Hello,

So I know this has come up a lot, but it’s something that frustrates me time and time again and something that’s probably not on Bethesda’s list of priorities – if they’ve even caught wind of it. It’s something a lot of other people on the console versions of the game (sans showracemenu) suffer with – being unable to change your appearance!

I think one of the worst things a game developer can do in an RPG, is restrict a player from creating the character they want to be. Making the character creation a one-take deal was a bad idea for those of us who actually care about such things; consequently like so many others, after spending a vast amount of time creating my character (with a lot of care and attention) I’ve since noticed things that I’d like to tweak here and there – which if I could, would leave me content and able to enjoy the rest of the game without it bothering me. A lot of you might not understand, but when you’re a creative type who enjoys role-playing, it’s very frustrating when you’re not satisfied with your creation – and restricted from fixing it.

Now some would argue that there’s no ‘plastic surgery’ in Skyrim and I’d agree, that would be stupid. But there’s magic (and the same ‘magic’ that brings you back from the dead when you reload a save, or allows you to pause and dink potions and eat vast amounts of cheese and venison whilst fighting a dragon) - It doesn’t even have to be an ingame feature in the form of a magic mirror or whatever, a simple menu would do! A lot of people want the ability to change their hair/beards/warpaint/make-up/dirt and for some reason oppose being able to change other features – I really don’t understand why anyone would want this restriction? You wouldn’t have to use it if you didn’t want to! (though I can understand why changing your race would be off). My issue with this restriction isn’t only frustrating when I’m discontent with how a character looks. I’d love to add scars after a challenging battle, or physically ‘age’ my characters after they’ve retired from a lifetime of adventures – things I’d feel would enhance my gameplay and make it more enjoyable.

Given the more complicated features within the game, I don’t imagine it’d be a huge undertaking on Bethesda’s part to include such a feature within either a patch or upcoming DLC and it’d make a big difference for a lot of console players. Here’s hoping…. (whilst envying PC player’s with their lovely showracemenu – hisss! )

Yes please.
been asking for this for a long time :3 Good for roleplay too,pretend that your character gets old (change hair colour to grey+ get bald)

Snowflake.

I wouldn't like being able to completely change a character's face- people in Skyrim aren't as materialistic as we are. But I would like the option of adjusting hair color and style, dirt etc.

Or...exactly the opposite...you know...a result of an exchange with a demon (You give the good man the blood of your friends, and he makes you young again...YAY)

The word I use to describe every single person who has ever requested a change to any game ever.

Allowing players to change their appearance would be trivial to implement and make a lot of people happy. My article about changing your appearance has had over 100,000 views since the game came out. Now add all the people who found that information somewhere else or who want to change their appearance but know they can't or haven't bothered to see if it's possible. That makes hundreds of thousands of players, minimum. I suspect the number is actually in the millions. That's a lot of snowflakes. (For illustrative purposes: Evil Snowflake: A snowflake that accuses another snowflake of being a snowflake. Hint: we're all snowflakes.)

It's a trivial feature and would make a lot of people happy. It's stupid from a business perspective not to do it. Here are the arguments I've heard against it:

• Developers should put their time and effort somewhere else. Since this would literally take a junior programmer an afternoon to fix, I'll translate that to: I don't like it, so other people shouldn't have it.
  
• It doesn't make sense (in a world where you can raise the dead and turn into a werewolf). Translation: I don't like it, so other people shouldn't have it.
  
• It's a RPG, so your decisions should have consequences. Your appearance has no impact on the game, it's cosmetic, so let's translate that to: I don't like it, so other people shouldn't have it.

Changing your appearance is like turning the music off or adjusting the HUD opacity. It's a purely cosmetic detail that makes the game more enjoyable for a lot of players and there are no valid arguments against it because it has 0 impact on gameplay. Or is the purpose of gaming not to make you happy, but to prove how hard core you are?

Having in-game ways to do it (barbers, jars of paint, potions, spells, whatever) would just make it more immersive and entertaining.

