MMORPG character survey - NCSoft

haikai

A colleague of mine at NCSoft is conducting a survey about player preferences regarding character choices (specifically in MMORPGs). NCSoft actually does quite a bit of this kind of analysis, but this is a less formal call for opinions from other game developers/players. The survey should only take a few minutes:

ENGLISH language:
https://spreadsheets1.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dERIT0FVV2RKaFE0NW5qYVFTZHR2LXc6MQ

KOREAN language:
https://spreadsheets2.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dE1JQlVYNVVla0kwU0pabE5mV0Mtc3c6MQ

The English translation is not perfect so some questions read very similar to each other, but your input is still appreciated (and if there are any native Korean speakers out there who can clarify anything please do!). Please forward this survey to anyone you think may be interested. I'll update this post with the survey results if I get them.

Obviously there are big differences in the kinds of characters popular in the East and those in the West. This survey is interested in finding out how age/nationality/gender factor into character preferences, and hopefully help guide the development of characters for different markets in the future.

Thanks!

TortillaChips

It was interesting seeing how I'd answer those. Unfortunately the answers are generally 'inbetween'. I've played various MMOs and I choose differently each time.

mdeforge

Done

SaferDan

Done!

Cexar

Check, but I'd like to motivate some of my choices because well playing an ugly character becomes cool just because it's ugly. But the answers really made me choose between the both of them.

haikai

Yea, I can only assume some of the nuances in the questions were lost in translation. My own answers often were middle of the road as well because it can depend on the game and the character choices available. And what I prefer personally is not exactly what I think should be made "the norm."

If anyone has suggestions on how to improve the survey please do post it here and I'll make sure the feedback gets forwarded. Thanks again!

pear

i love character customomization.i always make women with big breasts ALWAYS

Avanthera

haha, interesting.

done

Jeremy Tabor

Complete!

valuable information from these kind of things once its all said and done I'm sure. Hope it yields great results

JacqueChoi

awesome! please post the results if you can mang!!!!

megalmn2000

Done!

Moosey_G

Done

Ace-Angel

Har har, I loved question 11...

haikai

It's been a while, but I'm necro'ing this thread to finally bring you all the survey results:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vNLVXQXxiUdK5hTJTUcpASa9zilYnabc2o166mT2Sjg/edit?hl=ko&pli=1#



The image is cropped, but the top half is for female character preferences and the graph for Rift is missing for the male's, but you can see the numeric value on the right. This may be somewhat misleading because the question almost expects you to answer with characters you find attractive and not necessarily what you'd play as or expect to see in the game world.

As you can see in the google doc link, there is some consensus here and there, but there are vastly different expectations between Korean and US players/developers. The final analysis attributes these findings to the differences in cultural thinking with the east being more group centric and the west being more focused on independence and individuality:

In many eastern cultures how you appear to others is a huge determining factor in how you ultimately fit into society. There's a tendency to prize beauty and associate visual quality with personal value and worth. Of course that happens everywhere, but if you've ever been to a country like Korea or Japan I think you may notice that there is a relatively high awareness for fashion, cosmetic surgery, superficial accoutrements, manufactured "idol" celebrities, etc., even to the extent where it would be considered unlawful and discriminatory in the west. This may explain why "pretty" characters are so popular even if it doesn't necessarily make sense in the game.

In the west, there is a stronger belief in being who you are and seeing uniqueness as a quality rather than a flaw. This standpoint may free western gamers to become more concerned when characters do not feel realistic or do not fit into the game's world setting. Taking the form of a character that is "grotesque" in appearance is not as big of a problem because western players do not necessarily attribute a character's visual qualities with their own worth.

Obviously, these are just generalizations and I think there are changes being made on both sides. There are some modern eastern games that have been more experimental with player character choices, and by the same token I think there is a growing concern for improving character models in the west by making sure the quality and craftsmanship is not compromised just because it's "not necessarily supposed to be pretty."

The hope is that this kind of information will help each side understand the importance for designing games for a global audience, and hopefully improving the visual quality across the board.

BoBo_the_seal

I like small characters with big over-sized armor and weapons. When given the choice I always play the small race.

GNOMES!!!!!

- BoBo

TortillaChips

@haikai It was interesting to see the results and I do remember reading about the western world being more individualist with the east being more collectivist when I was gathering research for my dissertation which kinda fits with what you're saying.

What I hadn't picked up on before was that difference in opinion about whether people want female characters to keep womanly attributes or to have revealing outfits. That was interesting to find out, and I certainly have seen it more in korean games.

Ryan Hawkins

TaruTaru > Gnomes BoBo

haikai

Bobo: Interesting story about gnomes in Korea: colleagues of mine there say that gnomes were thought to be offensive caricatures of real life dwarf/midget folks when WoW launched in Korea. However as time went on people began warming up to them. I think gnomes are still far from the most popular race, but it's interesting to see how attitudes change after exposure.

TortillaChips: I think the emphasis on female presentation in the east is the result of the collectivist mentality in a male driven industry. To be fair though, I think eastern games are also more open to showing off male bodies and making guys "pretty" too. It kind of goes back to not being so concerned about what makes sense for the sake of style/fashion.