I really do enjoy a good character creator. In fact, sometimes I like them a little too much, to the point where I’d rather just make characters than actually play the game for which they are being made! I’m very much a role-player when it comes to the characters I create. While my own values may (or may not) drive any moral choices that a character makes, I never seek to insert “me” into a game. Instead, as I’m working through any given creator, a backstory will begin percolating in my head. Sometimes it grows out of pre-made story selections, like the backgrounds provided in the Mass Effect series or Cyberpunk 2077. Other times, it’s based solely on the world in which the game takes places, like in the Fallout games or The Outer Worlds. These stories are (almost) always different, but some of the visual choices I make with these individuals is (almost) always the same. It’s taken me a good while to both realize and admit this; that even though I see my characters as individuals, I do have a tendency to pick some of the same features over and over. Which ones are those and why? Read on to find out as I countdown my top five character creation go-to choices.

5. Deep, dark eyes

Eyes in modern, graphically-rich video games are kind of a big deal. When you have to spend a lot of time looking at your character’s face as they interact with others, the eyes are a huge focal point. Whether they successfully convey emotion or not, when my character’s eyes are anything other than a dark color – brown, navy, forest green, whatever it may be – it detracts from my ability to take them seriously. I’ve tried to make character with eyes that are some shade of gray (a widely available option in so many games), or pale blue or green, and they might has well just be white. They just look so…odd. Even when going the route of creating non-human characters where eye colors, shapes, and sizes are pushed to the limits, I’m more than likely to still choose dark options for them.

Speaking of eyes, honorable mention goes to “cat eye” eyeliner, which ends up on almost all my characters. This is partly because I tend go this route with my own make-up scheme. But it’s mostly because I just think it looks cool.

4. Skin flaws

Any time I can make my characters look less like porcelain dolls, I’m all for it. Give me freckles, birthmarks, acne, spots, scratches, bruises – anything to add some personality! I’m not talking here about scars or tattoos; I’m thinking more along the lines of imperfections that might add to a character’s backstory. Like, my vault-dweller developed some sort of skin rash while underground, which left her with deep pock marks on her cheeks and forehead. It’s a sensitive issue, so once out in the world, she always keeps her face covered in some way. Everything changed when she met Robert… Being able to add facial flaws like this to a character can add up in big ways down the road, at least as far as one’s headcannon goes.

3. A simple hairstyle, usually pulled-back

This choice falls to (1) first using character creators in which long, complicated hairstyles were absent, and (2) a general dislike of clipping. The latter is just an issue we all know in games, and I get it. Model creation and rendering isn’t easy, and there are limits on just how wild gear can be before it clips into things like hair. The former issue is just a fact in the games to which I was introduced to character creations – the first Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins. But even to this day, when I go into a game with a character creator for the first time, I’m more than likely to pick a hairstyle that’s not only modest but also keeps hair totally out of my character’s face, like in a bun or ponytail. This is so that I can fully see how my character’s face moves, acts, and reacts. (Well, if it does any of those things, at all.) It also provides the opportunity to see how other, wilder hairstyles work on NPCs in-game. Once I understand all that, I may go with wild and crazy hairstyles in subsequent playthroughs…well, as long as I think I can deal with potential clipping, that is.

2. Angular features

I’m not sure what people have against the humble chin, but my goodness if I cannot stand it when a character – mine or an NPC – doesn’t possess one. Those “moon-shaped” faces just don’t do it for me. I like angles, lines, and faces that have some sort of definition. To that end, my first-time characters always end up with long, shaped chins (or at least longer than what many presets offer), long, angular noses, and squared-off jawlines. Again, I may take more liberties with subsequent characters, but these initial choices are all about gaining an understand of how a character’s face moves in a game. These are also things that go a long way in making a character seem unique. Having soft, supple, marshmallow-like features is fine, but we all aren’t so blessed.

1. Purple somewhere, somehow

Color is pretty important in character creation. Maybe your shtick is to always create characters with black hair or red lips or green eyes. Well, mine is purple…something, anything! It’s not always a color choice that’s available, but when it is, I always add purple somewhere on new characters. Most of the time, that comes in the form of make-up, usually eyeshadow or lip color – dark purple/maroon is a common choice for me. In rare cases, purple can be chosen as a hair color or highlight, which is always a “yes, please!” I’ll admit that I’m never able to go full bright violet, at least not the first time around, but if I can give me character subtle purple highlights in some regard, I will. As I said, this usually means hair, but it can also mean face tattoos, which is also never a first-time choice for me, but something I might choose for later characters.

What are some features that your self-made game characters often have in common?

Lede image captured by author during PS5 gameplay of Final Fantasy XIV [free trial] (© Square Enix).