Character Custom. Or back-story?

Games such as Crystal chronicals and, of course, the MMORPG FFXI focus on having your character's race, appearance, and on a lesser note job class become changeable at the beginning of the games. This pretty much negates the chance for a game to form a suitably in depth back story to why a character is as s/he is. Such as Cloud, who wanted to be like Sephiroth so used a sword and wears SOLDIER gear, or Kimarhi the Ronso rejected from the tribe of Blue mage warriors.

What do you prefer. The ability to create a character who suits your near-exact expectations of a hero, or to have one created for you who has a storyline you can discover and enjoy deeply on a level a made-up character simply cannot?

It really depends on the mechanics of the game. When you create your character in FFXI, you're still you but you have a graphical representation of you in the game. You wouldn't want 2,000 identical characters running around saying that they're all different people. On the other hand, playing as a character with a seriously deep background is far better when playing a game for the story, in my opinion.

It just depends on the game being based on story or interactivity, I guess.

I'd like a cross between both. Not a completely pre-set main character, but not an empty shell no-name like in KOTOR. The character should have a set name, gender and canonical status, but at the start of the game you should be able to select his or her class and attributes, which will, in effect, alter his or her backstory very slightly.

I prefer a game like Oblivion, which has excellent character customization and still manages to tell a decent story (though admittedly it takes second fiddle to the sheer amount of random quests you can do). If forced to choose between one or the other though, I'll take the games that focus on customization any day, as I usually enjoy the game play more and I can always read books to find deep characters and storylines.

When playing an MMO or a paper and pen RPG, I like creating a character's background. When playing a console RPG like Final Fantasy, I like having the story unfold before my eyes.