The feature would work as follows: Player begins by choosing a pre-made character OR, if they scroll to the end of the list, their default Roblox avatar. Very minor edits would be allowed to the pre-made characters like changing a couple colors. When in-game, players could return to this avatar selection screen at any time through the menu.
My concern is that free-item wearers will have an inferior experience if they don’t have an alternative to their default avatars, but at the same time if the character creation process is too robust it will give a wrong impression of the game as a whole.
On the other hand, I’ve heard (and this may or may not be true) that free-item wearers adore their avatars and would choose them over a custom character 90+% of the time. Another counter-argument would be that such minimal customization options will be ignored or worse dissatisfying because the player can’t help but compare it to other games.
So what do you think? Is something like this worthwhile to help free-users? Is it a waste?
I’m trying to imagine what this would look like based on your description. If it’s just a list of preset avatar appearances, with no additional modifications besides color, it would definitely feel lackluster. I like the idea of being able to stick to my standard avatar, but I would also feel hesitant to choose it if all the other avatars kept to a certain theme (such as post apocalypse… my avatar is dressed in a tuxedo).
To answer your question, I would recommend looking at gameplay of other open-world adventure games, and pay close attention to their character creation setups. What do other similar games do?
My personal thought is that, if you’re going to minimize character variety, you should add a countermeasure for it. One thought that comes to mind is giving each avatar template certain bonuses and weaknesses, or even a unique ability. Choosing a certain avatar could also effect where you spawn.
My recommendation is that you either go with custom characters or no custom characters for everyone. I suspect that having both would create a weird lack of cohesiveness in the game.