So it's launch day, you've gone out to the midnight release. Now you're back and have installed the game, by some kind of miracle there is no launch day crashing or lag. You load the game up and are met with the Character creation screen.

How do you think the character creation is going to be done?
What I'd like to see is you are given an option of certain starting factions. Such as a Vault, a raider/tribal camp, Brotherhood outpost, NCR camp. Then a small intro is played explaining the situation.
For example; you choose to start in a vault. A little video plays explaining that the doors to Vault 13 have just opened to the wasteland. The vault-dwellers have started to colonise the outside of the Vault.
Then there is the character creation screen in some creative way. Some customisations good to include would be; height, weight, muscularture, hair(More hairstyles than Fallout 3), facial structure.
So you've done all that, you get up and leave the Vault. When you get out you see the small settlement which has been created. Here you will find your first quests and the like.

But even though you chose to start as a Vault-dweller, that doesn't mean that you have to stay loyal to them. You would be given a slight reputation bonus with that faction, but could align yourself with the Brotherhood or NCR instead if you wished.

Assuming different starting origins and locations are available, I would like to see some creation tutorials to inform new players about the different factions & locations. The method LotRO handled this for classes & races (little narrative videos) would work out very well IMO. Ideally this info would be available prior to the completion of the character process, as opposed to after the fact such as with the intro narration used for each race in WoW.

In terms of character creation options, it would be nice to have differences in apparent weight, height, build and so forth. I would also like to see certain elements of character creation be available after the initial creation. For example, don't like your hair? Find a barber somewhere to help you change it. Thus someone could start off as a more clean-cut vault ex-patriot and 'evolve' into a wasteland raider.

Thats a really cool idea! I would Start out with the brotherhood.

I would hope that there are many different races for this game. Namely, Super Mutants, Ghouls, and Machines. Respectively, their starting locations could be:
1. A secret underground testing lab
2. A sewer or abandoned metro
3. A Robco Facility
...or something along those lines. I put the 'Skill' in 'Kill.'
Wait, what?

Being able to create fat/thin characters, maybe add effects to them (thin = faster but frailer, a bit fatter = more damageprotection but a bit slower)

I want normal f1,f2 stats creation.

Option to choose races (with consequences) and starting locations (or just have a few random starting locations).

Depending on the player viewing in the game (first player, third, isometric), if it is isometric view (f1,f2,FoT) then I dont care much about facial creation, if its third person or closer then I would want to have a good facial creator.

IMO you should start as your basic tribal/vault dweller with nothing more than the shirt on your back, a small pouch of supplies, and a weapon of some sort, kindof like you do in FO1+2.

Races (other than human) should be something you obtain through gameply, IE being dipped to become a super mutant, getting a huge dose of radiation to become a ghoul (don't forget, they move half the speed of humans which is a HUGE disadvantage in an MMO where there is going to be guns), or having your brain scooped and tossed in a robot to become a machine.

For an MMO to be truly fallout, the story needs to be the game as opposed to most games, where 90% of the story is already told and you're just playing out the last chapter. Yeah, i exagerated a bit, but i think you get the point.

I totally agree that you shouldn't be a ghoul or super mutant from square one. But I think it would be good to start from several different factions. Also are you sure about that fact of the ghouls moving twice as slow as humans? I don't remember that.

I thought they are as fast as humans not slower..

f3, fnv had fast ghouls, but in f1,f2 many ghouls where very slow, but I think they where slow just because they didn't want to do tooooons of extra sprites just for them running which seemed kinda useless.

But as I have written on several other threads, I'd want to become a super mutant/ghoul later in the game by choice rather than choosing it at the beginning, still I want the choice.

Play FO1 or 2 again, they were crazy slow. Made for easy pickings if they didn't have a gun and you did. Having most of your soft tissue, including muscle, melted by radiation would do that.

I don't think becoming a super mutant would be too viable for most players either, after all, almost everyone dipped in the FEV lost all thier memories which would translate to starting over at level 1 again. Although, it would probably be worth it for super strength and endurance, immunity to diseases and radiation, faster healing, and able to take bullets almost as well as a suit of power armor. Oh, and don't forget that in prime cases it even increases intelligence.

Totally agree, but starting in a certain faction would be great.