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Gods, I haven't posted in the forums OOC for a super long time so im really nervous but here goes nothing-

As someone who tends to keep all their characters anon, for many different reasons, I started to wonder something about whether or not there was a difference between the amount of interest in writing with someone who keeps their characters anon VS. someone who has all of their (or most) of their characters public. Also, do you guys prefer to write with characters that are linked to the creator of said characters account or does it matter to you at all?
For me personally it doesn't matter!

Now, Im not asking because im feeling upset at a lack of interest in my characters at all- in fact I rather like that I don't get too many PMs about my characters on my main account as it overwhelms me, and I only get messages when I post threads from my anonymous characters account/s or occasionally someone who has stumbled onto my characters profile.
For those of you that also keep their characters anon; do you notice difference in interest from people due to your characters being anon/do you ever find it hard to find someone interested in writing with you?

I, myself, do tend to link/chat with those I RP with long-term or have interest/plans in writing long-term with OOC from my main account (not the character profile), or those I simply enjoy chatting with. If someone asks to be linked to my actual account I also don't mind linking them if it makes them feel more comfortable, because as someone with anxiety I could see why it may be a bit of an anxiety factor not being able to see more about who it is you're writing with.

Anyways, this is simply a curiosity of mine and wanted to see others experiences about keeping characters anon VS having them public! Please no fighting or arguing, though I don't see how this thread could possibly cause any Also no shaming, whether someone wants their characters anon or public is a personal choice and neither should be made to feel bad for it, again not that I feel that would ever happen but I want to make it clear this is a safe thread for everyone to post on Hope the questions make sense though, I'm kind of a dunce and don't always word my questions as well as I think I do, haha

This has been discussed before and I always love seeing differing opinions and experiences on the topic. Thanks for bringing it back to the forefront again fellow Hades.

When it comes to putting characters on Anon, I have a couple. I only put them there because they belong to something more secretive and specific and are meant only for those things. It isn't that I don't want to be associated with it or have it appear as a part of my roster, but that I don't want there to be an attention to those things and that specific character can be ignored with it being on anon. I don't get messages sent to those characters, which is specifically what I want for them. I feel that Anon reduces my chances of people asking about them or wanting a story with them due to their anonymity.

I don't mind at all when my writing partners want to use anonymous characters, but I have an underlying trust issue that gets in my way. I don't really ever approach any anonymous characters. I don't feel a safety net with them, even with someone posting in the AO forum to prove the writer is of age. It's a sort of mask that really makes me feel unwelcome to even get to know the person I'm writing with, which if that is necessary for someone I do not judge them on that. I fully respect the need for anonymity and a mask to protect ourselves, but I am unfortunately on the other side of that mask of anonymity feel as though the other person is trying to hide even more from me and it creates distrust there. I have had a lot of bad experiences with people lying about who they are and it only coming out later and feeling entirely betrayed. I don't at all feel that people here will do that, but because of my experience it's very difficult for me to trust someone who attempts to approach me first with only an anonymous character. Again, all the respect in the world and understanding for those that need that protective layer, but I cannot personally see myself starting a rp with someone who I cannot first get to know a little bit about or recognize with a name from their own profile rather than the name of a character.

_{One thing that can be a struggle, is when a player puts absolutely nothing to go off of on their account as far as preferences go. Everyone has rules/guidelines and other details specific to them. I have no problem with anon, whether I'm speaking to someone via their character, or their main account. But to either end, it's difficult to gauge a potential partner when they leave these details off of either account... which is very common. Not everyone makes this mistake, of course, but it is off-putting.}

I don't have a very strong preference myself, but I've seen a number of folks say they won't play with anons for one reason or another. For some, they're concerned about age. A lot of folks also associate anons with ghosting and feel anons are too unreliable. Some folks worry they might play with someone who makes them uncomfortable but who they haven't blocked.

I have a mix of public and anon. *shrugs*

All these are valid points!

