This will be the first trophy you will obtain as it is given after you created your character and received all equipment from Doc Mitchell. It's also here that you'll receive the option to activate "hardcore mode". See the  Hardcore trophy for more information.

There's no right or wrong character to build. Whatever build you end up with, it will have both its advantages and disadvantages in general. You cannot possibly foresee whatever challenges await.

There are four parts to the creation:

1. Gender and looks: Playing as man or woman doesn't really change a lot, despite how clothing looks and how some people might talk with you. The gameplay experience doesn't change much and only 4 perks are gender specific (two for men, two for women). They increase your damage towards the same or opposite sex and give you a few additional dialogue options. However, the added dialogue options are not groundbreaking. Creating a gender and looks should mostly be based on preference.
2. S.P.E.C.I.A.L.: This is an acronym that stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. You start the game with 40 points to spend between these 7. The game will deal 5 points to each stats and 5 to spare. However, the minimum for each stat is one, while the maximum is 10. These stats influence certain abilities like skill points distributed every level, weight you can carry, mistakes enemies make, and certain related skills. If you don't know what to expect, try to distribute all points evenly. Every skill has its disadvantages if too low. A luck of 1 is essentially bad luck as everything goes wrong, a strength of 1 will make it impossible to aim most weapons since they are too heavy, an intelligence of 1 makes your dialogue incredibly stupid, etc... These stats can luckily be upgraded at a later time by the Intense Training perk (can be taken 10 times) or by an implant at the New Vegas Medic Center (north-east from Freeside East Gate). These stats can also be temporarily improved/decreased by certain outfits, drinks, radioactive damage, etc... Upgrading your SPECIAL stats will improve the related skill by a few points. Improving your skills will not improve your SPECIAL stats. 
3. Skills: Doc Mitchell will pitch you a series of questions. You can change the outcome afterwards, so answer what you want. You can select three skills that will me improved by 15 points each. This will create a few benefits in the early stages of the game, but will be unimportant after a while since you will level other skills. There's a formula to determine how many skills you receive each level: 10 + 0.5 x intelligence. An intelligence of 5 will give change between 12 and 13 skill points every level. Here follows a list of all skills, what they do and what SPECIAL stats influences them: 

 

Skills	What?	S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
Barter	How cheap/expensive you either sell or buy anything.	Charisma
Energy Weapons	How efficiently you use energy weapons (like plasma pistol, laser riffle, etc...)	Perception
Explosives	How efficiently you use explosives (like all grenades, mines, grenade launcher, etc...)	Perception
Guns	How efficiently you use guns (any weapon that uses conventional ammo like a 10mm, 9mm, etc...)	Agility
Lockpick	You can only open locks depending on your lockpick skill: very easy (0-24), easy (25-49), average (50-74), hard (75-99), and very hard (100).	Perception
Medicine	How efficiently you use any medical items (like stimpak, radaway, etc...)	Intelligence
Melee Weapons	How efficiently you use melee weapons (like knives, baseball bats, etc...)	Strength
Repair	How efficiently you can repair weapons, armor, and create ammunition.	Intelligence
Science	You can only hack computers depending on your science skill: very easy (0-24), easy (25-49), average (50-74), hard (75-99), and very hard (100).	Intelligence
Sneak	How efficiently you sneak passed enemies and can (reverse) pickpocket others.	Agility
Speech	How efficiently you can persuade others through dialogue.	Charisma
Survival	How efficiently you can cook or create items at campfires.	Endurance
Unarmed	How efficiently you use unarmed weapons (like your own fist, ballistic first, power fists, etc...)	Endurance

 

3. (Continued) Like SPECIAL stats, skills can be temporary influenced by wearing certain clothing, eating certain food, etc... If you improve your intelligence you can get more skillpoints. There's also the "educated" perk that grants you 2 additional skill points every time you level (best taken as early as possible, requires a permanent intelligence of 4). The Mojave also hides skillbooks and skill magazines. Skill magazines give you 10 point for a certain skill during one actual minute (three minutes with comprehension perk). Skillbooks give you 3 additional skillpoint for a certain skill permanently (4 with comprehension perk). These books appear in your "aid" on your pipboy with no explanation. You can press  to read them as highlighting them will give you the ability to read. Afterwards they disappear. Don't sell them by accident.
4. Traits: You can select none or up to two traits. Each has an upside and a downside. The Wild Wasteland requires further explanation. It offers you a few wacky situations that are mainly easter eggs to other movies and games. It's quite possible that they will not always make sense. It also offers some very unique weapons, but there is a downside. They are very rare in ammo and hard to repair. Most likely you won't use them

After you created your character, you are free to go wherever you want, following story mission or just exploring ... it's up to you. If you venture too far from Goodsprings, you will receive the chance to change your character and rebuild it entirely. You can venture forward if you are pleased with your character or change something.