Hiya.
Recently I've been thinking about what makes a character profile more or less appealing. What draws people in to read more, learn more, and build a genuine interest for the character. I was just curious to hear opinions and would like to state that this isn't an invitation to bash any type of profile or set-up, but simply to express what you personally like more and what gets you engaged and curious
Some aspects I thought about myself and would like to hear your opinion on are;
-How much/little text is too much/too little?
Will a profile that does not offer in-depth descriptions of background/personality deter you or do you prefer to keep it to the point with only simple words to sum up the character?
-Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic? I personally adore gifs, pics and music, but I can also see how some might feel that it's cluttery or "fluff".
-This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
-Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
-Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
I think those were all the points I was curious to hear about! Please feel free to respond but be nice and don't write things like "I hate profiles that..." or something that is purely hateful in any manner. Thank you
Recently I've been thinking about what makes a character profile more or less appealing. What draws people in to read more, learn more, and build a genuine interest for the character. I was just curious to hear opinions and would like to state that this isn't an invitation to bash any type of profile or set-up, but simply to express what you personally like more and what gets you engaged and curious
Some aspects I thought about myself and would like to hear your opinion on are;
-How much/little text is too much/too little?
Will a profile that does not offer in-depth descriptions of background/personality deter you or do you prefer to keep it to the point with only simple words to sum up the character?
-Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic? I personally adore gifs, pics and music, but I can also see how some might feel that it's cluttery or "fluff".
-This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
-Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
-Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
I think those were all the points I was curious to hear about! Please feel free to respond but be nice and don't write things like "I hate profiles that..." or something that is purely hateful in any manner. Thank you
> -How much/little text is too much/too little?
I prefer the absolute minimum necessary to get the point across for a character. There's some things best left to discover in the RP...someone telling me the character's entire backstory and every facet of their personality is a buzzkill for me.
That, and I feel that nobody can sum up a multi-dimensional character's personality accurately in a couple paragraphs. I think that's why most of us have trouble writing detailed character sheets. It just ain't possible to do justice to them through two or three sentences when they're a complex character with many things that make them, them.
I like my profiles to have the same vibes as when you pick up the back of a book and skim over that little hook to see whether or not it interests you. You get the vibes of the character without needing to read through 8000 words of details that may or may not be necessary to gauging your interest and getting the overall theme of them.
Some people complain that my profiles are extremely bare as a result, but I don't think so. One of my favorite character profiles of my own is literally like three paragraphs, because that's all you need to understand what you're getting into. I felt as though telling someone their backstory and personality via profile page would've cheapened the whole 'mysterious exile' part of the character.
> -Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic? I personally adore gifs, pics and music, but I can also see how some might feel that it's cluttery or "fluff".
The less clutter the better. But I'm also like extremely blind, so that's mainly because the other stuff just gets in the way of me trying to read blurry words in the first place. I enjoy a center piece of art and a music drop down.
It's my go to formula for all my profiles.
> -This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
I greatly prefer characters that are more general and vague, unless it's for a common setting such as a group or fandom. Characters that exist within their own, exclusive universe can be extremely hard to collaborate with, primarily because the writer already has so many concrete details down that they're probably not going to want to change. It can sort of make you feel like you're just playing an NPC in their world, y'know? I've tried to write with players in the past who have 6 pages dedicated JUST to their character's own setting, and it's never worked out.
Which ties in again to my whole "the less details the better" shenanigans. I leave my characters' canon backgrounds out of their profiles so that nobody feels pressured to have to work around 'em. I appreciate the same thing in other people's profiles as well. Makes it much easier for us to make something together that way.
> -Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
I don't care about spelling errors or minor grammar mistakes, but I DO tend to use a character's profile as a way to gauge whether I'm going to like somebody's writing or not. They tend to be a pretty good reflection of how someone will write in a narrative sense. Much like actual RP writing though, we all make mistakes. God knows how many times I've shat out a massive post at 3 AM, gone to bed, then woken up the next day to realize how many errors I've made. Thankfully our brains have a tendency to just gloss over little things like that without realizing it though, lmao.
> -Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
Only if it's original artwork - and that doesn't include stuff they found off google.
My favorite part to see in a character profile is a MASSIVE gallery of art collected over the years, mainly because that tells me someone's heavily invested in their character and has spent an immense amount of time having them evolve and grow. I love seeing the visual evolution of a character through artwork. Not everyone can afford that luxury, though, so I don't discriminate against people who just have text based profiles. Sometimes if I see a text based profile and it's a character I really like the idea of, I'll toss them a message to see if they want a sketch or something.
......I completely avoid and refuse to write with players/characters that use stolen artwork, however. No exceptions. But that's an entirely different discussion not meant for this thread so I won't get into it. All I'll say is my opinion is that no pictures is better than stolen pictures.
I prefer the absolute minimum necessary to get the point across for a character. There's some things best left to discover in the RP...someone telling me the character's entire backstory and every facet of their personality is a buzzkill for me.
That, and I feel that nobody can sum up a multi-dimensional character's personality accurately in a couple paragraphs. I think that's why most of us have trouble writing detailed character sheets. It just ain't possible to do justice to them through two or three sentences when they're a complex character with many things that make them, them.I like my profiles to have the same vibes as when you pick up the back of a book and skim over that little hook to see whether or not it interests you. You get the vibes of the character without needing to read through 8000 words of details that may or may not be necessary to gauging your interest and getting the overall theme of them.
Some people complain that my profiles are extremely bare as a result, but I don't think so. One of my favorite character profiles of my own is literally like three paragraphs, because that's all you need to understand what you're getting into. I felt as though telling someone their backstory and personality via profile page would've cheapened the whole 'mysterious exile' part of the character.
> -Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic? I personally adore gifs, pics and music, but I can also see how some might feel that it's cluttery or "fluff".
