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Aesthetics over Face Claims?


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A trend I'm seeing more and more of lately in new rp sites are character aesthetics instead of using Face Claims/Playbys. That is, instead of using a person's face as a basis of your character's physical appearance, you use a series of images, not necessarily of a person at all, to conjure up the character's "aesthetic" to represent them. I'm curious as to everyone's opinion of this approach, and how they feel that affects the game in comparison to sites who use traditional face claims.

 

What do you prefer these days if you're required to use images in your rps? Do you like having a set "claim" to represent your character? Or do you prefer the aesthetic feel?

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Truthfully, I have never seen this. That said, I loooove the idea of it. While I use face claims because they are generally expected and I don't particularly like describing my character at the beginning of each thread, I have never been in love with the concept. 

 

The only issue I see with aesthetics is that people might get different feelings from a set of images. Still, I like the idea!

 

What do you do with  character avatars on this kind of site?

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The problem with aesthetics is that you're going to get mixed feelings both from the writers perspective and then the characters perspective because aesthetics in general are a very personal thing per person.

 

It's the same thing with Faceclaims/Playbys. While you may find the perfect face in one single movie you may never see that aesthetic/appearance happen again and that may be the only movie you can pull images from to get the end user/character to get the right impression of your character. Yes they still provide the same level of writer/character combination but it's a lot harder to mistake an appearance of a person then a mood or aesthetic of a collage.

 

I don't mind the mini-collage things for outfits or mood boards or whatever people use them for for personal inspiration but for me it's a PB or nothing at all.

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As neat as this sounds... gbh, it sounds way too abstract to me. Especially given aforementioned subjectivity complications where the other person gets the wrong impression, I can see it leading to a lot of drama because so and so took such and such thing a different way than the originator intended and a huge cat fight breaks out because THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT.

 

... I may just be hella jaded.

 

For myself, the reason that things like this don't make sense to me, and I never use them, is because they are too abstract. They don't help me organise my thoughts or get a clearer picture of anything, because I don't visualise in picture. I may go so far as to say things like this muddle my concept even more; for whatever reason they're just... too ephemeral. My brain does not make sense of it. I don't understand moodboards and the like for the same reason. But I am a very sound-aligned person; my brain processes words and music far better than vague imagery, but I understand and respect that other people are visual processors and their brain makes sense of imagery better than mine. I'll be honest; I ended up having to do basically this with one of my characters on a site because his PB was already taken. I hate it. It doesn't feel right. It throws me off every time I post with him and if he didn't have plots already I'd just drop him. I'm trying not to be that asshat about it, but lemme tell you, the struggle is friggin real.

 

Also, a character "aesthetic" tells me nothing about what they actually look like, most likely. If a site was going to go this route, I'd need a physical description somewhere, because physical appearance makes an impact and will often colour interaction.

I also want to point out, and this is really shallow, but just like we are in real life, we're actually much more likely to plot and interact with characters that we find aesthetically pleasant or interesting. I have to wonder, then, about the long-term impact on plotting that something like this would have. I'm not saying everyone is like this, but a large number are, and it is possible that plotting would slow down or become more awkward. We could debate this in an entire thread I'm sure, but whether we like to admit to it or not, we are drawn to things we find aesthetically pleasing. Fact of life.

 

Just don't make me do it and we're fine, I guess? Meh. To each their own, but it is not my cuppa. At least with a PB I don't have to squint and guess as much.

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38 minutes ago, Morrigan said:

It's a lot harder to mistake an appearance of a person then a mood or aesthetic of a collage.

 

I don't mind the mini-collage things for outfits or mood boards or whatever people use them for for personal inspiration but for me it's a PB or nothing at all.

 

Exactly, this is true for me too. I see these moods/ aesthetics as character extras, in journals or other places. Or in post template images if you use this. But as avatar, everyone needs to see the same thing, because we are writing together and each person's imagination is functioning differently.

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I like the idea of the aesthetic collage, as a fun "extra". For a profile itself, to me they're supposed to be like an encyclopedia entry: Main single image for appearance and/or a block of text describing said standard appearance. 

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I once had a person gift me aesthetic collages for two of my characters.

Safe to say these were very different than what I would have made and didn't fit to me, but I appreciated the thought of it.

