Can't Create Myself In Most RPG's Monster Hunter World Let Me Down Too

AlecKoKuTan · Jan 27, 2018

This probably could be conveyed in a more professional manner, with examples of other games, details, and various screenshots to prove my point. However, this is pretty candid as I'm writing this after spending over an hour in Monster Hunter World's Character Creation. Fortunately, the beta didn't allow for very detailed character creation so I was unaware till now of the limited hair style options in the game.

Upon watching previews and reviews of the game I was impressed with how detailed the character creation seemed in Monster Hunter World, I've been playing the series since the PSP and have enjoyed the evolution of the series. However, this game, like many others in its genre, tends to leave out hairstyles and facial features which many would describe as being features or physical attributes commonly seen in Africans, African-Americans, Aboriginals, i.e. Black Features. Regardless, my complaint today is the lack of a freaking simple buzz cut!!!

I just want to make a character that looks like me... I feel that it's always been a challenge, especially with JRPG's or MMO's with Japanese developers. Heck, even Western games with character creation give me trouble. I was pretty surprised when even the safe bets of Afros, Dreadlocks, or even Cornrows didn't appear in this game; Monster Hunter World.

Tweeted about it here with a photo of myself and the avatars I gave up on. Going to my default, playing as a Female Avatar. On the, old site, I complained about Xenoblade Chronicles X having a similar issue.
https://twitter.com/KoKuTanLuFi/status/957116822175719424

EDIT: Thanks for the feedback guys, I did manage to settle on a female character with partial braided hair, reminding me of Sombra (Overwatch) and Laura (Street Fighter V). The hairstyle was actually DLC (Free).

Mesoian · Jan 27, 2018

Still don't understand why most game developers just don't licence the CAC system from APB. It was the only thing that fucking game did right.

ASleepingMonkey · Jan 27, 2018

If you can't create yourself, create Tommy Wiseau.

I understand your frustration though. MGS V/Survive has a similar issue. If you want to create a seemingly meaty customization system, go all the way. Do all the hair styles, not just a few.

Plumpbiscuit · Jan 27, 2018

You're a pretty good looking guy, but yeah this is the same problem I have with a lot of games with character creations (not just RPGs) in video games. But instead of wanting to make myself I always try to make this one single character I always RP as, but most games lack features that would enable the player to make a character that is otherwise completely human outside of the scope of the "theme" of the game. Plus, yeah most skin sliders in games are literally just a colour tint, but games like MGSV, The Division (as horrible as that game is) and Dragon's Dogma let you make people/characters of different ethnicity quite accurately.

Rikucrafter · Jan 27, 2018

I was disappointed to find that there aren't a heap of hair options, but they'll gladly sell more to you as $4 DLC.

fadedbones · Jan 27, 2018

I'm in the exact same boat as you OP, I'm really disappointed in the options they had so I just made a female character and did whatever. Strangely enough they don't even have the usual absurd afro, not even worthy of putting in joke representation >:(

Vareon · Jan 27, 2018

Hair options seem to be the most often missing feature in character creations like this. It's often the first thing you see from other players, so with limited options we'll see a lot of people sporting the same haircut.

JakeNoseIt · Jan 27, 2018

Video game developers have never seen curly hair before. The struggle is real :(

LewieP · Jan 27, 2018

Yeah that sucks, really feels like a robust comprehensive off the shelf character customiser (that devs then tweak to suit their game) should really be a thing by now. It is to some extent a design problem, but feels like it's more of a solvable technical problem. I get that resources are always limited, and when choosing from presets there is always going to be some things that are excluded, but it's pretty clear that certain sections of the playerbase are given fewer options in many games.

Deleted member 6949 · Jan 27, 2018

The Souls series and Bloodborne are huge offenders. You can spend hours tweaking a dozen different controls that subtly change the shape, size, color, and position of your eyebrows and every other thing, but then you get to hairstyles and it's pigtails or emo cut.

