Ruined it.

[Tetris 7]

I had someone tell me that "someone ruined a face for them". That this was their favorite face, even though they didn't use it that often but it was still within their favorite section. Anyway, it seemed that the person who had used the face on a site had "ruined" it for them by how they played them. I have never felt this way when it comes to faces, but I was interested to know if someone else has ever felt like that.

 

I mean how can you ruin the face, I mean if you don't like the character that is one thing but you can't ruin a face which is used as more of a "this is what he looks like" kind of deal. Now I won't lie and say i didn't like a face and the character using it ticked me off. But I still loved that face, it was still someone I enjoyed using if they were free. 

 

So I am more interested in peoples thoughts about this. Can you ruin a face? To the point that if you looked at it you would just see that horrible character attached to it?

[Morrigan 1,826]

I mean absolutely! Heck movies and TV shows have ruined full on actors for me because of their characters.

For example, I hate Julie Benz because of her role in the show Dexter. My favorite movie to watch with her in it is Saw 5 and that's because she dies. For the most part I avoid watching movies or TV with her as an actor in it.

 

Its similar to how I feel about playing against characters that I already have a character in my head for. I may not like the way that person plays the character because I or a friend play them differently or I imagine them differently.

 

RP in general is an emotional outlet for a lot of people and so they can get emotionally tied to both positive and negative emotions and that goes for faces to characters to players.

 

For me its rare for me to start hating a face for the characters actions, normally its the reverse. I normally I fall in love with faces for characters because they are perfect for them and by proxy I fall in love with the character too. Antagonists are my favorites.

[Arceus 1,082]

Yeah, tbh, I've had players ruin a face for me. Some people are more visual than others, some people get more emotionally invested than others, and with the right combination of those factors plus the right actions by the right (wrong?) player, things can go south.

 

When you interact with role-players, there's a very high chance that the characters' appearances are all you have to visually tie to that player, so if they themselves are really horrible people OOC, it's very possible that just them acting badly will ruin it, not necessarily in-character interactions. Because your mind ties that visual to that experience, and it always brings it back for you.

 

There's a chance that over time, the association will fade, you know with some distance between that experience and that celebrity, and eventually they'll be able to use or interact with someone that uses that person again in the future. But that definitely does not always happen, for some people that association stays forever, especially if the association is very hurtful or upsetting for them.

 

It's a very kind of YMMV (your mileage may vary) sort of deal. I've kind of gotten over most of mine, but it's also been... like ten years since mine, my most recent one was a year ago and I'm still biased against that character, and that's unfortunate because he's a really great character from a video game and he has his own unique design. I can't even really tolerate him well in the game. I have to make him look totally different in mine, and I don't really enjoy playing him like I used to, so, yeah.

[Belle 53]

A lot of faces have been ruined for me over the years by RPers who turned out to be POS. I don't have anything against the celebrities themselves and can still happily consume their movies, shows, etc, but if I see them being used as RP characters, my soul dies a little.

 

That being said, we had a super toxic player ruin a whole lot of faces for our board so we split her discarded FCs after she left and deliberately rehabilitated them by making them into satirical tropes (within the genre, not specifically of her characters) and they soon became beloved characters in their own rights. 

 

Nothing can rehabilitate Kirsten Dunst for me though, she's gone forever.

[Morrigan 1,826]

Fun fact for you @Tetris One of my hurdles to joining your site is that someone is using a faceclaim that is (in my head) the character I want to join with's best friend and lover. Playing against them in any other context and not with my RP Partner would just be awkward for me because the association to the character is really strong in my head as we've been playing these characters in this sense for nearly 4 years and built out a very intertwined history between the pair and their families.

[Huskerdust 625]

Other than the face itself being a problem for me (like the actor/model/whatever being a person that rubs me wrong), faces have been ruined by their portrayals. I have a grudge against Matthew Daddario because I’ve never once seen anybody use him for an interesting character. And I have seen him. Many many times. Yawn. The boys of BTS have been ruined by creepy players that make them yaoi “bottom” archetypes without fail. I disliked those twins everyone loves from Zack and Cody forever too. Until I told my friend and she made a character out of the one who plays on Riverdale or whatever that Archie wannabe show is called. She made him into a fully fleshed out character so I like him fine now. 
 

Therrrrre are also a handful of faces that, when taken on a site... I admit, I won’t even think about joining even if everything else is perfect. I just have very strong associations with some faces for MY characters and as much as that embarrasses me to admit because I don’t wanna be that shallow... I guess I’ve become somewhat possessive of them. 

[Royal_Poet 13]

woah...

 

I so can't wrap my head around this! But I am not a face claim person. I do put up with them as they're an occupational hazard of RP. But I hardly notice who others use and I don't making plotting or any other decisions based on this. 

 

I will say though that I find some faceclaims distasteful. Like I have seen somewhere where a driver used Hitler as a faceclaim for a character not Hitler. But it's not the driver ruining Hitler for me... more Hitler ruining that driver's character for me. 

