We grade five of the best MMOs on their character creation. How did your favorites do?

World of Warcraft

What is it about WoW's character creation system that has made it one of the most successful games of all time?

Perhaps it's the unique races WoW offers. Humans, dwarfs and elves are pretty standard fare as playable races for any type of fantasy game, but not Trolls and the minotaur-inspired Tauren. It's also nice to see that each race has a unique starting zone and that the race descriptions seem to cast every race in a noble light. Orcs aren't a race of bloodthirsty brutes but one who will "fight for honor in a world that reviles them." Every race seems like a legitimate, appealing choice.

Or maybe it's how everything is so easy to understand. Every class description tells you plainly what the role of the class is, and some classes have multiple roles. Your Shaman can eventually specialize to be a healer, tank, or damage dealer, so you don't have to know how you want to play right at the beginning.

The name generator is a nice touch, especially because over 10 million people have played WoW and finding a name that's unique may be a grind in and of itself. We named our priest Melchizedek after a quick flip through the Old Testament of the Bible. Guess what, it was already taken! When ancient names of the Bible are being exhausted, a name generator is probably a good idea.

The only thing that really holds WoW's character creation back are the options you have for crafting the look of your character. We got the feeling that no matter what we did, the dwarf we created wouldn't look very much different from any other dwarf we saw in the game. Additional options for hair style and the ability to tweak your characters individual facial features would have been welcomed. In a world of 10 million, it would be nice to be more than a face in the crowd.

Grade: B

Wizard101

Wizard101's character creation is a little sparse on options, but executed delightfully. It starts with the website itself and flows seamlessly into the game. The way you choose a class is based on a personality test, much like being sorted by the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter, the source material that Wizard 101 so heavily draws upon. But that just guarantees the proceedings will be fun, not necessarily cheaply derivative.

You just answer the headmaster's questions, spoken to you by a very wise sounding voice actor. Complete this sentence:  "When you compete, your goal is to win..." If you choose, "a medal for myself" you'll start to veer towards a more combative magic school and If you choose "a trophy for my team" you'll start to veer towards a support school.

Even choosing your name is fun. You slide through options for first and last names, and while this may sound tedious, you'll end up coming up with names that are legitimately cooler than ones you could think of yourself. Jonathan Stormbringer sounds a lot more wizardly than HappyMeal, or cruder name variations you'll find in other MMO's.

Once you get into crafting the look of your character, the options and cleverness drop off severely, but it's certainly magical getting there.

Grade:  B+