Quote Originally Posted by niteypants View Post
It's core gameplay in the design sense of the word -- it's quite literally the first choice players are met with when they start the game, and everything you do in the game involves your character's avatar.

It spans every other aspect of the game, therefore it's core. Plus, characterization is always primary feature of any MMO. Characterization sets the tone of the story, also. Playing the MSQ as a Lala has a much different (and funnier) vibe than playing the MSQ as a Hyur. It's important.

Cosmetic add-ons can be a subset of the character, but picking your character is core, and the dismissive usage of the term cosmetics is improper in this context.
Picking your character is core gameplay in a design sense, since that's what you meant, but customizing it is not. You can easily skip that and go by the default option given, which makes it completely optional if you want to change any of the settings there.