[Detrimentum 2]

I've never had faces ruined by someone's portrayal of them but I've definitely had faces ruined by the person writing with that face. Like some of my friends used the same faces and after a falling out, I just always associate those faces as 'theirs' as terrible as it sounds. 

[NyxDarklore 92]

People get too attached to face claims. It's the blunt truth of the matter; there's a certain amount of emotional investment that people put into them. Personally, though, I think the concept of ruining a face suggests just a little too much emotional investment in what is essentially a casting decision. Face claims are basically actors portraying that character, they are not their character any more than an actor in a movie or tv show is.

 

It's okay to like a face and to use them often.
It's okay to not like a character who uses that face.

 

But there is something rather weird about this concept of ruining a face to me.

 

Unless the face claim has undergone some serious controversy that has been proven, I generally just take a face claim as a visual and leave it at that; if someone wants to portray a character using a face claim I do in a very different light, then whatever, that's their choice. Of course, I also have backups for most of my characters in the event their face is taken on a site and face claims aren't 100% accurate for me all the time, so maybe I'm just less emotionally invested.

[Hades101 10]

I'm definitely in agreement that people can definitely become way too attached to a face, or an experience with someone using a face etc. However, I'm also a firm believer that I can see a face and automatically dislike a character/avoid that character due to a face they're using. It's not on a shallow aspect of attraction, but due to an experience with the face, knowing the history of the actual actor/celebrity/model used, or just having a shit time in a RP with the face itself. It's difficult to dissociate the face from the memory/experience/knowledge around the face itself at times. 

 

As a person who has a very terrible times with connecting faces to names, ADHD brain powers GOOOO, I have a horrible time remembering names with faces, but god damn will I remember a face because of an experience/memory/something I learned about who the face belongs to in general. 

 

For example, I cannot find myself interested in any character using Robert Downy Jr, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Ellis, or David Gandy. 

 

Robert Downy Jr. is forever tied to the ludicrous, rude, and chauvinistic character Tony Stark. Someone who hides behind irredeemable arrogance and confidence to guard themselves and their feelings. (Don't get me wrong, HUGE fan of the Iron Man series AND Tony Stark). This face is too often used for characters with shitty personalities and rude behavior justified by some exorbitant amount of money and never seem to get on the wrong side of the law/consequences. It's tremendously annoying. 

 

Tom Hiddleston because of the obsession over Loki. Tom Hiddleston is just a face I cannot stop seeing used on characters trying to be the shy/sly mildly arrogant genius with an inferiority complex. It just gets old and repetitive.  

 

Tom Ellis. Good lord have mercy. Too much attempt at being the sexy mcmanmeat with a pretty face. I have had way too many encounters with people using this face and writing the same character, over and over again. Abusive, horribly arrogant "dom" characters who are a very lame excuse to get erotic stories with a vehement denial that the character is used exactly that while hosting numerous erotic based stories, orgy threads, and so on. The face has just been used as a sex symbol to get people to "come hither, darling" and I'm over it. lol I don't even find him that attractive in the first place. 

 

David Gandy is indeed a face far too used, but this face is ruined for me on entirely different reasons to being over used. It's actually due to a person I knew some 10 or 15 years ago who was unhealthily obsessed with the model all together. They claimed to have exclusive photoshoot images, portfolios, and nude images of him that were altered because the model's real body would be "too shocking" to give to the public, because it's just that impressive. Her obsession with him was just beyond unsettling, and I could not go a day or two without her coming to me and fawning about him all over again, telling me of some secret she found, or sending me the umpteenth image from her private collection. For me, it's very difficult not to see that face and be reminded of that time in my life. I can't stand seeing it around, and I truly wish people would give his face a rest already. There are far better faces out there. 

 

 

Now, there are times when I come across people using each and ever one of these faces and it's totally fine. I don't find myself struggling to read up on the character, or even reach out for interaction. I admit it's been awhile since I've interacted with people using real faces, but I'm getting used to it all over again. I come from RPing sites where drawn faces of original characters are far more common than that of real life faces. I'm still not used to it, I don't prefer it, and in fact still find myself squicked by it at times, but I digress. Not the point of the topic. 

 

It's definitely normal for people to have a face ruined for them. 

On 3/9/2021 at 11:37 AM, SithLordOfSnark said:

but Amber Heard is ruined for me,

This is ENTIRELY true for me. 

 

AmberHeard is completely ruined for me, as is any other face caught in clear issues where obvious allegations are undoubted. Any face claim someone uses and the actor/celebrity/model is in huge scandals for SA, violent abuse, etc. I cannot stand that face, and I'd be glad to see more sites banning faces for these reasons. It's unsettling how many sites out there just don't ban faces of serious abusers, nor even bother temp banning until allegations can be proven guilty(to result in perma-ban) or innocent(unbanned) in court. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by Hades101

[NyxDarklore 92]

4 hours ago, Hades101 said:

Robert Downy Jr. is forever tied to the ludicrous, rude, and chauvinistic character Tony Stark. Someone who hides behind irredeemable arrogance and confidence to guard themselves and their feelings. (Don't get me wrong, HUGE fan of the Iron Man series AND Tony Stark). This face is too often used for characters with shitty personalities and rude behavior justified by some exorbitant amount of money and never seem to get on the wrong side of the law/consequences. It's tremendously annoying. 