The less clutter the better. But I'm also like extremely blind, so that's mainly because the other stuff just gets in the way of me trying to read blurry words in the first place. I enjoy a center piece of art and a music drop down.
It's my go to formula for all my profiles.> -This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
I greatly prefer characters that are more general and vague, unless it's for a common setting such as a group or fandom. Characters that exist within their own, exclusive universe can be extremely hard to collaborate with, primarily because the writer already has so many concrete details down that they're probably not going to want to change. It can sort of make you feel like you're just playing an NPC in their world, y'know? I've tried to write with players in the past who have 6 pages dedicated JUST to their character's own setting, and it's never worked out.
Which ties in again to my whole "the less details the better" shenanigans. I leave my characters' canon backgrounds out of their profiles so that nobody feels pressured to have to work around 'em. I appreciate the same thing in other people's profiles as well. Makes it much easier for us to make something together that way.
> -Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
I don't care about spelling errors or minor grammar mistakes, but I DO tend to use a character's profile as a way to gauge whether I'm going to like somebody's writing or not. They tend to be a pretty good reflection of how someone will write in a narrative sense. Much like actual RP writing though, we all make mistakes. God knows how many times I've shat out a massive post at 3 AM, gone to bed, then woken up the next day to realize how many errors I've made. Thankfully our brains have a tendency to just gloss over little things like that without realizing it though, lmao.
> -Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
Only if it's original artwork - and that doesn't include stuff they found off google.
My favorite part to see in a character profile is a MASSIVE gallery of art collected over the years, mainly because that tells me someone's heavily invested in their character and has spent an immense amount of time having them evolve and grow. I love seeing the visual evolution of a character through artwork. Not everyone can afford that luxury, though, so I don't discriminate against people who just have text based profiles. Sometimes if I see a text based profile and it's a character I really like the idea of, I'll toss them a message to see if they want a sketch or something.......I completely avoid and refuse to write with players/characters that use stolen artwork, however. No exceptions. But that's an entirely different discussion not meant for this thread so I won't get into it. All I'll say is my opinion is that no pictures is better than stolen pictures.
for me, the most important thing with profiles is formatting. if it's layed out in a confusing way, or it has a Fancy Font™, I won't want to read it (and I probably won't be able to, anyway.) gifs and images do absolutely nothing for me (I quite literally can not see them), and if there are too many everywhere it can make the profile harder to navigate, but just a few is whatever. having music on the profile is something I find fun, but if there isn't any, that doesn't matter much for me.
if there are minor spelling and grammar mistakes, I don't care; everyone makes those. if the character profile is totally mistyped and hard to read, then it'll bother me because it seems like the creator didn't put much effort into their work.
as for how much text and what kind of info and all that, I want more than the bare minimum, but not giant walls of text because those are overwhelming.
specifically, I think it's important to be fairly detailed when describing what the character looks like. but that's probably just because I can't look at images for reference. (reading "Appearance: look at the pictures" or anything along those lines annoys me- maybe more than it should?- because buddy if I could look at the pictures I wouldn't be reading this section.)
big long personality descriptions aren't as important to me. I prefer to have at least a bit there, but that's mostly just to reassure me that the character really has a personality and isn't a cardboard cut-out. I think lists of personality traits are nice because they aren't overly time-consuming, but they give a bit of insight into how the character might fit with other characters and stories. (that being said, I also understand the appeal of leaving a character's personality undisclosed until they actually make an appearance in a story, since it's not as if real strangers you'd meet IRL would have a list of personality traits, either.)
I like reading fleshed-out character backstories, partially for the "so I know they're not a cardboard cut-out" thing, and partially just because I think they're neat. that being said, I'd feel hypocritical for "requiring" or "expecting" them, because I myself am quite the procrastinator when it comes to writing them for my own characters. (plus the thing I said about not knowing all this stuff about real-life strangers applies here too; having a bit of mystery can be fun and I love a good plot-twist/backstory reveal that can surprise me AND my character.)
in summary, I want a profile to convince me that yes, this actually is a developed character and not just a generic "brown hair, green eyes, personality: nice, funny" kind of character. I don't care how much text is used to accomplish this. and if I already know the writer is good at what they do, I care even less about how their character profiles look.
I just want to know what the character looks like, and reading more about them is a fun bonus but I'm not actually that picky.
(there is also the case of "I just made this character and want to develop them more through RP", which I'm not really talking about in this instance because generally they're handled differently anyway.)
if there are minor spelling and grammar mistakes, I don't care; everyone makes those. if the character profile is totally mistyped and hard to read, then it'll bother me because it seems like the creator didn't put much effort into their work.
as for how much text and what kind of info and all that, I want more than the bare minimum, but not giant walls of text because those are overwhelming.
specifically, I think it's important to be fairly detailed when describing what the character looks like. but that's probably just because I can't look at images for reference. (reading "Appearance: look at the pictures" or anything along those lines annoys me- maybe more than it should?- because buddy if I could look at the pictures I wouldn't be reading this section.)
big long personality descriptions aren't as important to me. I prefer to have at least a bit there, but that's mostly just to reassure me that the character really has a personality and isn't a cardboard cut-out. I think lists of personality traits are nice because they aren't overly time-consuming, but they give a bit of insight into how the character might fit with other characters and stories. (that being said, I also understand the appeal of leaving a character's personality undisclosed until they actually make an appearance in a story, since it's not as if real strangers you'd meet IRL would have a list of personality traits, either.)
