Forums » RP Discussion » Thoughts on a charas that look like their writers?

I have a super specific look, and sometimes I think 'a character who looks just like that would be so cute!'

Not a character who is me, or has all my personality traits and backstory ect - just has the same appearance. Not a self-insert character.

What are your thoughts on people having a character/characters who look very similar to them or just like them? Is this a common thing and I'm just unaware of it?

Would you feel uncomfortable writing an RP involving a character that looks similar to their writer?

I've seen people with brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin, slender, have characters who have all those traits too and look like them; so, is it really that weird for me, crazy red hair styles, plus size, glasses, to have a character who has those traits?

Genuinely curious about peoples thoughts, but please be respectful regardless of your opinion on the matter. ^-^

I honestly don't think it is weird at all. I know for some reason almost all my characters(except one) have dark/brown hair as I do. Several(three I think) also have eyes that are a mix of two colors, I have hazelish eyes. I also have one character that is rather short and skinny like me. I personally like adding a little bit of myself into my characters, just little traits or quirks as I find it easier to connect to them.

Let's say you're the kind of person who wears a lot of black. There's a pretty good chance you're going to have a lot of characters who wear black. You like that aesthetic whether it be for yourself or your creations. (I realise this isn't a 100% cut and dry law, people also like to play characters wildly different to themselves, but I think a lot of players do have a favourite 'type' to play).

So I don't think there's anything inherently bad with characters having similar fashion / hair styles as yourself, as long as there's a healthy separation between player and character.

Seems fine to me—whatever makes it fun to write, you know? I like the idea of having more variety of characters; there’s also this imperative to have better representation if you’re not seeing it out there. It’s hard to find a variety of plus-size characters in media that aren’t filling very specific tropes. Nice to make the representation you might want to see!

When I started to play Skyrim many years ago my first character was female, but I dropped her after a while because I found it difficult to get into the role. I made another character, a young male wood elf but he was also discarded. My next character I designed on myself, hair, eyes, beard and other features. It was a connection I could respond to as I put myself into that role and I seemed to be able to carry that character through the game, though most of the game didn't make much sense. So, in a way there is a resemblance between me and Geimhreadh/WinterBlackDraoi. (My eyes don't glow though).

Seems fine to me these days. I used to be a lot more averse to it as a marker for blatant self-inserts but now I look for much more to tell if a roleplayer and their character incidentally share physical traits before thinking they might have a lack of boundaries between IC and OOC.

I don't mind if characters even borrow their writers' wardrobes (i.e share the same fashion sense), not everyone wants to research entire subcultures to give their OCs something to wear.

I've had characters who's first installment looked like me. Mostly because I was 11, but. I've avoided it since, but Kit is, full disclosure, just a cute outfit I wore once LOL. I wouldn't say using your own face as a faceclaim is super common, especially amongst more experienced people, but as a facebook frequenter, there are often rules against it in groups. However, I think that's because how often using yourself as a faceclaim comes with a lack of boundaries. Because of that, I personally would feel uncomfortable with someone who used specifically their actual self as a faceclaim myself. However, I know, and have experienced, making characters gently based off aspects of yourself and I think that's fine and well. Most people I know put a piece of themselves in their characters and I think that helps flesh them out and make the character more relatable/easier to write for them and while it's usually in personality, it's reasonable to assume appearance and taste in fashion would have the same affect.

I'm guessing perspective on this may be dependent on how one got introduced to the concept of RPing as a semi-formalized game.

My own introduction was through LARP. That LARP had a forum for in-character interactions between events. And nearly everyone's avatar was a photo of themselves dressed as their LARP character. Some were self-inserts. Some weren't. Really had nothing to do with what the character looked like.

So, I don't find it odd in the slightest.

I've personally never (knowingly) encountered it while RPing. I've had characters who have similar fashion sense to me and things like that, of course, but most of my characters don't look much like me at all except for superficial minor traits. I probably wouldn't want to play as a character who looks too much like me, either, but that's more of a self-esteem issue than anything.

