I'm on pc. I use the console to tweak my face occasionally.

Couple minutes. I hit random until it's almost right then change a bit.

The sliders moving each other around made it more effort than it was worth.

I'm very detailed too with the face of my characters, i spend about 30 minutes to decide what kind of face i'll put in my characters so i think its normal...

well on my first character i never really cared much, the fisrt one i really took care too was my first female character, a cute bosmer forester called Ruby i spent about 45 minustes on her.

My avatar is a Nord. I myself look nothing like a Nord, being small and wimpy rather than large and hardy. That said, I did try to put something of myself into his face. For one thing he's bald, even more so than me. (I still have a bit left up top.) The stubbly face reflects my own, a characteristic inherited from my father. I almost always look in need of a shave, even after just doing so. Used to get me in trouble during my military days. The tired, squinty eyes are mine, as is the pale skin. (I tend to burn rather than tan, or did back when I didn't shun sunlight.) I strove for a pleasant if homely face, another close fit. Oh yeah, he's old like me. (I hit the big SIX-ZERO last month.)

But again, despite the above he looks little like me. Comparing the two of use side by side I doubt you'd see the connection.

As to how long it took, I no longer remember. My tendency is to spend as long as it takes to get the look I want if and when that's possible. I'm sure I did that to some extent with this avatar. He was, however, originally conceived as a throw-away character with which to learn game mechanics. Only, I ended up relating to him so strongly I never "rerolled". I doubt he'd look much if any different had I created him for longevity from the get-go.

Am I the only one who read the title of this thread and thought "well, most of the time I land on my back, so not much"? Then I discovered it had nothing to do with how much you get knocked down by your enemies at all. :facepalm:

But on-topic: none of my young girl avatars look remotely like an old, grey-bearded me. I don't dare to ask them how long it took to do their face, as they'd all deny using any make-up whatsoever.

Only a minute or two. I click through presets, change the hair or none, move the age slider up and done. I'm more concerned with other character creation aspects.

Heh. You're not alone. I thought the same until I read the subtitle.

I usually take 30-40 minutes making the face "just right", usually I try to make my player look how I would like to look if I was in Cyrodiil. Also I always try to play as if my character was me. Meaning I play a good but self-serving person who does what necessary, not always what is right. :/

Like many of the posters before me, I've never tried to make a character look like me.

However, I spent about (collectively) 4 hours on Helena Aurelie before I was satisfied, and occasionally I still wish I was on pc so I could correct a slight "flaw". She's not meant to be insanely attractive, rather a plain Breton girl.

I spend anywhere between 15 minutes and 4 hours on characters. Argonians and Khajiit take less, Dunmer and Bretons take longer.

random, random, random, random, random, random, random. Well that ones look ok

I usually spend about 30 minutes tweaking stuff, then I grunt hit the random feature until I find something acceptable and adjust the color tone.

If I made a character to look like me it would have to be a khajiit, because I have a shag carpet covering my body.

Depending on what I am planning on for my character it can be anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 minutes. I tend to try making my Orcs look menacing, yet not terribly fubar.

Good argument, I has never played Oblivion or Morrowind as a human. For the last characters I have spent a lot of time getting the character I wanted, finally gotten a female bosmer who did not look like a drunk farmer wife
Switched between here and a khajiit I almost got the way I wanted.

If I had a choice I would spend an hour on it but thats only due to how difficult it is to make the face I want.... WITH PLAYDO!!!!

I'm the same way. I like my characters to be different, because that's the beauty of role-playing games. I'm an actress (for fun, not a career), and it's more fun to play a variety of characters who are different every time. However, when creating a character, I try to pick the face that is already close to what I want at the time, so that I don't have to spend too much time making changes.

I rarely spend too long on the faces. In terms of this game I just try to make them reasonably decent looking and then leave it, its too much effort and I just want to get in and play the game! I very rarely see the face properly anyway

Yes, but there aren't any sliders to adjust the butt! (There are mods to replace it, however!)