I know this post is old and you probably know this by now, but a character maker was one of the kickstarter's stretch goals and it's been reached. There's currently no word about being able to change their voice without modding though.
I'd say yes and no to all of those. If the character stays within an avatar maker in a game and they've never been drawn, then sure, it's easy to see them as not original at all, but I'd argue giving them a name and set of traits is already enough to where you technically have a "character" in your hands and not just an avatar.
To be clear, I do think it's cheap to just post a screenshot of your Pokemon/Roblox/Splatoon player character and call it an original creation, but these are likely kids who aren't confident enough in their drawing skills to make original art, so in that regard I see those types of "OCs" to just be amateurish instead of something to hate and rant about. I used to be the same lol
Edit: I feel like I should note that fan characters in an already established series can also exist as opposed to completely original characters, and if these types of characters (made in video games) are referred to as such then it's much less of an issue in my opinion. In the end these people are just interacting with the series they love in ways they personally find fun.
I've been meaning to make a mod myself but the only thing stopping me is that I have no idea how to use flash to animate all the parts. Also I dunno what's going on with the hands I just figured they should have thumbs to hold the mic xd