Personally, I have moved all my characters which are not group-affiliated to anon. for the simple reason that otherwise I feel like drowning them. They become slots, when in reality they are each a separate personality, history, etc. Sometimes I share with the other writer(s) who I am (especially if they are not writing an anon. character) and sometimes I don't. Also, with anon. characters, I find it less likely for the IC and OOC to blend together.

But Murder has made an excellent point about rules and preferences. I also feel that an anon. character needs to be more developed to engage and retain the attention, precisely because one cannot take a look at the author's profile.

@Hadeslicious Oh! I had no idea this had ever been brought up before, im sorry if its a bother to anyone else that I have brought it up again

I definitely understand that, its one of the reasons some of my characters are anon as well! Simply because they are for something a bit more specific and I am not looking for any other kind of interaction for them at the time, or I am only using them with a specific partner and don't plan on branching out with them any more
than that.
I also understand the trust aspect, I have had rather bad experiences in that department as well and its why I make it a personal rule to always ask an RP partner who is speaking with me on an anon character account that they are 18+ (and I, of course, also assure them of my own age or link them to my main if they would feel safer with that). It is scary to know that some lie about age, and the last thing I (or I want for anyone else) is to get into trouble due to another lying about being of age and then writing certain content with them that should have never even been discussed to begin with

I actually keep my characters anon as well due to fear of some kind of negative trail following to my main account if something goes awry with a user im plotting with, which is why I typically start with proposing a plot on an anon characters account until I get a feel of trust that things OOC will be okay. I always watch for red flags, as far as personality as well as age goes- there are red flags I have learned to watch for in both aspects.

Though I have to admit this makes me worry that perhaps my characters remaining anon will result in lack of interest due to fear from others that I may be lying about my age

@Murder What exactly do you mean by preferences? As in genre, setting, etc? Though I do agree it can be a bit off-putting when certain information is left from any profile, and sometimes can deter me from ever messaging someone

@Novalyyn Ah, I never actually thought about that. I know when I was a youngin' in the RP community I use to ghost out of fear of angering people, but now I'm pretty honest and tell someone when I've lost muse or interest- Another thing to take into consideration about having my characters anon.. id hate for anyone to think that I'd simply ghost them becuase my characters are anon


I'm really appreciating all these opinions though, its sort of making me think a bit lol

@DorianM I agree with that on characters! I can say I put as much detail as I can into my characters, even if they are anon, because I am very passionate about each and every one. They all have unique personalities, quirks, etc that I love to make clear in their bios as much as I can, I put a lot of love into my characters and its always eye-catching to see characters with equal amounts of detail to them, though I do appreciate bits of mystery at times to still well-developed characters

I think what Murder is getting to has to do with basic RP rules and RP preferences. That's normally not an information page on a character profile and I've seen a lot of anon characters that don't include any RP rules on them and it becomes off-putting because it leaves everything up to having to be asked about rather than getting the general gist of things before approaching in conversation. They're really important to all of us, and I agree wthout seeing them at first we can't really make a first base judgement on an anonymous character's writer without them.

That makes sense, I just wanted to be sure I understood! And I also agree.

i personally feel more comfortable approaching characters, asking to start a roleplay if i can see who the character is played by. though, that rarely stops me from messaging somebody but it does leave me wondering if i’ve messaged the same player(s) multiple times, just to different characters. if i do start a roleplay with a character that’s anonymously played, i’ll usually ask who the player is, just so i can reach out and check up on how they’re doing in case they go silent. i’ve had it happen though, that some players with one or more anonymous characters have rather empty profiles where they don’t seem to be very active, so i figure that it comes down to preference and communication between everybody. ^^

That makes sense, and its totally understandable! Its why I'm willing to share my main account if it'll make someone feel better when reaching out to my anon characters, but its also why I make sure to say on my actual profile that people are more than welcome to directly message me and ask to be linked to whatever characters I feel like roleplaying at the time ^^

I think when roleplaying with a player who is using an anonymous character, I prefer that they tell me who they are, even if the character stays anonymous. That is just a preference.

I probably would be more likely to respond to an ad that was not an anonymous character, and I literally always check out a players profile before I roleplay with them. Most of this is due to curiousity. But also to get a feel for them. How they write, what kind of life they might lead. Whether they're in college, whether they're a kid in HS, whether they're working, how literate, how casual, how friendly or how distant-seeming or cautious they seem.

