bushwhacker2k: I didn't post this as a question because I'm confident there is no well known distinction (i.e. no obvious answer). This is more a discussion thread, bringing up an idea and breaking it down.
Onto the subject:
I've noticed when people refer to 'Character Customization' two separate things are being referred to.
Actual visual character design and designing how a character works (stats, skills, abilities, etc.).
This makes it really inconvenient for me, who obsesses over deep character functionality customization (not as much visual, though it's a good thing to have), when I'm looking for games that have that and all the games people are recommending are games with a wide variety of looks for a character.
Has anyone else experienced the same thing?
Also, feel free to recommend games with deep character functionality customization (Path of Exile, Neverwinter Nights are obvious ones).
The majority of videogame players can't handle actual player input into their videogame character. Mass Effect 3 serves as a perfect example of this. Not so many people were able to realize that in the end they themselves have to consider their final choice in retrospective of their previous actions and they themselves have to decide whether the costs are worthy of the option they might choose. Usually the game itself points it all out and virtually decides it for the player or simply makes the choice so black and white that there's not much retrospective and consideration going on. So when mass effect 3 came out, people were bitching about choosing between "colors" because they expected the usual "choice", not to mention they expected a mighty boss to defeat instead of the need for them to think about what they did and what they're about to do.
So yeah, character customization is mostly about visual appearance because character development "customization" doesn't sell.