No, Snowflake is the ghoul barber in Fallout 3. Seeing as that was BGS's last game, it's my one word argument for at least the ability to change your hairstyle in Skyrim. Sorry for being cryptic.

Skin-flakes.

I dont see why we shouldnt have this as an option, but then again I dont see why those that dont like kill cams ( personally I love um) cant toggle them of but Beth dont allow that ether.

0.01% cares about how their character looks. Why? It's a first person game.

LOL. My bad. Maybe that's why this one word answer keeps appearing in threads about this subject. All this time I've been getting irked by innocent comparisons to other games.

There, fixed that for ya.

While the possibility to change race, weight and facial stuff would be to much, i would love some some barbers and face painters. Dirt could build up over time on your chars face, and you could clean it with water if you wanted

Another thing. "Dont like it, dont use it" can be used to justify anything. Its really quite a weak argument.

Yes, but in this case your appearance literally has no impact on the game. Saying "don't like it, don't use it" in reference to things like fast travel and smithing does have an impact on the game. In this case, the argument is justified. Changing your race would have an impact on the game, so aside from a 'last chance' point at the end of the tutorial dungeon, I wouldn't include the ability to change your race, but I don't see any problem with anything else.

Given that you don't want the option to change your weight/face etc, how would it effect you if you did have the option to change it, but didn't use it? Point and case - it wouldn't!Therefore "Don't like it, don't use it" is a perfectly valid argument in this case, it's not something that would effect you if you didn't use it - but would make a lot of people who did want to use it happy.

And I agree (and with your first post above, thanks for your contribution!), being able to change one's race is something that could be exploited by players; ie: switching to a Nord whilst fighting a Frost Dragon etc.

Just shows how sad you are. Expecting 3rd person in an Elderscrolls game .. lmfao

Not sure if trolling or stupid....

Anyway I agree there should be a barber in some of the main cities where you can clean yourself up etc.

Yes. People don't understand us creative types. I have a vision of a 4 armed Orc warrior that can quadruple wield swords. But he has caphuchin monkey ancestry and therefore is in posession of a prehensile tale. But what's even more notable about this particular appendage is that his capuchin monkey grandpappy was also a demigod among his fellow monkeys, so therefore it has magical properties that allow it to wield a shield while at the same time constantly cast flesh protection spells without any magicka costs.

Why is Bethesda so intent on stifling my creativity?

Or they could just continue to work on fixing bugs so that the game is fully functional.

I guess it is a bit selfish of me. You are right, it would not affect me. I would only use what i wanted. Never the less, i much prefer actual in-game services to some mysterious menu.

Quite a weak argument really - I can't imagine it would be a particularly taxing feature for them to implement - especially given that all it is is letting us access a menu that already exists. It would make the game more enjoyable for a lot of people, something they're aiming to do alongside bug fixing anyway as they themselves have said.

As for an Orc/capuchin monkey race with four arms, I commend your creativity!

I see your point and I agree; NPC barbers, a mage, magic mirror or whatever would all be nice - though I'd just be happy with the option to access the character creation menu again, in whatever form they'd go out of their way to give it us in.

Ahem.

No, I play in the third person and stare at the back of his or her head for 100+ hours.

Which, I might add, I can't even see during character creation since they took out the rotation AND the end of the tutorial character confirmation option.

People want to change their race.
People want to change their perks.
People want a respec.

Nope. Sorry.

Magic in the world is not a valid reason for those changes. That's not what Skyrim magic does.

And saying "it doesn't affect you so why do you care" is the reason TES games are a far cry from what they used to be.

Catering to requests that pull a game away from it's roots leads to creating games where every decision and consequence in the game is irrelevant.

Character creation, a big part of RPGs, becomes irrelevant if one can change the character with the push of a button.

So yes. It affects us all. If not today, tomorrow.

Hair, makeup, and face paint I'm okay with changeing. But that's it.