Character creation consists mainly of race selection and appearance customization. A great many different looks are possible if you spend some time playing around with the editor. Your race will determine the available class choices and the UI does a good job of displaying the available options here. One primary difference from most games is that only one race can become mages, though several classes have access to magic in one form or another.   Everyone starts out in the same area. You will get a nice cut scene to lead into the game, and then the UI will guide you on your first steps. Items the game considers relevant to your situation will appear at the upper left. If you want them back after you dismiss them, type help, the aoc gold can help you buy advanced equipment. The initial areas are fairly path driven and you might feel like there is not enough freedom. Don not despair, the world opens up a LOT after you leave the starting areas. Even the advanced starting areas like White Sands Isle and the Acheron Ian Ruins allow more free range exploring. But if you want to see the world, you will need to complete your Destiny Quest and have many cheap aoc gold.  You will also notice a shorter bar to the left of center. By default, the buttons on the left bar are not accessible with a key press, but you can configure this under Interface Options section.