 

Tom Hiddleston because of the obsession over Loki. Tom Hiddleston is just a face I cannot stop seeing used on characters trying to be the shy/sly mildly arrogant genius with an inferiority complex. It just gets old and repetitive.  

 

Tom Ellis. Good lord have mercy. Too much attempt at being the sexy mcmanmeat with a pretty face. I have had way too many encounters with people using this face and writing the same character, over and over again. Abusive, horribly arrogant "dom" characters who are a very lame excuse to get erotic stories with a vehement denial that the character is used exactly that while hosting numerous erotic based stories, orgy threads, and so on. The face has just been used as a sex symbol to get people to "come hither, darling" and I'm over it. lol I don't even find him that attractive in the first place. 

 

These parts of your reply, I think, highlight the fundamental problem with face claims (and to some degree actors): typecasting. Hollywood does this a lot too, mostly with actors who've been in the business since childhood. It's something that makes it hard for actors to get different roles if they play too many of that same role unless they do something drastic to break out of it or try their damnedest to do it. If you think about their long and storied careers, those actors have more roles than that because they have been in the business for a long time but these are the features of their most popularised roles.

 

For me, this is more a failing on the part of matching a face to an established character based on a description vs. matching a face to a character based on personality. I tend to do the latter (write the character, describe them, find someone to match that description) before having a face in mind, though I realise not everyone does it that way. Also, that's largely because I tend to write stories outside of RPing and have a good picture of what a character is like before I choose a face. Sometimes I do choose faces based on roles they've had (if my  choice comes down to 2 faces and 1 has a role that makes them look more like what I want, I'll choose them so that I can have something more aesthetic) but very rarely.

[Keaton 133]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:02 AM, Hades101 said:

It's difficult to dissociate the face from the memory/experience/knowledge around the face itself at times. 

 

I do think it's important to emphasize this aspect of this situation. I was in a game many moons ago, and there was a player who was an absolute nightmare and played a fandom character for probably about a year or so who would have otherwise been quite beloved. After the player had left, there was a not inconsiderable number of players who would occasionally confess that they still cringed at the thought of the character or his PB more than five years later. It was a bad, really uncomfortable time for them.

And of course, in situations like this, you also feel bad for the folks who come in and use the dreaded face without knowing the history.

Like everything else, I think trying to keep perspective is important. I've had several experiences where I was dubious about a face and then ended up warming up to them within the RP context because I enjoyed writing with their player so much. However, some folks have such a bad association with a face that they can't get around it, and I'm definitely not the person to judge that. But hey, if that's you, there are a number of browser extensions that let you block specific images from showing ever again — Then you can just focus on the writing. 🙂

[DivineRabbit 64]

Oh hell yes.  Over years I have had FC ruined by douche bag typists so much so that I cannot even look at that face again. 

 

This can happen as was mentioned in another post of course through movies and television shows too- but in the bounds of role play- if someone so messed up a character or was just a total shyte- that face is ruined for me

[In Red 16]

I had to think about this for a bit because I have definitely had a face ruined for me but at the same time I would be... cautiously open to anyone else using them and changing my mental impression.  I do automatically judge certain FCs when they suffer from typecast syndrome, in the same way that can happen in movies and tv. You know when you can look at the cast and essentially guess what the plot is, what the characters are, and what the dialogue might be just based on who is in it before you've even consumed that media? Yeah. Exactly.

 

Oftentimes when I encounter this in the RP, the RPer uses the face as a shorthand to fill in personality or background based on stereotypes and the roles that actor usually plays and that feels incredibly lazy to me and often is a red flag. It suggests to me that this person is also going to post a ship request for a FC that has lots of gifs or whatever with their FC and, if you happened to fill that request, they actually aren't going to care about any effort you put into YOUR character, because they likewise only care about the face. 

 

I also wholly dislike when people try and sell me on shipping with them by spamming me with their FC being smexy. Like yes, I can also google that actor/actress, thank you, now tell me about who they are as a PERSON darn it.

 

That's not to say I don't get attached too, I do, to the point where I've not (as of yet) personally been able to reuse a FC that I've already used, but I also believe that unless you've played a character with a particular FC for a substantial amount of time recasting the FC should never be a problem. There are SO MANY amazing underused FCs out there (tho sometimes the + or - age limits or whatever can be detrimental to that), you can't tell me that there's not another brown haired, green eyed, five o'clock shadowed, smirky bad boy type out there that you could use to replace your already-claimed fave. And even when you're not specific about visual characteristics like eye colour or whatever, and only have a particular character trope you are itching to play (which is valid!) sometimes its a good idea to step back and think why you gravitate towards a certain look, particularly if that look is one that isn't particularly diverse, or is one that is stereotyped. 

 

I also find it really difficult to use or interact with FCs that have been associated with triggering things IRL, but I understand how difficult it is to let go of that when its one of your FCs that is impacted too. My policy on this is if Hollywood won't cast them anymore, neither should I.