Nav · Jan 27, 2018

That sucks OP. It is a challenge in many Japanese games. Last year was the first one I remember where I was able to play as a black character in many Nintendo games, if that's any indication of how slow changes like this happen.

I do think the very small number of black people living in Japan may be a factor, at some level. I actually watched this video earlier today (it's a bit old at this point), about a black comedian who is on the Japanese analog to Sesame Street. Hopefully his presence and continued feedback to devs helps this improve in the future and for future generations.

4859 · Jan 27, 2018

That sucks OP. Hair styles are too model based as well. Should have some procedural options in there as well, similar to how you can adjust jawbones and hairlines, except with hair length thickness curliness etc- so that we can create our own hair types and styles as well to fill in the inevitable gaps.

I can never make myself because I lack the patience to do the minute adjustments and readjustments.

Then I play around with stuff like beards and end up with Jesus.

Then I make Jesus fat.

Then I make Jesus super short and fat.

Then I play dragons dogma with short fat Jesus because I find the idea of short fat Jesus Jumping on a griffins face and lighting himself on fire delightfully absurd.

Uzuki · Jan 27, 2018

Back at the old place there was a thread talking about this with games and poc characters that actually had our type of hair. It was great to see some good black hairstyles and cuts done right.

The only thing we can do is shout to studios to get a bit more creative with hair styles instead of using the default templates that's been used for the last 15 years. You'd be surprised how complex and fantastic low cut fades can get, guys.

NoKisum · Jan 27, 2018

Fuck, no dreadlocks? I thought they'd be a shoe in after 4 and Generations.

Fart Master · Jan 27, 2018

Not gonna lie i was pretty annoyed when I noticed that you can't make a Hispanic character, like you said something as simple as buzz cut isn't in the game.

Deleted member 14002 · Jan 27, 2018

Yeah that's a bald monk head, not a buzz cut. That blows.

On the other hand grats on being ripped OP. You could probably hunt monsters in real life.

ZiZ · Jan 27, 2018

Yeah, Austin Walker tweeted about it earlier.

There is progress, but it's going a bit too slow unfortunately.

Zeldaflavoredzebra · Jan 27, 2018

Dude, that dude you made looks like you. Nobody is able to make carbon copies of themselves. You just make as close as you can get.

Hilarious_Bearious · Jan 27, 2018

When OP turns out to be dreamy...

They don't have buzzcut or dreads?! But buzzcut, dreads and cornrows are the standard "minimal effort" PoC hairstyles!! Seriously, gaming needs more diversity...

Deleted member 8196 · Jan 27, 2018

ZiZ said:
Yeah, Austin Walker tweeted about it earlier.

There is progress, but it's going a bit too slow unfortunately.

Black hair? what

TheYanger · Jan 27, 2018

Stygr said:
Black hair? what

Y'know, hair that looks like hair that black people have in real life, which is not just 'white people hair' but dark, or bald, or an afro.

It's kind of weird with MHW, even for other hairstyles, they have a LOT of them but I feel like over 50% are vary slight variations on short messy hairstyles that are barely different.

Like, for a game with 30 haircuts or something it sure doens't have much variety.

Spork4000 · Jan 27, 2018

Stygr said:
Black hair? what

Black people's hair has different texture and as a result has to be styled different than other races. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume genuine ignorance rather than you being disingenuous.

Playsage · Jan 27, 2018

Stygr said:
Black hair? what

Why so confused?
He's not talking about hair color, but hair style.

It's a bummer. I was hoping the game was addressing this after the surprising fact that the default woman in beta was black.

Deleted member 8196 · Jan 27, 2018

Spork4000 said:
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume genuine ignorance rather than you being disingenuous.

I really don't understand this "disingenunous" term, i'm a brown skinned guy, not white, not black but may hair is normal? I don't see "White people hair" and "Black people hair", even white people use "Afro cut" or "Dreads" so i don't understand the "Black hair", that's it.

catboy · Jan 27, 2018

Stygr said:
I really don't understand this "disingenunous" term, i'm a brown skinned guy, not white, not black but may hair is normal? I don't see "White people hair" and "Black people hair", even white people use "Afro cut" or "Dreads" so i don't understand the "Black hair", that's it.