I like reading fleshed-out character backstories, partially for the "so I know they're not a cardboard cut-out" thing, and partially just because I think they're neat. that being said, I'd feel hypocritical for "requiring" or "expecting" them, because I myself am quite the procrastinator when it comes to writing them for my own characters. (plus the thing I said about not knowing all this stuff about real-life strangers applies here too; having a bit of mystery can be fun and I love a good plot-twist/backstory reveal that can surprise me AND my character.)
in summary, I want a profile to convince me that yes, this actually is a developed character and not just a generic "brown hair, green eyes, personality: nice, funny" kind of character. I don't care how much text is used to accomplish this. and if I already know the writer is good at what they do, I care even less about how their character profiles look.
I just want to know what the character looks like, and reading more about them is a fun bonus but I'm not actually that picky.
(there is also the case of "I just made this character and want to develop them more through RP", which I'm not really talking about in this instance because generally they're handled differently anyway.)
It looks like I am going to break the tradition forming so far by saying that artwork is vital to whether or not I am interested in a profile. Part of this may be due to the fact that I am a very visual/hands-on learner. I need to feel at least some kind of connection or resonance with the profile in order to envision them in a story with one of my own characters.
That being said, I do agree with something that Saturninum said about profiles being similar to skimming the back of a book. And it might be somewhat associated with why I need artwork to be able to maintain interest.
I am a full time student and part time employee. I simply do not have the time to read the profiles that have massive seven page backstories for each and every character. Some form of brevity is essential for both my personal interest as well as logistics sake. I recognize this is a little hypocritical of me as I have a couple character pages that are vastly more involved and time consuming with multiple pages of information. I can only plead that they are usually accumulated over time and that I do my utmost best to provide a kind of "short version" with collapsed links and sections so only those interested in the existing lore are burdened by it. As this is still a skill I am cultivating, I promise I am working to improve in this area.
I also agree with TheLoreKepper in I need something more than simply: "brown hair, nice personality". I want to see that this is a character you have some form of investment in. A connection to. A level of interest beyond just placeholder. To me, the people who put care and work into 1 or 2 character pages make far better story partners than those with 10 to 15 generic cutout characters with no art. Due to time constraints placed upon me by the real world, I have to be incredibly selective in partners. Since I can only maintain so many stories at a time, I can't necessarily start a story with every single character that may catch my eye. Because I also put a lot of thought, time, and effort into my stories, having a partner ghost me after a half dozen exchanges can be tough to swallow, if not mildly traumatizing. (being lightly hyperbolic for dramatic tension here. Though if I felt particularly attached to the story I have been known to lose sleep over its death)
As far as spelling mistakes, I don't mind a few here and there. I'm guilty of working too quickly or just flat out making errors myself. I try to be understanding of it in others. There is a cut off point where terrible grammar and spelling will turn me away. It's a bit of a moving target that I can't specifically define. But essentially if it is errors every few words, that's probably too many for me. If I see on the owner's profile that English is a second language, I have found that my tolerance for errors rises quite a bit, though at some point it is still too much here.
I also completely agree with the dislike of wildly "fancy" fonts. I get some difference for a little flavor, but if I can't still read it with relative ease, I'm clicking right off that profile.
Also something that I openly recognize is nit-picky of me, but I just can't shake is a strong dislike of profiles that disguise the different pages as words in a cutesy phrase or song lyric or something. It's not a deal breaker, but it definitely leaves me with a foul taste. I'm not talking about naming the pages something creative or descriptive instead of generic "page 1, page 2, etc". But the ones that break up something like: "If You Can't Handle Me At My Best" with each too words being a different page. I recognize this is me being arbitrary and picky. And I truly hope no one takes offense (I didn't look over anyone's characters before responding in order to keep my response unbiased) but it is a reaction I just can't shake.
Long story short, for me I need some artwork of some kind, and an organized, aesthetically pleasing character to really capture my interest. I do my best to improve and refine my pages and respect similar signs of care in my partners.
Hopefully this answered questions and provided at least a slightly different perspective. I promise nothing was said with hateful intent, and I do my best to try and branch out and give anyone interested a fair shot at writing together. If anyone was hurt by anything I said, please send me a message. I would love to hear feedback and promise to listen with an open mind Ultimately this hobby is a great way to practice expanding horizons and learning about oneself through writing in my opinion on top of being enjoyable.
May everyone's journey's be long and their stories eventful!
XOXO
Cassie
That being said, I do agree with something that Saturninum said about profiles being similar to skimming the back of a book. And it might be somewhat associated with why I need artwork to be able to maintain interest.
I am a full time student and part time employee. I simply do not have the time to read the profiles that have massive seven page backstories for each and every character. Some form of brevity is essential for both my personal interest as well as logistics sake. I recognize this is a little hypocritical of me as I have a couple character pages that are vastly more involved and time consuming with multiple pages of information. I can only plead that they are usually accumulated over time and that I do my utmost best to provide a kind of "short version" with collapsed links and sections so only those interested in the existing lore are burdened by it. As this is still a skill I am cultivating, I promise I am working to improve in this area.
I also agree with TheLoreKepper in I need something more than simply: "brown hair, nice personality". I want to see that this is a character you have some form of investment in. A connection to. A level of interest beyond just placeholder. To me, the people who put care and work into 1 or 2 character pages make far better story partners than those with 10 to 15 generic cutout characters with no art. Due to time constraints placed upon me by the real world, I have to be incredibly selective in partners. Since I can only maintain so many stories at a time, I can't necessarily start a story with every single character that may catch my eye. Because I also put a lot of thought, time, and effort into my stories, having a partner ghost me after a half dozen exchanges can be tough to swallow, if not mildly traumatizing. (being lightly hyperbolic for dramatic tension here. Though if I felt particularly attached to the story I have been known to lose sleep over its death)
As far as spelling mistakes, I don't mind a few here and there. I'm guilty of working too quickly or just flat out making errors myself. I try to be understanding of it in others. There is a cut off point where terrible grammar and spelling will turn me away. It's a bit of a moving target that I can't specifically define. But essentially if it is errors every few words, that's probably too many for me. If I see on the owner's profile that English is a second language, I have found that my tolerance for errors rises quite a bit, though at some point it is still too much here.
