Identities in games

Okey dokey, in my thursday tutorial we were talking mostly about immersion in games and how whats on the screen can detach or solidify a players connection to the game. I believe (do forgive if I'm wrong, I did zone out at one point) that the general consensus was that first person games are more immersive than third person games and that immersion is dependent on how much the player wants to be immersed (also touched on by Kevin in the lecture if I'm not mistaken).

Personally, I disagree due to my own experiences with the games I have played. I believe that third person games have the potential to have greater effect on players than first person. Many of the third person games I have played involve either faceless characters (usually wearing helmets that completely obscure what they look like) or have no personality whatsoever (aka never speak within the game except for generic expressions and grunts). This blank slate type of character can make it easier for players to identify with who they are controlling. I also find the distanced camera helps to create a type of awareness of the characters body. Take Dead Space for example, the character Isaac, although given a name, gender and motivation, spends 98% of the game in a full body suit and never utters a word. Placing yourself in his boots becomes a simple task in that kind of situation. The 360 degree view, granted is not realistic (but who's looking for realism in games. I'm still waiting for a game that is about someone who works at a supermarket and has to work a 12 hour shift when lo and behold, a clean up is needed in aisle 3)
but as I said before it makes you more aware of your surroundings, gives the impression that you should be more aware of your surroundings and if a enemy creeps up behind you, it makes you want to run away and not let it get anywhere near you. I think that is a significant amount of immersion occuring.
Other third person games I have played, such as Mass Effect and Hellgate: London (Hellgate allows you to be either third or first person) allow you to modify your character's appearance to a high degree (although my character looked nothing like me and if he were real could well be the poster child for paper bags over the head). Do we try to get the characters we play to look like us as much as possible, a highly stylised version (what we wish we looked like) or just something that we like aesthetically, but not neccessarily on ourselves? I choose between the last two. Personally I wouldn't to a character in a game to look or act anything like me (it'd be a short game, hiding in a closet), but that is just me. Everyone is different.