This may be a noob question, asking anyways. I always play as a Black character. Is it my imagination or does the game world reflect my race decisions? In other words, are other characters Black if the main character is Black?
Ummm...no?
To the best of my knowledge, the main characters will not change appearances. Don't think inconsequential NPCs will either. Technically, my character ends up being Hispanic (as I am South Asian, none of the others matched myself in terms race) but I haven't seen any sort of discernible difference in the gameplay. Personally, it's not a big deal to me, though if given a choice to customize a character, I'll try and make him look a bit like me. I mean, it's a role-playing game after all, right?