Final Fantasy XI's community doesn't allow for much uniqueness in terms of character builds. Race is generally a non-issue--although certain races are more naturally inclined to some jobs than others, properly equipping oneself makes the differences almost unnoticeable in most all situations--so distinction in FFXI generally comes down to support job selection.

Because Final Fantasy XI is so heavily focused on partying, there's significant pressure to conform to the player base's set expectations. When I'm mucking around myself, I'm more free to experiment, but for the most part, I find that there's a reason people try to force certain main job support job set-ups on other players. The cookie-cutter set-ups are usually the most efficient for various reasons. In a party, no matter how you look at it, a red mage with a white mage support is almost always going to be more efficient than a red mage with a warrior support.

As far as other, less rigid, games go, I don't have a lot of experience. I don't play any other MMO's other than FFXI, so I can't say much about that. In RPGs with freedom to develop characters, I don't usually pick anything in particular because I replay games I like so often that it's a good chance I'll give most things a try at least once.