I also completely agree with the dislike of wildly "fancy" fonts. I get some difference for a little flavor, but if I can't still read it with relative ease, I'm clicking right off that profile.
Also something that I openly recognize is nit-picky of me, but I just can't shake is a strong dislike of profiles that disguise the different pages as words in a cutesy phrase or song lyric or something. It's not a deal breaker, but it definitely leaves me with a foul taste. I'm not talking about naming the pages something creative or descriptive instead of generic "page 1, page 2, etc". But the ones that break up something like: "If You Can't Handle Me At My Best" with each too words being a different page. I recognize this is me being arbitrary and picky. And I truly hope no one takes offense (I didn't look over anyone's characters before responding in order to keep my response unbiased) but it is a reaction I just can't shake.
Long story short, for me I need some artwork of some kind, and an organized, aesthetically pleasing character to really capture my interest. I do my best to improve and refine my pages and respect similar signs of care in my partners.
Hopefully this answered questions and provided at least a slightly different perspective. I promise nothing was said with hateful intent, and I do my best to try and branch out and give anyone interested a fair shot at writing together. If anyone was hurt by anything I said, please send me a message. I would love to hear feedback and promise to listen with an open mind
Ultimately this hobby is a great way to practice expanding horizons and learning about oneself through writing in my opinion on top of being enjoyable.May everyone's journey's be long and their stories eventful!
XOXO
Cassie
Saturninum wrote:
> -How much/little text is too much/too little?
I prefer the absolute minimum necessary to get the point across for a character. There's some things best left to discover in the RP...someone telling me the character's entire backstory and every facet of their personality is a buzzkill for me. That, and I feel that nobody can sum up a multi-dimensional character's personality accurately in a couple paragraphs. I think that's why most of us have trouble writing detailed character sheets. It just ain't possible to do justice to them through two or three sentences when they're a complex character with many things that make them, them.
I like my profiles to have the same vibes as when you pick up the back of a book and skim over that little hook to see whether or not it interests you. You get the vibes of the character without needing to read through 8000 words of details that may or may not be necessary to gauging your interest and getting the overall theme of them.
Some people complain that my profiles are extremely bare as a result, but I don't think so. One of my favorite character profiles of my own is literally like three paragraphs, because that's all you need to understand what you're getting into. I felt as though telling someone their backstory and personality via profile page would've cheapened the whole 'mysterious exile' part of the character.
> -Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic? I personally adore gifs, pics and music, but I can also see how some might feel that it's cluttery or "fluff".
The less clutter the better. But I'm also like extremely blind, so that's mainly because the other stuff just gets in the way of me trying to read blurry words in the first place. I enjoy a center piece of art and a music drop down. It's my go to formula for all my profiles.
> -This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
I greatly prefer characters that are more general and vague, unless it's for a common setting such as a group or fandom. Characters that exist within their own, exclusive universe can be extremely hard to collaborate with, primarily because the writer already has so many concrete details down that they're probably not going to want to change. It can sort of make you feel like you're just playing an NPC in their world, y'know? I've tried to write with players in the past who have 6 pages dedicated JUST to their character's own setting, and it's never worked out.
Which ties in again to my whole "the less details the better" shenanigans. I leave my characters' canon backgrounds out of their profiles so that nobody feels pressured to have to work around 'em. I appreciate the same thing in other people's profiles as well. Makes it much easier for us to make something together that way.
> -Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
I don't care about spelling errors or minor grammar mistakes, but I DO tend to use a character's profile as a way to gauge whether I'm going to like somebody's writing or not. They tend to be a pretty good reflection of how someone will write in a narrative sense. Much like actual RP writing though, we all make mistakes. God knows how many times I've shat out a massive post at 3 AM, gone to bed, then woken up the next day to realize how many errors I've made. Thankfully our brains have a tendency to just gloss over little things like that without realizing it though, lmao.
> -Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
Only if it's original artwork - and that doesn't include stuff they found off google. My favorite part to see in a character profile is a MASSIVE gallery of art collected over the years, mainly because that tells me someone's heavily invested in their character and has spent an immense amount of time having them evolve and grow. I love seeing the visual evolution of a character through artwork. Not everyone can afford that luxury, though, so I don't discriminate against people who just have text based profiles. Sometimes if I see a text based profile and it's a character I really like the idea of, I'll toss them a message to see if they want a sketch or something.
......I completely avoid and refuse to write with players/characters that use stolen artwork, however. No exceptions. But that's an entirely different discussion not meant for this thread so I won't get into it. All I'll say is my opinion is that no pictures is better than stolen pictures.
I prefer the absolute minimum necessary to get the point across for a character. There's some things best left to discover in the RP...someone telling me the character's entire backstory and every facet of their personality is a buzzkill for me.
That, and I feel that nobody can sum up a multi-dimensional character's personality accurately in a couple paragraphs. I think that's why most of us have trouble writing detailed character sheets. It just ain't possible to do justice to them through two or three sentences when they're a complex character with many things that make them, them.I like my profiles to have the same vibes as when you pick up the back of a book and skim over that little hook to see whether or not it interests you. You get the vibes of the character without needing to read through 8000 words of details that may or may not be necessary to gauging your interest and getting the overall theme of them.
Some people complain that my profiles are extremely bare as a result, but I don't think so. One of my favorite character profiles of my own is literally like three paragraphs, because that's all you need to understand what you're getting into. I felt as though telling someone their backstory and personality via profile page would've cheapened the whole 'mysterious exile' part of the character.
