s&box Adds Necks to Default Characters After Consistent Negative Reviews

Facepunch Studios has given the default citizen characters in s&box necks. The game creation platform, developed by Garry Newman's studio as a spiritual successor to Garry's Mod, previously shipped with neckless avatars that became a consistent subject of negative reviews. Newman confirmed the update, noting that the new defaults also include non-frowny faces while retaining full slider customization for players who preferred the original look.

Newman acknowledged that while this update alone won't fix s&box on its own, it addresses feedback that appears in what he described as "many many many negative reviews" across the community.

s&box: Spiritual Sequel to Garry's Mod

s&box is a game creation platform developed by Facepunch Studios for PC, designed as the spiritual sequel to Garry's Mod. Garry Newman, the creator of Garry's Mod and founder of Facepunch Studios, leads development on the project. The platform aims to provide tools for creators to build games, modes, and experiences within a unified engine, moving beyond the Source engine limitations that defined its predecessor.

Unlike traditional games with fixed content, s&box emphasizes user-generated creation as its core loop. Players download the platform to access a library of community-made modes ranging from roleplay servers to competitive shooters, all built on the same underlying framework.

The Update: Necks and Non-Frowny Faces by Default

The update introduces a revised default citizen model featuring a visible neck and a neutral facial expression, replacing the previous neckless, frowning design. Newman stated directly: "I've updated the citizen. They now have a default non frowny face and they can have a neck." The change applies to the base character that all players see when they first launch the platform or join modes that use the standard assets.

Importantly, the studio did not remove the neckless option entirely. Newman explained that sliders now allow adjustment of chest, waist, neck, and nose size, plus eye color selection. "We have sliders to alter other aspects of the body like their chest, waist, neck, and nose size. You can choose their eye colour too. So if you liked having no neck, you can bring that back with a slider." This approach preserves creative freedom for mode creators and players who built content around the distinctive silhouette, while giving newcomers a more conventionally proportioned starting point.

Community Feedback Drove the Change

Newman was unusually candid about the motivation behind the redesign. "Let me be honest here. I love the citizen, I love how he looks, I love that he has no neck." He acknowledged personal attachment to the original design, which had become something of a studio signature. But the feedback loop from the community forced a reconsideration: "But the feedback we've consistently got is that people hate them. They hate everything about them."

The phrase "many many many negative reviews" underscores the volume and persistence of the criticism. This was not a vocal minority — the neckless design appeared consistently across negative feedback as a primary pain point. Newman framed the update as an experiment: "So we're going to fidget around and change things to see if we can change that." The studio treats the redesign as one lever among many, noting that "this isn't what 'fixes' s&box on its own, but it something that comes up consistently in our many many many negative reviews, so it's something that we are addressing along with all the other feedback we receive."

For a platform in active development, this responsiveness signals a willingness to iterate on fundamentals when data supports it. The neckless citizen had become a meme within the community, but memes that drive negative reviews are liabilities for a platform trying to grow. The slider compromise respects existing creators while lowering the barrier for new ones — a practical balance that many early-access projects struggle to find.

The update reflects a broader tension in game creation platforms: distinctive artistic choices can define a brand, but they also become friction points when they clash with player expectations. s&box's neckless citizens were memorable, but memorability alone doesn't retain users. By making the conventional option the default while keeping the unconventional one accessible, Facepunch Studios bets that accessibility will win more creators than distinctiveness will lose. Time and review sentiment will tell if the gamble pays off.