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What do you look for in: An Application


Rune
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Assuming you don't mind apps/bios. (If you don't like them, then this isn't the thread for you!)

 

This is specifically regarding the form itself. The blank character sheet. The empty bio. What you have to work with.

 

What do you like to see in a bio form? What do you hate seeing? What do you consider a necessity? What makes a good app form for you? 

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Like:

Picture, Name, Age, Player, form of contact. Backstory is okay as long as there isn't a word count for it.

 

Dislike:

Personality field, Detailed description if I'm already providing a picture (I'm cool with that's optional), word counts for any part of the application.

 

Note: If I'm really in love with a site, though, I can disregard my dislikes.

Shady McShaderson

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I am actually one of those that enjoys the whole character creation process, especially writing out the bio.

 

What do you like to see in a bio form?

The basics (vital stats like height, build, hair color, eye color, age, etc.). I'm ambivalent about an actual physical description if playbys are used. We do use it at our games to expand on any information in the stats like oddities in eye color, marks and scars, mode of dress, etc.

 

Personality and/or character traits. This is where I go first when looking for a character to write with.

 

A decent history section and an OOC section that's up to the Player to add whatever else they want to keep track of like pets, education, etc.

 

What do you hate seeing?

Elaborate templates! SInce returning to forum RP, I've come to loathe templates of any kind.

 

Favorite songs, quotes, lyrics, and all that sort of thing. Those are things that Players can add in an OOC field if interested.

 

A required writing sample if the bio is already long and detailed.

 

Shippers, plotters, etc. that you have to fill out in the bio.

 

What do you consider a necessity?

Personality and history. How else am I going to figure out if my character would ever have anything to do with another character? The bio is where I look to see if my character and another may have had an opp to cross paths, if they would be adversaries, etc.

 

Having been badly burned in the past - if the RPG involves powers of any kind, a detailed section on that is a necessity.

 

What makes a good app form for you?

The above information laid out simply, cleanly, and logically. 

  • Agree 2

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

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RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

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I need a classical bio. It provides structure. It makes sure that everyone finds the same information they need, where they need it. The freestyle with creative interviews, letters, and all kind of other details is good as optional, in a development board, as character extras meant to know better your character and to reflect aspects less highlighted in the classical bio.

 

It should have the name, alias, age, gender, appearance and clothing (yes, clothing too, since we are a historical site and don't give me the fanciest farthingale for a common peasant, neither short hair for a woman of that time - unless she had a law enforcer cut her hair as a punishment for lewd behaviour.)

 

I think a description of the appearance is necessary, because the characters aren't exact copies of the face claims. They just look somehow alike. There are differences too. What I insist on are:

- eyes colour (sometimes my characters' eyes colour differs from the actor's; sometimes I can't see the actor's eye colour; sometimes the actor is wearing coloured contact lenses in some movies and it confuses me), 

- hair colour (where you describe it as strawberry blonde/ mahagony/ another shade, I can see it as reddish, or what I call brown hair you can call chocolate hair, hazelnut hair, etc.; there are actresses who have another colour of hair at each movie too) and 

- height (not necessarily exact height,as here are problems between Imperial and European, which get to misassessments, but if the character is tall, average or short. 

Everything else in the appearance section are just details which could be there or not.

 

I want to see in the bio also profession, place of residence, personality, history, weapons skills and I have also a miscellaneous rubric where people can write everything which doesn't belong in any of the above. Some give details there on what foreign languages the character speaks, unusual hobbies and interests, theme songs.

 

I don't want to see required a post sample. I can see from the bio if the person understands the period and the character type. I also hate dohtml coding and too many photos required. Especially gifs...

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When reading a Profile, I need the following information to consider to be "acceptable" as an application. 

 

Name of character

What they look like: (picture, text, both, I don't really care)
Age of character
Basic Personality:  I want a basic idea how your character is like/acts. It can be three sentences, three paragraphs, a list of traits, or even split into subcategories, doesn't matter. 
History: Dwarves don't just spring up out of holes in the ground, and neither do RP characters. Just give me the rough basics or super important milestones to work with. "history" doesn't have to mean going through every little detail of birth to present; killing off entire families in car accidents just so that we don't have to write about childhood and growing up, or fabricate filler before getting to the important stuff a paragraph and a half later. 
In Case of Super/Non-Human powers/abilities: Detailed description of each ability, limitations, exact function/requirements etc. 

