Predetermined character creation

[Pussycat669]

This is probably a minor point so please accept my apology for wasting your time. But since it is more a question of design I thought it would be better to get different opinions involved. The question that crossed my mind lately was: how far may you go in predetermine a player characters background without sheeting his possibility to make decisions to a degree where it is either too limiting to make a real difference or simply implausible?

As far as I can remember the typical way to avoid this problem was to put the player in the role of a faceless someone who wondrously turns into a superhero later on. If those had any shreds of history it was simply a way to explain the characters determination to achieve a certain goal (whats not bad at all). The benefits (higly customisable PC, wide array of possible choices and surely some others I've overseen) are obvious. The most daring attemp of 'paternalism' which breaks with this tradition would be Planescape Tornment, I guess. But it still uses the amnesia backdoor technique to grant the player his superior command over the PC's action.
I'm wondering if such thing is even necessary to explain this absolute power over one's will at all. Maybe it is a bit dependant on the outlook of the viewer onto human nature. But I, for once, would it find an interessting change of focus that instead of the heros path as a device to create personality where there was none, it could stand for someone who starts from a narrow situation that slowly evolves as it is enriched with possibilities that ultimately prove the worth of individuality (or the lack of it).
Hope it is worth a thought...

 

[Zomg]

I think you could do a quite restricted character very well, particularly if you employ some KotOR2-style retcon roleplaying or vignette roleplaying where you have chances to explain why your character performed whatever actions effected the mandatory backstory plot points. CRPGs inherently require a lot of character restriction, and roleplaying fine differences (ex: the difference between two murderers) can be just as good as RPing gross ones.

 

[Spazmo]

I personally don't like having the developers decide anything about my character. I thought KOTOR2's thing with YOUR OWN CHARACTER having some intense backstory you have no idea about was horseshit. I really want to be able to create the character I want and not be teh chosan 1 hu was riten in teh profecy.

 

[Necaradan666]

Why can't you be both? Obviously a fellow has no choice whatsoever in being written about in teh profecy but he's still the same person after he finds out he's supposed to be the chosen one.

It's the lack of choices (after character creation) in such linear games these days that determine who your characters can be or can't, not his own backstory.

As far as I am concerned the characters I play are exactly as I wanted them to be regardless of a pre-determined history or not. It only becomes my character when I start playing the game and developing him whatever came before is extra flavor and whatever comes after is probably a crappy sequel

 

[Zomg]

I personally don't like having the developers decide anything about my character. I thought KOTOR2's thing with YOUR OWN CHARACTER having some intense backstory you have no idea about was horseshit. I really want to be able to create the character I want and not be teh chosan 1 hu was riten in teh profecy.

Well, KotOR2 made a mistake in going in media res and giving you no idea of your character's backstory. I assumed it was yet another amnesia storyline and the retcon format didn't make sense until I had actually assembled what the hell was going on. A little roleplaying tutorial, plus some way of offsetting retcon-based dialogue choices (a little asterisk, or anything at all) would have made the first half of the game work immensely better.

 

[mytgroo]

All characters are sons and daughters of wayward heros

All characters are sons and daughters of wayward gods and heros. You see one night a god/hero decided to disguise themseleves as a dog, sheep, tax collector, or other large attractive creature and get some nookie. They charmed the heros mother and that is how the character came into being. The whole family secretly wished the adventurer would leave so when they were sixteen they sent them to join the army or gave them a big stick and left them on the roadside.

 

[Norfleet]

That covers an amusingly large number of character backstories.

 

[Gambler]

I like it when characters have predetermined backgrounds. It adds depth to the game, that is otherwise impossible to have. I liked Torment and KOTOR2, because in those games main characters had a meaningful relationship with surrounding worlds. It's not like in most of the RPGs:

Hi, you're generic dwarf fighter, dude. You were born 5 minutes ago, do not know a single soul in this world, and have no purpose in your life, except... SAVING THE WORLD! (Surprise, eh?) You have no distinctive features people react to, and you can't have a decent conversation with anyone, because designers did not have time to write all that stuff properly. They were too busy creating different version of dialog in case you would have been female, or had other race. Good luck being the chosen one.