> -Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic? I personally adore gifs, pics and music, but I can also see how some might feel that it's cluttery or "fluff".
The less clutter the better. But I'm also like extremely blind, so that's mainly because the other stuff just gets in the way of me trying to read blurry words in the first place. I enjoy a center piece of art and a music drop down.
It's my go to formula for all my profiles.> -This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
I greatly prefer characters that are more general and vague, unless it's for a common setting such as a group or fandom. Characters that exist within their own, exclusive universe can be extremely hard to collaborate with, primarily because the writer already has so many concrete details down that they're probably not going to want to change. It can sort of make you feel like you're just playing an NPC in their world, y'know? I've tried to write with players in the past who have 6 pages dedicated JUST to their character's own setting, and it's never worked out.
Which ties in again to my whole "the less details the better" shenanigans. I leave my characters' canon backgrounds out of their profiles so that nobody feels pressured to have to work around 'em. I appreciate the same thing in other people's profiles as well. Makes it much easier for us to make something together that way.
> -Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
I don't care about spelling errors or minor grammar mistakes, but I DO tend to use a character's profile as a way to gauge whether I'm going to like somebody's writing or not. They tend to be a pretty good reflection of how someone will write in a narrative sense. Much like actual RP writing though, we all make mistakes. God knows how many times I've shat out a massive post at 3 AM, gone to bed, then woken up the next day to realize how many errors I've made. Thankfully our brains have a tendency to just gloss over little things like that without realizing it though, lmao.
> -Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
Only if it's original artwork - and that doesn't include stuff they found off google.
My favorite part to see in a character profile is a MASSIVE gallery of art collected over the years, mainly because that tells me someone's heavily invested in their character and has spent an immense amount of time having them evolve and grow. I love seeing the visual evolution of a character through artwork. Not everyone can afford that luxury, though, so I don't discriminate against people who just have text based profiles. Sometimes if I see a text based profile and it's a character I really like the idea of, I'll toss them a message to see if they want a sketch or something.......I completely avoid and refuse to write with players/characters that use stolen artwork, however. No exceptions. But that's an entirely different discussion not meant for this thread so I won't get into it. All I'll say is my opinion is that no pictures is better than stolen pictures.
Now that I have made my response, I went and looked over everyone's characters because, you know, curiosity. And I just wanted to say that if the art in yours is your own I absolutely adore the aesthetic and style. If it isn't yours, then you chose very well in who you commissioned.
While it sounds like we may have light disagreement over artwork from google, I can at least promise that if I weren't a dead broke college student all artwork I would use on here would be commissioned. Not looking to start anything or trying to excuse myself. More just wanted to acknowledge what you said and show support where I could
XOXO
Cassie
fullmarvelalchemist wrote:
Now that I have made my response, I went and looked over everyone's characters because, you know, curiosity. And...
Yeah, anything showcased on my profiles with the exception of Zen's (who I commissioned from a lovely artist on RPN) is done by me. Just too lazy to get around to updating my handle here to what I sign my art with, lmao. Thanks tho.
fullmarvelalchemist wrote:
I'm not talking about naming the pages something creative or descriptive instead of generic "page 1, page 2, etc". But the ones that break up something like: "If You Can't Handle Me At My Best" with each too words being a different page.
I have to agree with this. I feel like I'm going NUTS when trying to locate a very specific detail about a character on their profile, but they have like 10 pages and none of them are clearly labelled as to what's what. x_x Indexes are key, my friends. Indexes are key. I just wanna look at the art but I can't find it because everything's song lyrics and they don't have an index telling me what they stand for GAH
Obligatory not intended to offend anyone who does this. Merely providing a suggestion on how to fix something that can be an organization nightmare.
I'm the odd-one-out around here who makes pretty barebones profiles and doesn't really draw characters at all enough to have art besides their avatars.
But I also just make characters for specific things most of the time, and my "general purpose" characters are just there in case someone thinks they have a dynamic that would work with them. Most of my currently active characters are anonymous because they were made for a specific game and will likely be deleted when/if it concludes.
So I really only look through other peoples' profiles if we're going to be in a game together, and then, I'm usually looking for specific info for either worldbuilding/setup purposes, or to confirm something for my posts. I personally like things to be concise and easy to find, for that reason.
But I also just make characters for specific things most of the time, and my "general purpose" characters are just there in case someone thinks they have a dynamic that would work with them. Most of my currently active characters are anonymous because they were made for a specific game and will likely be deleted when/if it concludes.
So I really only look through other peoples' profiles if we're going to be in a game together, and then, I'm usually looking for specific info for either worldbuilding/setup purposes, or to confirm something for my posts. I personally like things to be concise and easy to find, for that reason.
Interesting points! I'm glad this sparked a discussion
I suppose I should share my own opinions too, haha.
For me "a happy medium" really is what I'm looking for. Not too much of anything, nor too little.
I prefer a character profile to have some meat on its bones, some detail in terms of personality/background or appearance in case there isn't a picture. I don't like when there is too much text or page upon page of lore I need to work through in order to get basic information, since I usually look at character profiles to get a quick feel if they might fit any of my characters. So, having to read through walls of text is off-putting for me. That being said, a profile that is severely lacking is also off-putting as it gives me the impression that this is not a fully developed character or that the player doesn't put time and effort into their writing since they didn't put time or effort into the profile.
I will say I have been absolutely wrong in this assumption and my all-time favorite RP is actually with a character that has very little information on their profile. I'm very happy I gave it a shot despite the profile not being what I typically go for. Learned my lesson there!
Another reason I enjoy a profile to have some text and not just the one-word descriptors of personality is I make use of the text to judge a person's writing. I am ok with errors and grammar, not being from an English-speaking country myself I am more than aware I probably make mistakes too. But for me, if people don't use punctuation marks, captial letters at beginning of sentences or just all around have a vast amount of mistakes that make it feel like they did not take the time to proof-read, it will quickly wear me out and make me lose interest in the RP.
