I’m sorry to say that this statement isn’t true: you had to have 16k of RAM to play the Infocom games. My friend with an Atari 400 was quite jealous that I could play Zork on my Atari 800XL. ;-)

Anyhow I my point is I loved the depth of that game, and I think a lot of games these days don’t have near as much depth and flexability. I’ve actually started playing Eve after reading Ethic’s posts about it and remembering my brief 10 or so day free trial a while back. It was boring compared to a lot of the online RP (now called MMO) games, and still is in most cases, but I know it has a LOT of depth. It’s open-ended, and players are a large part of the in-game storyline, just like in that tiny game I used to play a long time ago. People roleplayed there in GemStone because it was how you became respected in the community (plus hidden GMs would randomly give good roleplayers experience boosts that lasted a few days) and in Eve you are almost forced into playing some form of a role, but that role is entirely up to you it’s cookie-cutterish like most MMOs today are. The depth of the game is like a play you are going to see, and the graphics are just like the backdrop and wardrobe. If you’re going to see a play for the backdrops and wardrobe because you know the play is going to suck or at best be sub-standard, why even go?

In any case, I agree controls are most important, and animation just behind. Players need to feel a connection between pressing the key and seeing an action in games that use FPS-like controls (we accept casting bars of course…)

The visual aspect is still very important. Unfortunately, most games restrict real customization to the *pre*game. Afterwords, only games with a huge array of statistically-equivalent equipment afford players an opportunity to go for look *and* function (ie, EQ1). Otherwise, players go for function, and only a minor subset of roleplayers build sets on look. They become their fashion-clothing, things for roleplay events.

I was heartened to see the Tailor NPC come to CoH. It’s about time the awesome character customization available at creation came back into the “real” game that follows.

Some players will tell you the contrary but that’s not what they’ll pay with their money.

There were certain sets of armor that were better than any others so everyone at those levels had the same set. The only difference is, that you could dye them different colors. For example, my Tumerok had all red armor so it gave him a little bit of uniqueness.

And talking about people being able to add a bit of text, I entertained myself more than once in CoH by just sitting in one spot and reading the backstories people wrote for their characters.

I am also amused by games that let you customize little except your character’s face, then make almost all the worthwhile helmets cover it up. Asheron’s Call springs to mind.

In City of Heroes and A Tale in the Desert (I’m not sure about other games), you can put a bit of info about yourself or your character. Some people are going to use that. In ATITD, some people have extensive text. That probably gives you a bit more in ways to present yourself and your character/game than what hairstyle you have chosen.

Equipment-centered games have the problem that everyone looks alike in Uber Armor 7. My new Guild Wars elementalist looks like every other elementalist not because we chose similar hair styles, but because we all start in that same outfit and upgrade to a purple version.

To answer the question though: For me, graphics certainly aren’t everything. However, it’s important to me that my character doesn’t look like every other character out there in the game. Uniqueness is important.

Outside the world of MMOs, I’m really looking forward to Oblivion’s character creation and playing around with that. Should be a blast.