Star Wars MMO Style Watch: BioWare's Old Republic Alien Avatars are So Awesome, Humans Seem Drab

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world fashion

BioWare's highly anticipated new MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, is set to launch this month. And now that the NDA is lifted, I can share my SWTOR Beta experience with you. It's a great game (my short review is below), but it has one major avatar style shortcoming, similar to something I noticed in Star Trek Online: With the tremendous variety that's available to the alien races, why would anyone ever want to be a plain little human?

I'll show you what I mean...

Customization in SWTOR is not as flexible as in BioWare's single-player titles, but above average for an MMO. In addition to common traits like body type, face shape, etc., each race has at least one trait unique to them, and some traits dependent on class.

For example, Twi'leks like the one pictured above can choose different headbands, as well as makeup that affects both their face and headtails. Zabraks like the one on the right can choose different facial markings and hair/horn styles. The alien race customization is not nearly as comprehensive as it is in Star Trek Online, but it still allows for variety. I could go on and on about the different, striking variables: Miraluka eye masks (pictured below), Rattataki piercings, Cyborg facial implants...

And then, there are the humans. Some humans can have facial tattoos, but if they're in more militaristic classes (where tattoos seem to be forbidden) they can end up looking pretty vanilla, compared to their embellished alien friends. Why would I ever make a human avatar when I could make any of these other awesome races:

Of course not everyone creates their characters the way I do. Avatar appearance is an afterthought for plenty of gamers,   while character profiles, backstory, and abilities take precedence. Yet in almost every MMO, we strive to make sure that we stand out from the crowd, and to not be just another lowbie in the same lowbie gear as everyone else. This is where so many MMOs fall short; giving players a choice between four different hairstyles and nothing else just doesn't cut it. SWTOR's humans are still miles ahead of that in terms of customization, but they just don't pop like the aliens.

The saving grace for SWTOR's humans is that the gear to be earned, found, or purchased for both you and your in-game companions is varied (including a few questionable items, like the booty shorts I stumbled across) with nearly no recycling or recolouring done. There are few other MMOs which can claim that level of uniquenes. So even if you're set on being a boring human, you won't look like a clone for long.

If you were hoping for a less superficial opinion about this game, I'll leave you with this: While I'm not a Star Wars fan, I am crazy about BioWare's RPGs. It says a lot that the story and character development elements of SWTOR kept me hooked on the game in spite of it being in a setting that is very alien to me (no pun intended.) BioWare isn't resting on their laurels when it comes to developing an engaging MMO, so I can't wait to start playing this game when it's released...

... I just won't be playing as a human.

Iris Ophelia (Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.

Comments

[Pussycat Catnap]

Its been a long standing tradition in MMOs that Humans look boring compared to the other choices...

Even in Guild Wars - which had the prettiest human avatars of any western MMO; by taking an Asian art-style but animating it like a western MMO (as opposed to the pretty but cardboard stiff avatars of MMOs like Perfect World) - the humans look more boring than most of the monsters. Who hasn't seen a Charr and wondered why they were stuck on the human badguys? ;)

Someday maybe, an MMO will come out that has Human avatars which are engaging to look at - but I'm not holding my breath waiting.

[Melponeme_k]

And no matter how great developers make non-human races look, everyone still wants to be human in games.

That means hard wired evolution needs won't be thrown away for something as transitory as games. However gimpy humans in games look, they are still providing enough information about each other that we humans find valuable.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Yeah...

Banality baffles me... but there you go...