As for other people, I suppose I find the idea a bit peculiar, but it depends on the extent of it. The thought of RPing with someone who uses themselves as a faceclaim or has art that is essentially like a portrait of them strikes me as fairly uncomfortable, simply due to the issue of IC and OOC being separate.

Self-inserts are common in the sense that people make characters who are similar in personality to them and might have some idealized experiences the author wishes that they had, or they might serve as a mouthpiece for their creator's views. Both of those can pose difficulties depending on the execution. In the right hands, it's not a problem. However, essentially using oneself as a faceclaim makes for a possible uncomfortable situation, especially in RPs that involve romance and so forth. It's not necessarily a negative, but I can see myself and others being put off by it.

Heyo everyone, thanks for your opinions You all bring up very good points in regards mostly to that everyone puts some of themselves into their characters as well as that IC/OOC could be uncomfortable with a character that looks like their writer or heavily so.

In the end I did decide to create Maggie, who shares a likeness to me in art, but is different in quite a lot of ways. I don't personally feel there will be a problem with IC/OOC as I have never had that problem, and I view them as the character they are, I'm just their writer-mom, like I am with any other character. In fact I already have a character that shares similar likeness to me already, Brandee, I realized, and I haven't had an issue with her.

I hesitated for a little but in the end the cutest factor and the character that came exploding into my head was too loud for me not to do it. I can only hope people will trust that there's nothing ill intended or confusing in them as a character and will appreciate them as a character and how they are written; and I would also never use actual RL pictures of me as Maggie's 'face claim'; and their art is likely to develop into something different over the years as many characters change styles, and hair over the years.

This is a really good point, there's no way around physically resembling your character in a LARP when you're their very actor. On the other hand I always wondered what that meant for a LARPer wanted to act as a character that doesn't look anything like them, does this ever limit their character creation options? It would be impossible to 'act taller' than I am if I ever wanted to be one of my characters who's a 7 foot brute.

Yes, it very well could. Many games (not all, of course) are run by the game's creator or a small set of dedicated individuals, usually they'll set what is acceptable in terms of stretching the "suspension of disbelief" in the argument of wysiwyg vs complete freedom.

The first game I played had fairly strict rules about it. There was a tall race only available to players over 6'. There was a short race only available to players under 5'5". Elves were not allowed to have beards. Dwarves had to have beards (could be fake). Armor had to at least look semi-realistic from a few feet away. Bows were bows and lanterns were lanterns.

I've played on the "anything-goes" end too, with extremely minimal costuming requirements. Players carrying a glow stick wearing a fluffy tail with their jeans and t-shirt with modern logos saying "I'm a 3-foot tall cat!"

I'm partial to the first. But at the same time, it's simply about having fun. So, I have to stop myself from being the person that essentially says "You're having fun wrong!"

[quote="MercyInReach"In the end I did decide to create Maggie, who shares a likeness to me in art, but is different in quite a lot of ways. I don't personally feel there will be a problem with IC/OOC as I have never had that problem, and I view them as the character they are, I'm just their writer-mom, like I am with any other character. In fact I already have a character that shares similar likeness to me already, Brandee, I realized, and I haven't had an issue with her.

I hesitated for a little but in the end the cutest factor and the character that came exploding into my head was too loud for me not to do it. I can only hope people will trust that there's nothing ill intended or confusing in them as a character and will appreciate them as a character and how they are written; and I would also never use actual RL pictures of me as Maggie's 'face claim'; and their art is likely to develop into something different over the years as many characters change styles, and hair over the years.[/quote]

Oh wow!! what a coincidence we'd end up throwing both our Cute Semi-Self characters together!!
In reality, most people aren't going to really notice/acknowledge that Maggie looks like you anyways, I'd imagine. Especially as those differences occur. Seeing pale /red head / brown eyes and assuming the creator meant inherently meant it to be/look-like themself would be gently wild unless the art was extremely detailed/they were using their own photos. Or, at least, I wouldn't.

Honestly this is the furthest thing from my mind when role-playing, since I usually can't see the actual person I'm role-playing with and seldom if ever see a picture of them I can compare and contrast with their character.