People of different ethnicities literally have different hair texture, which affects how hair moves, looks, feels, hangs etc. When people refer to "black hair" in games, they're referring to hair that looks like it has the same physical texture as "black hair" irl.

There are also black hair styles, as in hair styles which are fashionable or popular within that community, which games often skip over as well, falling back on "cornrows or shaved".

Spork4000 · Jan 27, 2018

Stygr said:
I really don't understand this "disingenunous" term, i'm a brown skinned guy, not white, not black but may hair is normal? I don't see "White people hair" and "Black people hair", even white people use "Afro cut" or "Dreads" so i don't understand the "Black hair", that's it.

Are you saying you don't know what disingenuous means? I essentially assumed you didn't know and you weren't just trolling.

Essentially, black people do not have straight hair. Also straight isn't "normal" just like afro hair texture isn't "abnormal."

Sinfamy · Jan 27, 2018

I make characters look the way I never will.

2+2=5 · Jan 27, 2018

I was never able to make myself so at a certain point i decided to create a female character(i'm male) and damn that was eye opening! Why looking for dozens or hundreds of hours at a male character when i can look at a female character i like?

Gabora · Jan 27, 2018

Saints Row had such a crazy wealth of character creation options.

Antony · Jan 27, 2018

Stygr said:
I really don't understand this "disingenunous" term, i'm a brown skinned guy, not white, not black but may hair is normal? I don't see "White people hair" and "Black people hair", even white people use "Afro cut" or "Dreads" so i don't understand the "Black hair", that's it.

No fucking way.
You're really serious with this bullshit...???

Deleted member 8196 · Jan 27, 2018

Antony said:
No fucking way.
You're really serious with this bullshit...???

Yes i'm serious with this "bullshit", you have some problem if you need to separate or put in different groups hair styles, "black hair", "white hair" and so on.
Also i don't fucking care, i asked a question and i got my answer, so your comment is basically useless.

ILikeFeet · Jan 27, 2018

Stygr said:
Yes i'm serious with this "bullshit", you have some problem if you need to separate hair styles, "black hair", "white hair" and so on.
Also i don't fucking care, i asked a question and i got my answer, so your comment is basically useless.

You have to be awfully fuckin obtuse to not be able to see the difference in hair qualities between race. Or is this some diet racist, "I don't see race" bullshit you're trying to pass by us?

Deleted member 8196 · Jan 27, 2018

ILikeFeet said:
Or is this some diet racist

Ok thanks for this, i'm out, not gonna reply anymore.
I just said i'm a brown skinned guy and you instantly jumped on the racist train, have a nice day.
You guys have some serious issues if you see racism in every thing.

RailWays · Jan 27, 2018

Why can't I ever give my characters a good fade...
Was just having this dilemma last night when I started playing MHW.

Antony · Jan 27, 2018

...for my own sanity I'm just gonna pretend I got trolled just then. Good job, you got me!

Spork4000 · Jan 27, 2018

Stygr said:
Yes i'm serious with this "bullshit", you have some problem if you need to separate or put in different groups hair styles, "black hair", "white hair" and so on.
Also i don't fucking care, i asked a question and i got my answer, so your comment is basically useless.

I'm shocked that you think people have "problems" for acknowledging different biological features. Black people dont have straight hair, and for the most part we're the only ones with out hair texture, ergo, black hair, and the stylings of that hair texture, being black hair styles. I can deal will ignorance, but dont be willfully ignorance when the facts are explained to you.

example, this is a black hair style

texhnolyze · Jan 27, 2018

Zeldaflavoredzebra said:
Dude, that dude you made looks like you. Nobody is able to make carbon copies of themselves. You just make as close as you can get.

True.