 

Everything outside of the above is just a Bonus. Obviously I love it when I have more than the minimum to work with, but this is the base necessity for me. 

Edited by CovertSphinx
  • Agree 2

 

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This is more of what I would expect a good form to have, rather than what I prefer to see:

 

Name, Basic info about the character, usually in a list format - (Age, Year of Birth, Race/Species/Nationality [These can be interchangeable depending on the setting], Family [Parents, Siblings, Children, other relatives], Occupation, Sexuality, Marital Status.) Appearance - such as what the character looks like and what they like to wear, Personality, Background/History and an optional section where you can place information which doesn't fit else where, but is important for your character.

 

What I don't like to see:

 

Redundant fields that make no sense for the rpg that it is set in, usually as a result of where people have copied and pasted a character sheet from a resource site and havn't bothered adapting it to the setting, e.g. having a Zodiac sign field in a form for a Star Wars site. I also don't like to see forms that are too geared towards pointing attention to the fact that a character is part of a minority, etc. I think this should be done in the personality, background/history section, or in the optional section. It seems more natural that way and doesn't look like the writer is trying to draw attention. Likes and dislikes lists - most of the time they just appear to be forced and you can't always come up with an idea for it until you've played the character, and having to resort to list generators to come up with something won't always work either, as I've tried - they can be contradictory or random and just don't fit. The same goes for lists of 'quirks' and behaviours.

 

In regards to the format of the app, I hate complicated coding. I don't see what's wrong with just a simple bbcode one which just has the fields you need to fill out.

 

I don't like seeing faceclaims - I much rather this be flexible so people can choose between art and actors/actresses to represent their character. Some folks might be artists and have done artwork for their character(s) themselves, so I don't see why they shouldn't be able to use it.

 

Things like song lyrics and quotes are unnecessary. Although I might come across something which I think compliments my character, I don't see why this should be a necessity. It doesn't add anything essential to your character and who has the time to go through songs, poems, etc to come up with something here?

 

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I like simple:

- Name

- Age / birthdate

- Occupation

- Gender / sex

- "About" (free-form appearance/personality/history)

 

I consider all of these necessity.  Some other information could be added depending upon the genre (such as species, alignment, etc.), which may also fall into necessity, too.

 

I do not like separate appearance, personality, and history though they are not a make-or-break situation on most sites.  Things that may be make-or-break are long lists of random items such as likes, dislikes, etc.  And I'm definitely not finding a half dozen pictures of my character.  That takes far too long, and I don't have enough time or patience to sit there and search for pictures, or even to crop the same picture multiple times.  Making an avatar is enough of a pain in the ass for me.

 

As far as format, I like very simple.  I can work with either bb code or doHTML.  But I don't like tons of tabs/scrolls/hovers and the like.  In fact, I cannot stand hovers, or when the app itself is so small that you can barely read the information.

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I prefer no apps but with apps, I like simple and where you can write whatever length you want depending on the character. I never liked meeting an arbitrary word limit because maybe I feel like making an uncomplicated, insignificant background character. I only like saying what I think needs to be said and for certain characters (i.e. background characters) if they're not as important to the story, they don't require the same level of fleshing out as other characters. If I am making a more major character like a king who interacts with his court, other rules, and has a huge influence on the setting, it'd be logical to think there'd be much more to say.

 

Generally, all I need is: name, age/birth date, appearance, personality, and history. Anything to get the point of the character and their "story role(s)" across. Depending on the setting or plot, you may need extra sections for inventory, dated timeline (instead of a history), or  abilities/powers. But even for me, it's not really that necessary.

 

I think stuff like "eye colour" or "height" can go under appearance, it never made sense to me to separate it out like eye colour is incredibly significant (unless that's something highly relevant to the plot or setting) and stuff like "likes and dislikes" can go under personality. Things should be clear and condensed as opposed to superfluously stretched thin for no reason.

 

And preferably without lyrics, colours, templates, etc. And writing samples = no thanks. 

 

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Guest Archaic Cyborg

Basics ala name, age, general appearance, job/status; then the actual meat of the form must include personality (written in complete sentences, no damn lists or fragments/lyrics/code words), strengths & weaknessess, history, rp example, player details ala ooc age, alias, time zone.

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