Well, I'm new here, and i LOVE the fallout series! but, something is bugging me about FalloutOnline: What is our stories as survivors? in the gamesas-made Fallout games (van buren included), and even in the Bethesda-made Fallout 3, there was almost a full written story for your character. That never bugged me, but if it is for an online game, i would like to make my OWN story for my character just from one choice at character creation. Like, say i choose to be born as a ghoul under the guidence of Super Mutants attempting to create thier own country, how might NPCs and even players react to that story? I really would like to make much more choices in the sake of Role-playing.
I would personally choose to be a human raised by ghouls that called themselves "Knights of Purification"

I know it could be so much work for you, and i apologize if it is , but it could be worth it in the eyes of most role-players. "Don't go crazy on me and start wearin' branches"
- Harold (fallout 3)

"I'm ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum... but i'm all out of bubblegum."
- Duke Nukem

I remember trying out some other MMO a few years ago that had a system for that (and, unfortunately, my computer couldn't run it very well and I can't remember what it was called ). In the character creation it gave you options to choose from to make a background story for your character. Depending on the options you chose, you would recieve different bonuses. I believe my character had been born into a warzone on a full moon under some sort of constelation. My parents were slaughtered and I was raised by the people who killed my village whom I eventually killed in an act of revenge.

There was a lot more to it, but I don't really remember the rest. Hopefully they'll have something where you can make a nifty story like that. If not, then they can always just do what City of Heroes/Villains does where you type out a background story that other players can look at.

I'm one of those crazy people who usually take forever making a character because I like to experiment with the options and love an in-depth customization.

I've tried roleplaying in MMOs, and I always end up back at the table with good old PnP. RPing can be lots of fun if you do it with people that think in a really similar way to you, etc, but can also be a real pain in the arse if you end up with a bunch of Mary Sue characters who'd rather get phat loots than create compelling RP adventures.

I know, I'm being pessimistic but at the end of the day, I have an outlet for my RP side in PnP and I'd rather not risk trying to get involved with more of it in MMOs. I'd rather use those to indulge my love of min/maxing, so that I can feel more comfortable playing ridiculously flawed and impotent characters in PnP. Maybe you'll sit and sigh, wishing that I were near
Then maybe you'll ask me to come back again
And maybe I'll say "Maybe"

Well this is the crunch really isn't it!
every mmo out-there markets itself as an Massively Multi-player On-line ROLE-PLAYING game. But none of them reward role-playing by the players with achievements or xp, or even little unique nuggets of narrative content.
This surprises me - i mean, if you play the leading mmo the servers are full of people not interested in the Lore of the MMO but role-playing within the Lore to make their own stories. 12 gazzilion players all falling in love, hating, griefing, helping, fighting, PvPing, getting married, going to war, stealing, and generally creating their own politicised social content that they see as legitimate narratives. How hard can it be to make this more part of the game design? get rid of lots of silly quest givers that nobody bothers to really interact with or read the same old text? Make a world where players can generate meaningful interactive stories for the Lore and each other?
MMO's are ripe for something truly innovative and something really interactive in terms of narrative - the Fallout world especially so ,its got a better lineage and history than the leading mmo's and its got a rock solid fan-base.
Please let players influence narrative content and Lore - it would be so awesome War, War never changes!
Why?
Because,
'War is the continuation of politics and policy with the admixture of other means..'

how about the game gives you like a quiz at the start to start your story and you make the choices to advance it.(i think thats what someone already said but whatever.)

i would be born from a vault but exiled for my curiousness of the outside at 18 with my lifelong friend (dog) i would wander the wasteland and colapes somewhere near a brotherhood base and being found by the brotherhood but leaving with the outcasts but then went out on my own there for deserting them but still being welcome among the brotherhood. using my brain i would make tough choices (and hack many computers)

like you are born somewhere and choices you make decide how you interact with "your home town" and people

While I don't think the idea of players making interactive stories or quests or what have you is going to happen, they could throw in a 'Biography' tab or something, let you write out your backstory and have it be viewable by other people.