The thing is hat you dont get to play YOUR character in Gothic. You get to play "Nameless- the Bland german hero". Sure, you have some choices regarding what you want to do with Nameless, but he will still be Nameless- the bland german hero.
Being able to choose between 4 different appearances and comming up with a name which will get scripted into some dialgue might not seem like that much, but it makes a WORLD of differance.
And also, I dont like Nameless. I think he looked like a jerk and sounded like an idiot.