One thing ahead - I didn't even go through the whole character generation, so it's just a review on what I experienced up to that point.

Having played SR for over 15 years, I was rather disappointed to find only the priority system available for character generation. No merits and flaws, no possibilities to actually individualize the character with some system-relevant method. Instead, there is a requirement to write up a well thought-out background. About 3-4 pages of requirements, including justification for any skill above 3 (3 meaning you'll fail 12-13 times out of 100 on an average task.. like doing your job on an average day) When I asked how much would be expected to get the character approved, I was told about 2 pages of MS Word. Of a background that - as far as I could tell - might never actually come into play.

When I started pointing out the flaws I saw in the newbie channel, I did get a few more or less helpful answers - which often raised new issues, like the amount of background required. (Don't forget - required work that might as well be completely ignored, and to be done before I could even give the game and the actual gaming community a try) But when I narrowed the points down and addressed the new ones, instead of an answer like 'at least one or two aspects from your background will eventually be involved, it's worth writing it and making it consistent' - I basically got a 'I'm fed up with you, go away'. Well, that's what I did.