However, I've started roleplays with anons twice before, and they both turned out fine. But yeah, I'm definitely more drawn to a role-play if I can see a little bit of info about the player I'd potentially be roleplaying with.

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As for my disposition towards playing anons myself, tbh I've tried it twice and I hated it both times. Mainly because I was playing a male character and I kept getting the feeling that the other players thought that I, the roleplayer, was a guy, and that somehow felt deceptive to me but it felt awkward to bring up (because by then I felt like there was an expectation and I didn't want to burst their bubble. I ended both roleplays eventually).

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So I guess I'm a fan of non-anons, both as a player of them and when
being the player who's character is interacting with them.

I get that, I always have a bit about me as the player on my anon characters pages though because I also enjoy knowing a bit about who I'm roleplaying with as well. So I understand that, but hey I also get if reading about me from my anon characters page isn't enough for someone! And again, I'm always open to linking to my main account if one feels more comfortable when interested in one of my anonymous characters.

Though I see most people don't have a set preference, or don't mind anon characters but under certain circumstances, I'll probably still be considering making mine not anon (though no promises, as I have many personal reasons for keeping them anon)

But on the gender thing, I actually prefer my characters anonymous as well because they are in fact all men do far. My worst fear is for someone to see that I am a trans male and then losing interest in writing with me because of this, as silly as it may sound. I worry they won't take me or my male characters seriously, or jump to conclusions about me. However I don't expect everyone to understand that reasons, but for me it is a genuine concern at all times.

PS sorry for any typos, I'm on mobile and on top of it adjusting to my new phone so they are everywhere right now, ugh

I often don't look at people who have no visible character profiles because I use their profiles to help me decide if I want to rp with them. You can often learn a lot about a person writing and literacy by looking at the profiles of their characters. Often the amount of effort put into a profile is a good indicator of what you can expect from them in a rp, though I will admit that this isn't always true.

So when I encounter someone who has no character profiles for me to look at, that deprives me of an important way to help me decide if I want to rp with them or not. As such, I usually won't rp with someone like that and instead look for someone that I think has a better chance of being a good partner for me.

Of course I don't know how many people share this mindset, but I figure it's worth mentioning anyway.

Hm, I don't base ones writing skills off of whether they have visible characters or not as it seems like a bit of a stretch to me in doing so. Though I guess everyone has their own mindset on it, I personally think my writing and literacy are pretty advanced despite having my characters anonymous. And I'd also like to point out that of course asking to see a character or two made by them is also an option.

I have an RP partner whoms character is anon and their writing is absolutely beautiful, at least six to eight paragraphs per reply. So I definitely don't base ones skill off of how they post their characters visibility ^^ Not that I can tell others not to do so, But keep in mind that if you do you may very well be missing your chance at creating a great story with someone.

Though I do apologize if I'm simply misunderstanding what your response means, its only a bit past eight in the morning here for me and I'm definitely not fully awake quite yet

I don't base their writing on if they have visible characters or not, but them having visible characters gives me a sample of their writing to actually judge. Normally if they don't have any visible characters, then I don't have anything to give me an idea of their writing.

Given a chance I'd also look at their rp posts, but I can't see those if they don't visible characters for me to track either. Basiclly I don't go "Hmm, they must be a terrible writer because they don't have any characters." What I actually do is go. "Hmm, they don't have any profiles I can look at and I'd rather not take a gamble in the dark."

Does that make more sense?

Yes, that makes much more sense. Sorry again, as like I said I was pretty much half asleep when reading your response yesterday so I was misunderstanding.

Well based on some replies here I went ahead and adjusted my own profile, though I didn't completely go out of my comfort zone. Simply adjusted it to make it a bit more approachable for those who are put off by profiles with anon characters!

I want to thank everyone for their honest opinions, and I want to say again that remember its okay to have either all anon, all public or even a mix of the two with your characters! Whatever makes everyone feel more comfortable.