-- by Matt Gardner

New Art Form of the Month: Custom Characters

Games these days, particularly ones that have a multiplayer aspect (even more particularly ones with massively multiplayer aspects), are all about character customization. People want to look as badass as possible, while making a character that is uniquely their own, so that other people will stare agape in amazement at their fantastic Sephiroth Mitsurugi. With this trend of character customization doing nothing but pick up speed, it’s becoming something of an art form. People make custom characters and post pictures of them on message boards where they are viewed, critiqued, and even sought after. Sounds like art to me!

Getting to the point of this article, I’m interested in two things: Games that have character customization, and YOUR custom creations. Both games I reviewed this month have character customization. Homestar Ruiner allows you to dress up Strong Bad in various costumes and take pictures of him to share with your friends, and Soulcalibur IV allows you to make custom characters to show off to your enemies as you beat their faces into the ground. Either way, art is art!

If you have played a game in which you can customize a character, I want to hear details! What can you customize about the character? What did you like/dislike about character customization? If you have pictures, even better! Show them off! Best custom characters will receive a special prize!!! That’s right, a special prize. If I could double italicize that, I would; that’s how special it is. As always, If you customize, POST!!!!!