The Art of MMO Character Creation
This is my original character, TsuYa Tai, often just called Tai.
Please excuse the old art. I haven’t drawn any large up-to-date color pieces of him recently (bad me). The wings are optional, but the scythe, snark and grumpy attitude are not.
Tai is a character who created himself over a decade ago. I say “created himself” because he started out as a one-time walk-on character when I was first writing the Dreigiau fantasy series. That turned into a side character, then a head-strong main character, and now one of my most well-developed and most-played figments… including in MMO games.
I am a gal who often plays a guy character in MMOs, but there’s nothing funky going on there. I’m simply an author who really enjoys trying to recreate my characters in a variety of worlds and see how close I can match MMO character creation to the real thing.
I decided it would be interesting to explore all the different versions of Tai I’ve created over different MMOs and games. So, I logged in and screenshotted, or found existing screens, of him in all the games I could remember and still had installed. I know there’s a few I don’t have due to being no longer on my computer (Arche Age, Dragon’s Prophet) or not running anymore (Vanguard).
I tend to recreate a number of Tai’s characteristics if I can:
- melee DPS (scythe classes if possible)
- dark hair
- shortest character height
- wears blue (if possible)
- sometimes a face scar (if possible)
The following more or less a comprehensive list of Tai’s character over the years of gaming.
Guild Wars 1
Tai’s first MMO iteration was in Guild Wars 1. I had a necromancer version of him at first, but when the Dervish class was released, it was almost perfect for him. Scythe, twirling battle animation, blue robes. Yeah, this did a good job in representing his character.
EverQuest 2
Taii in EQ2 (no three letter names allowed) was a Shadowknight. I really enjoyed the class, but didn’t level him very far. When the free heroic character option came around, I up-leveled him to 80. But I still haven’t played him much since then. I don’t know if there’s a scythe weapon, but I used a generic Specter’s Scythe as a cosmetic weapon override, and gave him black wings for a flying mount.
LOTRO
In LOTRO, Tai is a level 50-something Champion. I couldn’t give him a scythe, so dual wielding blades would have to do. I haven’t played him in a long time, but I was there before the class trees and through a lot of the Champion nerfs and turmoil.
Neverwinter
In Neverwinter Online, Tai is a Great Weapon Fighter. Again, no scythe, but a huge blade makes up for it. I haven’t played this game in a while, but here he is with my much-loved Frost Mimic companion!
Starbound
Not an MMO, but Tai has also appeared in Starbound!
Sims
Tai has been in all my Sims games since Sims 2… I was just too lazy to launch and install all my files to get screens of him in the older games. So here’s a Sims 4 version of him, which you often see in my Sygnus Sims Sunday series!
Guild Wars 2
In GW2, Tai is a Warrior. No scythes in this game (yet… maybe one day?), so the glowing blue greatsword takes its place. Also, black wings cosmetics, though they don’t fly.
Final Fantasy XIV
Finally, the newest version of Tai in FFXIV. Here, his main class is Dragoon due to fun melee DPS and huge pole arm weapons. I think this is my favorite game version of Tai because it matches my vision of him more closely than any other game so far.
How Do You Create Game Characters?
Do you have a consistent character design or character name you use across different games (MMO or single player)? Or do you prefer to randomly roll characters to find something you like – maybe you enjoy variety more than consistency?
Do you ever base your characters off of your own original characters or characters from books/movies/games you enjoy? What’s your method?