Images are very powerful and if used well can really convey a lot, but they may sometimes need clarification or explanation for a viewer to know what they represent. That said, they include a far more artistic and personal touch than faceclaims alone, so I like seeing them around.

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Oddly enough, we just put out a call for aesthetic avatars to stick in a gallery for our players! I'm staunchly opposed to requiring playbys for characters, but I absolutely loathe default avatars >.> I like the idea of aesthetic avatars for characters who you just can't find a face for or characters belonging to players who don't like PBs, but I don't think I'd be into a board that was only aesthetic avs.

 

Edit to add: I also have "mood bars" for a few of my characters in their profiles. Essentially, a mood board but three images instead of six or nine!

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On 10/5/2018 at 11:41 PM, Arceus said:

Also, a character "aesthetic" tells me nothing about what they actually look like, most likely. If a site was going to go this route, I'd need a physical description somewhere, because physical appearance makes an impact and will often colour interaction.

 

For clarification, sites I've seen that use aesthetics do require a physical description of the character in the profile/app. So you're not without knowing what the other character looks like.

 

I actually find myself being drawn more and more to aesthetics instead of traditional face claims. You're able to tailor to your character's unique traits more, instead of relying on this one picture you found of an actor in some obscure/hard to find role they played once. And as someone who likes to change up and customize their graphics, it makes it 1000% easier and actually helps my creative process when I feel like I'm in a rut or just generally not inspired.

 

I don't really think that people misinterpreting the images you choose for aesthetics is really all that major. They're supplemental to your writing, and you can use images of people in them as well. But they're meant to enhance the writing they're next to. In my experience, sites that use aesthetics focus more on the writing and less on graphics (see gifs) and finding that perfect pb, which I find really helpful. 

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I understand how aesthetics are usually specific to the person picking them, how there is reason behind it that might not be conveyed, but I also know there are tons of players out there who loathe face claims because they're just not comfortable using a real person to reflect their fictional creation. A lot of sites that require face claims omit the appearance portion of applications and I know how that could be deterring. Aesthetic images bring back that portion of the application. Still, while I'm fine with all these (face claims, animanga claims, Disney claims, or aesthetics) I think they could all work depending on the game in question.

 

For example, I have a brain baby (that won't be coming around soon, if at all this year tbh) where I want all the characters to be 15 and under. It's very Lord of the Flies/Gone series esque in concept, for an example, and I'm not comfortable with anyone using underage faces for these characters. It's going to be a pretty dark game. So I already have plans for it to be aesthetics instead of actors.

 

As far as I'm concerned, if you know the character in your head and can write them, then they should shine through the aesthetics and I should understand them rather than the aesthetics being questionable (ie oh, I think this character is like this, but in reality I'm reading it wrong), if that makes sense? You should be able to shine through with your writing in a roleplay anyway, since words are the main focus.

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I have seen them but I am not a big fan of it. I'm pretty visually oriented and in a setting where I need to know what the other character looks like, I prefer having an image to refer to. It's different when I'm reading a book--a picture forms through the reading but it's written by a single person and the descriptions remain consistent. However, working together in a collaborative setting, I prefer face claims over aesthetics. 

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Have to say - not a fan. For me, I'm not sure that I understand what they mean. I get into this whole notion of "am I getting this right?!" and then I get irritated at not know what "right" is.

 

^All of this irritation is with myself, btw! 🙂

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I'm curious as to which sections of the RP world is doing this more often! I've not come across it.

 

For myself, I don't find them helpful or useful but I prefer them over the default image for anyone who doesn't like using playbys.

 

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I think aesthetics are cool as an extra. 8D We totally share aesthetics on my games. It's fun!

 

But I still need a picture and/or written description of the character. Aesthetics just gives me a feeling--and not necessarily the same feeling you're feeling. So it's not very accurate, nor does it actually give me good information.

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For those of you that don't know what we're talking about or haven't seen aesthetics used before, here are some examples of two of my characters from a previous site that used them:

 

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But basically, you have x amount of images to use in your traditional avatar space. You can use any images you want, though the "faceless" images are preferred if you're gonna use images of people. And they're usually supplemental to a physical description in the app.

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