Someone pointed out to to me that I’d basically been making the same woman every time. Just as close to that woman as each game would let me. Turns out I was trying to make myself this whole time.

I haven’t actually played a game with a character creator recently but I think maybe now I might be more interested in playing as other women, that aren’t me.

My thought process then: Lets get WEIRD!
My thought process now: Where da skirt. Why no skirt to go spinny‽

Well before i came out i would make a character that looked like me for the first play through, then usually either rp as a chracter that already exists in another ip or make my “ideal” self in that games universe. Now i do basically the same but the first and last steps have combined so now i just do the main playthrough and an rp playthrough if i like the game enough

Random until I like the result

Neither Aloy nor Jesse Faden is customisable. But apparently Im drawn to games with heavily armed red heads.

Edit: i was actually quite pissed off that the protagonist in the new control game is going to be jesse’s brother. I mean, ill still play it but I’m not happy about it.

I just remember when I was a kid, and was chossing a Minecraft skin, I always chose Alex

I don’t try and make characters that look like me or how I want to look. I just make different cute girl characters. In the past before I transitioned I used to design characters based on how I wanted to look and it was a form of escapism for me. But now I don’t really do that, I just design cute girl characters, that usually don’t look like me.

I usually make a version of myself that I would be happy to exist as in the world the game is set in.

Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldurs Gate 3 are my absolute gold standards for this.

And as far as it has changed… instead of just picking “girl” in the before times, I spend a significant time to get it right haha

I rarely have the mental stamina to work very hard on customizing my character. Generally on a first run through, I try to make a character that at least somewhat resembles me. Tall, pale, long reddish/brown curly hair and yellow/light-brown eyes. That’s usually good enough for me. If I’m on a second run or I’m making a non-human character, I usually try to pick a specific trait and then try to design the character around that. If I somehow come back for a third run or more, then it’s all just goofy messing around or slapping the random button if there is one.

The only thing that’s changed since transitioning is that now when I make human characters that look like me, I pick the body type with boobs. I’ve always had long hair and been pretty feminine looking, so not much has changed with the rest.

I always end up making sort of my ideal self, or as close as I can. Tall, lean, cute perky small to medium boobs, cute tight little butt, abs, pale af. I never know what to do with the hair because I end up not really liking any of the options, but I always go for completely black or completely white hair, depending on what looks best with the games graphics. It does always bother me how limited the body mod options are. If they have piercings at all you get to choose from like 3 or 4 premade stacks that are usually completely uninspired and the only customization is the color. Tattoos are almost as bad, but they’re usually really boring or overcomplicated and if you’re lucky enough to be able to pick more than one it’s obvious which ones go together because all the others clash. And the face tattoos, like hardly anyone in real life gets a face tattoo and in some games that’s literally all you get. I dream of the day I find a game with the piercing and tattoo customization I long for. Alas I might need to make it myself if I ever want it to exist.

As for how it’s changed, I started choosing women characters. Before I cracked my egg I always made a nonhuman male character if I could (the less human the better), or a generic stripped down male if there were no nonhuman options. I was pretty deep in my gender mask for a long time, not even letting myself act feminine in perfect privacy. I really wish there were more games with gender nonconforming customization options because while I like playing as a woman in games, it just doesn’t hit the same playing as a cis woman as it does playing as a trans woman.

It’s pretty easy, I just hit Randomize until I get something that feels close and then go through all the sliders to make tweaks. =D

I think I always created a mix of the most attractive character to me and my ideal self. But I noticed since coming out that I’ve gamed less and less and feel less of an urge to dive into worlds in games probably because I don’t need much of an escape any more since starting HRT and planning to do bottom surgery next year.

Honestly no clue it’s been months since I’m aware I’m trans and never created a character since.

Oh… I’m not gaming much nowadays… (Work + routine leave me with not much energy so I end up more or less talking to people over discord and stuff).

I usually go with elements that I like when creating characters. Whether I like the idea of being someone like that or being with someone like that or both, it’s hard to tell. I used to not really think much of it or just think that I wanted to be with someone like that, but in retrospect I also felt much more true to myself when playing as those characters. I think that I have grown to understand that more and have opened up more to it over time. So, not much has changed except feeling more free to do what I already liked doing.