I mean, I'm an Asian and I've never been able to create myself in any game. I just deal with it and make something that resembles me the most.

Camjo-Z · Jan 27, 2018

I was SHOCKED that I couldn't pick my traditional joke afro that's usually included in these character creators. Don't really care too much though since you barely ever see your hair (or face for that matter) when you've got armor on in MH.

Kureransu · Jan 27, 2018

Stygr said:
I really don't understand this "disingenunous" term, i'm a brown skinned guy, not white, not black but may hair is normal? I don't see "White people hair" and "Black people hair", even white people use "Afro cut" or "Dreads" so i don't understand the "Black hair", that's it.

The issue here is that no one actually explained what is meant by those terms.
There are 4 types of hair textures:
1. Straight
2. Wavy
3. Curly
4. Kinky

Types 2-4 has an a,b, and c subset Which represents how strong/tight the texture is. When they refer to "black people" hair they are taking about type 4 hair and the styles associated with it.

StrawberryJam · Jan 27, 2018

Spork4000 said:
I'm shocked that you think people have "problems" for acknowledging different biological features. Black people dont have straight hair, and for the most part we're the only ones with out hair texture, ergo, black hair, and the stylings of that hair texture, being black hair styles. I can deal will ignorance, but dont be willfully ignorance when the facts are explained to you.

example, this is a black hair style

As an aside, that haircut is amazing.

What games actually do have good character creators for people who aren't white?

ashtaar · Jan 27, 2018

Always disappointing
Sometimes I end up making a female just to make the hair more reasonable

Nitpicker_Red · Jan 27, 2018

Spork4000 said:
I'm shocked that you think people have "problems" for acknowledging different biological features. Black people dont have straight hair, and for the most part we're the only ones with out hair texture, ergo, black hair, and the stylings of that hair texture, being black hair styles. I can deal will ignorance, but dont be willfully ignorance when the facts are explained to you.

example, this is a black hair style

Could an interface to produce hairstyles in that style look like a texture drawing interface? (where you put the hair gradient where you want)

I don't think there currently is a recognised and agreed-upon database for "must-have harcuts for any personnalisation game" (as far as I know) but that could also be a technical solution. Sets down an easy-to-access "minimal implementation" base convention.

Truezeldafan · Jan 27, 2018

Maaaan I hear you brotha. Was pretty disappointed as well. Had to resign to my dude rocking the perm to end all perms....I mean can they at least throw us a Jheri curl? I'm trying to let my soul glow. Heh

Wish they'd all look at GW2. That game had some great "Rpg hair" for black guys options.

Nosgotham · Jan 27, 2018

Do most people try to create themselves? I don't think I've ever done that

DWarriorSN · Jan 27, 2018

I feel you dude.
The lack of the buzzcut is super dissapointing, i thought of going with a female mc but my co-op partner went with one and i like having my shit different than his.
One would think that a buzzcut would be one of the simple ones to make too.
But this is how it usually is with the exception of something like 2k.

DWarriorSN · Jan 27, 2018

Nosgotham said:
Do most people try to create themselves? I don't think I've ever done that

I always do IF i can get it to look decently close enough to myself.

Heromanz · Jan 27, 2018

There's not even a fro in this game. And for women is worse

Bran Van · Jan 27, 2018

We just going to ignore the OP flexing?

Also - as a white guy, even I struggle with hair in a lot of games. I just want to look like me, but the games never have simple hair styles. I've never seen a game where you could just create your own hair. That would be cool, shape it how you want, lengthen the parts you want etc. Probably doesn't work with modern character modelling techniques. Maybe something like the tech Dreams is using could do it.

Wishbone Ash · Jan 27, 2018

I haven't had a chance to open my copy yet, but it's expected of every game at this point.

Nice Dragon Ball shirt tho

Brannon · Jan 27, 2018

Yeah at this point I just assume that devs will just do the most token effort on black hair unless they really have no choice.

So basketball games, which I don't play so fuck it.

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