When it comes to aesthetic, I consider myself a bit of a magpie. I love pretty profiles, I wont lie, and I adore when a profile offers a feeling in a sense. When the profile follows a theme and expresses the character in both writing, music and artwork to really tie it together, I find myself a lot more interested and engaged and it often makes me want to explore the character more.
That being said I want some clarity too, and this ties into the naming of the various pages on the profile. I prefer them to be clear, so I don't click around and desperately search for a specific part of information. And, as with all else, I don't like when there is too much of anything. Too many gifs, too many pictures, too much text. A little bit of each thing is perfect for me, enough to spark (and keep) interest but not so much that it is overwhelming.
I draw all my characters myself so I love to see some personal art, but I am ok with characters that have IRL pictures and artwork from other people as well (I do judge a bit if I notice people don't put credits to the original artist, but I don't exclude them purely based on that). I am a very visual person, so I do need some type of picture for the character to get me interested as a character without a profile image or anything to give me a sense of what the player is going for will make me lose interest.
When it comes to how extensive the backstory/universe of the character is, I am torn. On one hand I love the creativity of a set world and can get curious to know what people think and what they have visualized in their head, but if the world is too "set in stone" or extensive it might become a bit frightening as it will make me feel like I need to really read up on this world to not ruin anything or break the world in the RP. It also becomes difficult to fit one of my already set characters into a strict world like that, so I often create new characters for such occasions.
I suppose even here I like a bit of both. Some backstory and an idea of a world/setting, but with the possibility to adjust it and build a world together that fits both characters, their lore and their aesthetic.
I suppose I should share my own opinions too, haha.
For me "a happy medium" really is what I'm looking for. Not too much of anything, nor too little.
I prefer a character profile to have some meat on its bones, some detail in terms of personality/background or appearance in case there isn't a picture. I don't like when there is too much text or page upon page of lore I need to work through in order to get basic information, since I usually look at character profiles to get a quick feel if they might fit any of my characters. So, having to read through walls of text is off-putting for me. That being said, a profile that is severely lacking is also off-putting as it gives me the impression that this is not a fully developed character or that the player doesn't put time and effort into their writing since they didn't put time or effort into the profile.
I will say I have been absolutely wrong in this assumption and my all-time favorite RP is actually with a character that has very little information on their profile. I'm very happy I gave it a shot despite the profile not being what I typically go for. Learned my lesson there!
Another reason I enjoy a profile to have some text and not just the one-word descriptors of personality is I make use of the text to judge a person's writing. I am ok with errors and grammar, not being from an English-speaking country myself I am more than aware I probably make mistakes too. But for me, if people don't use punctuation marks, captial letters at beginning of sentences or just all around have a vast amount of mistakes that make it feel like they did not take the time to proof-read, it will quickly wear me out and make me lose interest in the RP.
When it comes to aesthetic, I consider myself a bit of a magpie. I love pretty profiles, I wont lie, and I adore when a profile offers a feeling in a sense. When the profile follows a theme and expresses the character in both writing, music and artwork to really tie it together, I find myself a lot more interested and engaged and it often makes me want to explore the character more.
That being said I want some clarity too, and this ties into the naming of the various pages on the profile. I prefer them to be clear, so I don't click around and desperately search for a specific part of information. And, as with all else, I don't like when there is too much of anything. Too many gifs, too many pictures, too much text. A little bit of each thing is perfect for me, enough to spark (and keep) interest but not so much that it is overwhelming.
I draw all my characters myself so I love to see some personal art, but I am ok with characters that have IRL pictures and artwork from other people as well (I do judge a bit if I notice people don't put credits to the original artist, but I don't exclude them purely based on that). I am a very visual person, so I do need some type of picture for the character to get me interested as a character without a profile image or anything to give me a sense of what the player is going for will make me lose interest.
When it comes to how extensive the backstory/universe of the character is, I am torn. On one hand I love the creativity of a set world and can get curious to know what people think and what they have visualized in their head, but if the world is too "set in stone" or extensive it might become a bit frightening as it will make me feel like I need to really read up on this world to not ruin anything or break the world in the RP. It also becomes difficult to fit one of my already set characters into a strict world like that, so I often create new characters for such occasions.
I suppose even here I like a bit of both. Some backstory and an idea of a world/setting, but with the possibility to adjust it and build a world together that fits both characters, their lore and their aesthetic.
-How much/little text is too much/too little?
Will a profile that does not offer in-depth descriptions of background/personality deter you or do you prefer to keep it to the point with only simple words to sum up the character?
I am used to slugging through textbooks and manuals so seeing a great deal of material to go through on a character makes me feel as if I am studying a subject and can at times tell me if I'll be able to write with someone or even if the characters will match up to start with instead of starting talks on an RP and then after a great deal of time those talks break down because it turns out the characters are far too different to have middle ground or our writing styles just contradict. Right now I am experimenting with character profile design, so I cannot really say if there is a too much for me, I know there is too little - the single page, one photo and that is the profile's picture, with the only information being that usual start blip about class and race and so forth, those are the ones that get me. It is understandable if a character is newly made and so has not had a chance to play and develop a personality, but if someone has shown they've been playing long enough to build this character and or have a ton of characters, it just seems like a waste for them to not be more detailed than the basic start text box.
-Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic? I personally adore gifs, pics and music, but I can also see how some might feel that it's cluttery or "fluff".
