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I've been thinking a lot lately about my characters (even moreso than usual!) and the way I write compared to my RP partners. And I've realized... I tend to emphasize individuality very much in my RPs.

For instance, physical traits are very important apparently. I'll use my character Saelhil as an example. He has heterochromia, meaning his left eye color differs from his right. I tend to mention this quite often while describing him. Also, in his culture, long hair is very distinguishing, and he keeps his hair fairly long and lushious. He has two AUs in which short hair has different meanings. In one, he has to cut his hair short for war. In another, his hair is cut to shame him for disobeying the man he worked for. So cutting hair either is to unify him with his fellows, or to take away his pride, in both cases taking away his individualality.

Names are also very important to me. My character Eowig is an immortal, and throughout his life has/will go through many vocational and positional changes, not to mention name changes (so sorry for my RP partner to put up with all his name changes...). His first name change is forced upon him, being a slave brought to Greece from his northern birthplace, and thus when he is able to escape he refuses to be called by his Greek name, much prefering his birthname.

In personal writing and other RPs, I use fake names or name changes for my characters very often, as well as disguises and the like. So I suppose my unconscious desire is to control my characters' individuality? Maybe because I'm a teenager thinking for myself is important to me, and thus I assert that desire onto my characters. Who knows?

Anywho, does anyone else do stuff like this? If so, what? And for what reasons?

I think stuff like that is fairly common. Maybe not frequent name-changes so much, but having distinguishing physical traits (often meaningful in some way) and meaningful names.

I've noticed that I have a lot of dark-skinned characters (Kyra, Shanique, Willow, Chaser...), and I think a big part of that comes from noting a lack of characters any darker than "tanned" in most places, I've always found ranges of dark skin attractive, and possibly a little of how few non-whites I saw growing up. I've also got a lot of characters with short hair, because I see it as a practical thing (except in Billie's case; her hair's actually inspired by things I've done with my own). I have been making an effort to keep my characters relatively "normal" looking though, because as far as RP goes, that actually seems to be less common (and it's not Sue-bait).

As for names, Willow and Taryn actually picked their names, and Chaser's name is actually intended to be taken as "Night Chaser." If I remember right, there was a particular reason I chose an orchid for her alias, too, but I can't remember anymore. Laluli's name was specifically designed to reflect her attachment to music. Nyn's name comes from the painting that she was very loosely inspired by. Loki's is actually intentionally in conflict with character - the name of an often villainous trickster for someone who's one of the nicest, most earnest people you'd ever meet.

Edit: Which name I apply to Chaser while narrating also tends to change under different circumstances. "Chaser" is basically safe, but a bit impersonal; "Black Orchid" is for business; "Nyx" is rare and typically a sign of weakness.

I'm the exact opposite. My characters are defined by their actions, and their interactions with other characters. I use minimal description, focus on what they're doing, rather than what they are. In dialogue, I try to emphasize tone and body language, since these are most likely to be useful to other people.

I provide a basic description on the profile, but I really doubt anyone cares what color my characters' eyes are. I don't even care what color their eyes are.

Well no, characters shouldn't be defined by physical traits (except in some specific circumstances, and even then it should only be a piece of the puzzle), and yeah, tone and body language and such are certainly more valuable.

I will say I'd have thought appearances would be of a little more importance in general to someone with so many ponies, though. Yes, characterization is still key, but with all their colors and styles and such, don't their appearances tend to relate to their identities a lot? (Forgive a person who's barely ever seen any of the show. )

It's the other way around - because they're physically almost identical (save for colors and mane/tail styles) their personalities become a much more important method of differentiating them.

I tens to create characters based around an archetype, then add an exaggerated quirk to them - my most played character, Ivan, is obsessed with hoarding and 'liberating' potatoes, and Lo'zhir (my khajit) has an cod about picking EVERY lock in sight (he finds locked things a personal challenge and an insult to his honor).

I am in the camp of letting interactions with others define my characters as well. I am a very passive person when making a character and usually let my friends help shape a character to a degree, I personally think that's pretty fun, and it works in my case since most of my characters I use are with close friends.

Having said that, however, it can be andrawback in the form of a newly created character. While it offers flexibility, its always interesting to say to an rp partner, "Well, she's a half dark elf, half high elf that is a bit of a woodlands stalker andb she doesn't have much of a backstory yet, so what you see is what you get." It also tends to bite me in the butt when I try and make a more serious character - I'm used to being the quirky, happy go lucky, or oddball character, so when I DO actually sit down and try to get a solid mold going, I'm so far out of my element it loses its luster and I sometimes mop off defeated.

When I do rarely have a good power read through the rp topics we have going here, its very interesting to read through a characters profile and try to get in the mindset of another person: what I may think is silly, they may think is purrrrfect.

Sorry for any typos, I usually post from my phone.

Ach, yea. I'm trying to define my characters' actions more clearly. I don't know why I put so much emphasis on physical characteristics... Ah well. Anyone have any tips for what actions/thoughts/words to include in RP posts? As in do you prefer vague movements such as, "He glanced away," or more specific ones such as, "His eyes flitted to the right, up forty-five degrees, as his foot tapped insessently." I prefer the latter, and I try to integrrate it into my writing, but sometimes I find that just a few words will suffice. It's difficult for me to find ways to keep my characters' feelings and thoughts a secret, though, because I may over describe their actions, if that's possible. So subtle hints may fly over my partner's head, or blatant actions hide nothing for the plot twist I'm planning. (Darn you, Celestina, for always knowing what I'm planning! //shakes fist//)

I'd say only get into the fine details if needed. In your example second version, the tapping foot would be good to include if it's to help get the mood across, but the direction only matters if it brings something else into view or keeps something out of view (and even then, specifying the direction usually isn't needed; up and down do matter more than left and right though, as we attach more meaning to them), and the specific degrees serve no real purpose.

Basically: describe as much as is important to the scene or mood. Make the picture easy to imagine, show notable body language (if it says something or is a character quirk), and the rest prolly isn't needed.

Physical appearance can be important if it really impacts the way the character can behave and move. Zaiha is half giant, so she's tall, bulky and inhibited in places that cater to averagely sized humans. It can be a huge influence on her mood and, if encountered frequently enough, add to or alter her personality and views over time.

As much as I say it's a possibility, when focusing on making an RP story, these things are less likely to come up and matter. I agree with Ross that actions and dialogue shape a character better in development than just looks, but I also think for best results you can smartly combine both.

I always feel that when a physical trait influences the character or those around them (I.e. eye color versus a missing limb - the missing limb will always influence the situation in some form wheras eyecolor is largely neglected and unimportant) it becomes important to involve. Otherwise I don't bother much.

There isn't anything 'wrong' with doing very verbose and descriptive posts, but often times you can get away with 'she stared into his eyes' rather than 'as she locked onto his gaze, they exchanged longing glances at each other and yearned more than anything to be together,' depending on the situation.

Another thing to take into account might be wordage used vs. Effort required to read. A post that says all the right things is great, but if it takes a lot of effort to read it or it wears you out filtering through it, that's no good.

There's a time and place for everything, and once you understand your character more or get to know what your partner likes, you can adjust your post style to suit.