Character backstory - Better Source DM or player?

[Telok]

There's certainly nothing gained by doing this backstory-wise over "you're all survivors of the orcish massacre on planet Auxin, who now work for Inquisitor X".

I wouldn't consider a meatgrinder as a replacement for backstory. A few lines or inspiration for one maybe. I don't think meatgrinders are for backstory anyways, they have other functions like team building and portraying a crapsack world that I'd value more.

But its more backstory than a lot of players show up at the table with, even in games that provide built in backstory seeds on the sheet or during char gen.