I'll use the profile of a friend's character for this question:
https://www.rprepository.com/character-site/1463989
I really like how she has the pictures that do the cool glowing thing when you mouse over them, not idea how on Earth she does that, but it is really cool and fits the "neon city" aesthetic she has going on. I don't require building "a vibe" on a character profile though, but I will say if I was presented two characters and they had the same amount of substance with the only difference being one had the stylization of the example, I would choose the stylized one, hands down. My character and theirs could be like the world's worst pair, I'd make it work, dedication to the character is shown through details like that. Doesn't void substance though, fancy displays come second to making a good character and displaying them correctly.
-This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
This could possibly be in glaring contrast to what I said above, but I do not mind when a character includes a setting, it usually does not end up as too much of a pain? I'm biased, mine do, so mentally underline this portion with that in mind. So long as they are willing to be malleable with their setting, if they're a bit squishy and I am a bit squishy usually we can crash the two settings together somehow and there have been some stories where that was just cool as can be. A character with a setting built in is awesome so long as they are soft around the edges to fit together.
-Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
I am a Grammar German, that said while I'll correct someone or bleed out biting my tongue, I try to not hold small errors against people, especially if it comes down to regional spelling - civilization versus civilisation - and while I feel the Oxford Comma is still relevant and important, because commas are the difference between eating grandma and eating with grandma, not everyone does. And not everyone writes my language either, that said I do not like deciphering what is being sent to me so it is unlikely I'd play with that individual, but I won't say I never would as there are some character concepts that were unique and just plain unseen before that I wrote with the person to learn from their thought processes.
-Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
For me, eh, it depends, I can roll with a good description, I began reading fiction real heavily right around Percy Jackson I guess? So my experience with characters is that they have some kind of art to show what they look like, that said it feels like it takes away from it in a way? It allows lazy writing, and it at times makes me feel robbed of the experience. I cannot tell you what King Arthur and his knights looked like, but when my old man would read me those stories I always liked to think King Arthur looked a bit like him, Lancelot was always reserved for however I just did not like at the moment though. I have a hard time with art on my pages as I have the artistic ability of a rock, and not a pretty one either, and using other people's artwork feels just mean to them (Arthur I made exception for, it's art fans made of Ciel Phantomhive so it falls into a moral grey area for me) same time there is a rising trend of people asking for characters to use actual real human being photos. Which lands me in similar issues as, like, not all my characters are adults so while googling "tall guy with x hair x eyes" seems totally normal, Lazarus' is Donnie Wahlberg playing Danny Reagan, took like ten minutes photo editing included. Diana is Temperance Brennan and the actress I cannot remember. Same time though still super weird cause like these are real people, if I randomly came across mine or a friend's face in similar manner online I might be weirded out. Anime characters don't exist, so they feel less "scummy" if that is the right word? Aelianna took legit three hours before I realized I could just google "Shirley Temple" and use the first picture, close enough.
^ This whole long paragraph to explain that I won't hold the picture thing against people, for the unartistic or the ones who regularly deal with folks who require "face claims" it sticks you in weird spots. I'll never hold someone to a standard I do not hold myself to. Adding art to your fictional character's page or taking the family out to a nice dinner can be rough to compare, and using total stranger's faces can be awkward. So long as I can get an idea what they look like I am good to go.
____________________________________________________________________
I think the admin prank scared off my writing partners for the day, so I figured my bored self would wade into the fray
OMG even the emojis are upside down?
Will a profile that does not offer in-depth descriptions of background/personality deter you or do you prefer to keep it to the point with only simple words to sum up the character?
I am used to slugging through textbooks and manuals so seeing a great deal of material to go through on a character makes me feel as if I am studying a subject and can at times tell me if I'll be able to write with someone or even if the characters will match up to start with instead of starting talks on an RP and then after a great deal of time those talks break down because it turns out the characters are far too different to have middle ground or our writing styles just contradict. Right now I am experimenting with character profile design, so I cannot really say if there is a too much for me, I know there is too little - the single page, one photo and that is the profile's picture, with the only information being that usual start blip about class and race and so forth, those are the ones that get me. It is understandable if a character is newly made and so has not had a chance to play and develop a personality, but if someone has shown they've been playing long enough to build this character and or have a ton of characters, it just seems like a waste for them to not be more detailed than the basic start text box.
-Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic? I personally adore gifs, pics and music, but I can also see how some might feel that it's cluttery or "fluff".
I'll use the profile of a friend's character for this question:
https://www.rprepository.com/character-site/1463989
I really like how she has the pictures that do the cool glowing thing when you mouse over them, not idea how on Earth she does that, but it is really cool and fits the "neon city" aesthetic she has going on. I don't require building "a vibe" on a character profile though, but I will say if I was presented two characters and they had the same amount of substance with the only difference being one had the stylization of the example, I would choose the stylized one, hands down. My character and theirs could be like the world's worst pair, I'd make it work, dedication to the character is shown through details like that. Doesn't void substance though, fancy displays come second to making a good character and displaying them correctly.
-This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
This could possibly be in glaring contrast to what I said above, but I do not mind when a character includes a setting, it usually does not end up as too much of a pain? I'm biased, mine do, so mentally underline this portion with that in mind. So long as they are willing to be malleable with their setting, if they're a bit squishy and I am a bit squishy usually we can crash the two settings together somehow and there have been some stories where that was just cool as can be. A character with a setting built in is awesome so long as they are soft around the edges to fit together.
-Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
I am a Grammar German, that said while I'll correct someone or bleed out biting my tongue, I try to not hold small errors against people, especially if it comes down to regional spelling - civilization versus civilisation - and while I feel the Oxford Comma is still relevant and important, because commas are the difference between eating grandma and eating with grandma, not everyone does. And not everyone writes my language either, that said I do not like deciphering what is being sent to me so it is unlikely I'd play with that individual, but I won't say I never would as there are some character concepts that were unique and just plain unseen before that I wrote with the person to learn from their thought processes.
-Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
For me, eh, it depends, I can roll with a good description, I began reading fiction real heavily right around Percy Jackson I guess? So my experience with characters is that they have some kind of art to show what they look like, that said it feels like it takes away from it in a way? It allows lazy writing, and it at times makes me feel robbed of the experience. I cannot tell you what King Arthur and his knights looked like, but when my old man would read me those stories I always liked to think King Arthur looked a bit like him, Lancelot was always reserved for however I just did not like at the moment though. I have a hard time with art on my pages as I have the artistic ability of a rock, and not a pretty one either, and using other people's artwork feels just mean to them (Arthur I made exception for, it's art fans made of Ciel Phantomhive so it falls into a moral grey area for me) same time there is a rising trend of people asking for characters to use actual real human being photos. Which lands me in similar issues as, like, not all my characters are adults so while googling "tall guy with x hair x eyes" seems totally normal, Lazarus' is Donnie Wahlberg playing Danny Reagan, took like ten minutes photo editing included. Diana is Temperance Brennan and the actress I cannot remember. Same time though still super weird cause like these are real people, if I randomly came across mine or a friend's face in similar manner online I might be weirded out. Anime characters don't exist, so they feel less "scummy" if that is the right word? Aelianna took legit three hours before I realized I could just google "Shirley Temple" and use the first picture, close enough.
^ This whole long paragraph to explain that I won't hold the picture thing against people, for the unartistic or the ones who regularly deal with folks who require "face claims" it sticks you in weird spots. I'll never hold someone to a standard I do not hold myself to. Adding art to your fictional character's page or taking the family out to a nice dinner can be rough to compare, and using total stranger's faces can be awkward. So long as I can get an idea what they look like I am good to go.
____________________________________________________________________
I think the admin prank scared off my writing partners for the day, so I figured my bored self would wade into the fray
OMG even the emojis are upside down?
- How much/little text is too much/too little?
I don't mind a moderate amount of text if it's done well - by which I mean, if a character's history is a dozen or more paragraphs and just one solid text block I may not be liable to read it. However, if there's a few paragraphs of summary and the long version, then I may get my interest piqued enough to read the long one, or I may not - either way, having a quick-read option for when I am busy is nice. I don't find profiles with tons of info (as in multiple or very, very long pages) on same/similar topics preferable.. I do very much appreciate when a character's site is styled or uses collapse text to make things easier to navigate. But yes, there is a thing as too much - which I honestly come across pretty rarely here!
- Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic?
I'm okay with a few tasteful gifs, pictures, or music to fit a layout/in its own section. A bit of flair is nice, but overload is well... overload.
- This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
This really depends! I'm one to keep my characters open to generalized settings, though I also have some that do this and have their own in-universe background. I tend to keep my roleplays with regards to my own or other universes chill and flexible, the rp takes precedence over any kind of 'accuracy' for the verse - always. It's just a whole lot easier for myself and everyone else involved! That said, I also do really enjoy mixing ideas together for an rp - bits and pieces of my own and a partner's universe coming together is just fantastic!
So all of this to say, yes I'll feel more engaged - and especially be glad if the player takes a similar approach to me on this
- Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
I really couldn't care less if there are a few sporadic grammar or spelling mistakes throughout a character's profile or during a roleplay. The story and exchange of ideas is where the gold is at for me lol. That said, it will really put me off if there's a lot of chatspeak going on.
- Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
More, of course! It's just easier to have a snapshot of what the character looks like, even if it's not 100% accurate.
I don't mind a moderate amount of text if it's done well - by which I mean, if a character's history is a dozen or more paragraphs and just one solid text block I may not be liable to read it. However, if there's a few paragraphs of summary and the long version, then I may get my interest piqued enough to read the long one, or I may not - either way, having a quick-read option for when I am busy is nice. I don't find profiles with tons of info (as in multiple or very, very long pages) on same/similar topics preferable.. I do very much appreciate when a character's site is styled or uses collapse text to make things easier to navigate. But yes, there is a thing as too much - which I honestly come across pretty rarely here!
- Do you favor character profiles that are Aesthetic and include gifs, pictures (that are not of the character, but purely for aesthetics) and music, or do you prefer profiles that are more "clean" and minimalistic?
I'm okay with a few tasteful gifs, pictures, or music to fit a layout/in its own section. A bit of flair is nice, but overload is well... overload.
- This is more about the character itself, but do you feel more engaged reading a profile of a character that has a well thought out and carefully written universe that the character exists in, or do you prefer characters that are easy to fit into most worlds so that you and the other player can create a world together?
This really depends! I'm one to keep my characters open to generalized settings, though I also have some that do this and have their own in-universe background. I tend to keep my roleplays with regards to my own or other universes chill and flexible, the rp takes precedence over any kind of 'accuracy' for the verse - always. It's just a whole lot easier for myself and everyone else involved! That said, I also do really enjoy mixing ideas together for an rp - bits and pieces of my own and a partner's universe coming together is just fantastic!
So all of this to say, yes I'll feel more engaged - and especially be glad if the player takes a similar approach to me on this
- Do minor mistakes such as spelling errors or poor grammar cause you to lose interest at all or is it something small you can see past if the rest of the profile is interesting to you?
I really couldn't care less if there are a few sporadic grammar or spelling mistakes throughout a character's profile or during a roleplay. The story and exchange of ideas is where the gold is at for me lol. That said, it will really put me off if there's a lot of chatspeak going on.
- Does a character profile become more or less interesting to you if it offers pictures of the character?
More, of course! It's just easier to have a snapshot of what the character looks like, even if it's not 100% accurate.
A character description is basically a verbal description of a snapshot of your character. It's a physical description, not an in-depth description. You can't tell a person's life story by simply looking at them; the same applies to the character that you play.
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