Simple question, but one I've been mulling for a bit now. How important is the attractiveness of your characters to you? When looking for pictures of them do you look for ones that are attractive looking? Do you go digging for male or female models? Or do you just find one that fits the setting rather than how they look?

What about when writing out a description of their appearance, do you describe them with attractive features or even write out that'd they'd be considered 'good looking'?

Some. I never was a fan of the type of bland escapism where everything and everyone is absolutely perfect. I like to try and keep it real, at least in the sense I want people to seem like actual people. So some folk are attractive, some are not.

My characters just look like Ron Paul.

Okay, well one of them.

Generally everyone is plain in that folksy sort of way, because there are a lot of everymen hanging around. That's really it. They're everymen, not supermodels.

For me I'd say a bit.

I mostly play female characters because I can play around with their emotions better than any the male characters I produce, but I don't pick character pics based on "which chick I wanna sleep with". For the most part it's whatever image would suit the roleplay theme and if that image helps to tell their story. I've had a few times where I've had two images and one is clearly hotter than the other, and yet that over attraction can sometimes spoil the characterisation you are trying to achieve. That is because attractive isn't just in facial beauty or clothes. Sometimes a pose, gesture, or even expression can change a character from somewhat alright to very interesting.

I don't pick characters on if they are attractive or not, it is if they feel right. You can look through my CS's and see many attractive people but I did not do it on a conscious level. Also, not all my characters are human or have a human image but have a description instead. If the image or text does not feel right then I won't use it. I play more female characters than male because something about them gets my brain working. It is like 85% Female and 15% male, a few of my male characters don't even have a physical appearance and hide behind armour or costume.

For example, my futuristic like male samurai has an appearance of a samurai from the film Sucker Punch. I use the armour as his appearance while going into some detail via text. My crazy man in a bear costume, however, has no physical description or appearance. If he happens to take it off I am very vague about them. So in a sense, the level of attractiveness is not mentioned or even really hinted. The level of attractiveness does not enter my head and so I don't write about them. In fact, the level of attractiveness for my Gladiator is also very vague. He has a fit body yet his face is hidden, from that the level of attractiveness can be whatever I or my partner wants it to be.

The female characters on the other hand just happen to be attractive, by no fault of my own hey get picked because they are what I imagine my character to be. That or the image sparks a character idea and so I go with it. But just like a few of my male characters I have the odd female characters who have no physical form and so I am vague with them. My knight who went through several stages is my example of this. I feel the personality, stance of the character and things of that nature are more important.

The thing is attractive and nonattractive people exist, people use attractive people for whatever reason they have. Like I said before I don't think that way, it is more of this image is right or this image has sparked a character idea so I use it. I feel female characters are user to create then male as I don't get that spark with them as much as the other gender.

Don't particularly care on my end. :P

I just pick it if it looks like it fits.

Only if I roleplay as myself. Obviously.

We personally tend to go with fairly normal, unless of course the situation calls for something abnormal.

We also prefer drawings over photographs, and we're fond of modifying images to suit the need. Its not that hard to change hair color or add a scar, for example. Function over form is our general rule.

Since I usually use text appearances, I tend to leave their attractiveness up to interpretation because the definition of "hot" changes from one person to another. It isn't really important to me, but it annoys me whenever an RP is just full of perfect people.

When I have to use actual pictures... Yeah, I'm pretty guilty of using attractive faceclaims only because it's hard to find pics that aren't.

There just ain't no business for any.

I'd say that my characters do end up having physical traits I like to see (often at the expense of things making sense, as at least 70% of my female characters that are in the military desperately need a haircut). I don't really think of them as attractive though, they're just character designs that I tend to personally like. I put far more effort into thinking about the smaller parts of their appearance since I just find that more interesting, which generally leaves their bodies to be ignored beyond "This guy is tall" or "This guy is short". Even then, I generally don't do that much with appearance. I just come up with what visually sets them apart and jump right over to their personality.

With the importance of attractiveness, I give zero thought to it unless it's something I've decided is an integral part of their character (If I'm writing a story in myth-style about the most beautiful woman in the world and how she makes it impossible for any of her suitors to marry her, she's going to be hot. If it's about a guy who was mangled in a mining accident, he isn't going to look like Chris Pratt). When it isn't important to their character? "He has arms and legs and is three dimensional."

I suppose all of my characters are attractive to me, on some level, and while I've never gone out of my way to make an "ugly" character I also try not to pick images or faceclaims that are *too* attractive. I usually avoid photos of models for this reason, instead I'll search images depicting a specific hairstyle or facial expression. To me, it's more important to make my characters unique, and that has so much more to do with their personality than their appearance, but I also like their appearance to reflect their personality so that when people see the picture and read about their characteristics they can say "Ah yes, this character very much looks the way their creator describes them as."

Sometimes I add a little blurb under appearance detailing things you can't see in the picture, but if I find a good pic I tend to stick with it and not add anything else to the appearance section. Often I'll be browsing for a specific character and come across a completely different unique image and save it for later, because it doesn't work for the character I'm creating but I could definitely use it as inspiration for a different character in the future.

I don't know if this really answers the question of attraction or not, I want them to seem real and fit the setting. Characters with rough backstories have rougher appearances than characters who grew up in a loving home, etc. As long as it fits with what I think their personality is like (e.g. I would not choose a smiling photo for a serious character, or a straight-faced photo for a more lighthearted character). Mostly my goal is to impress a sense of their personality on whoever I'm RPing with, making them as believable as possible. Whether or not other people find them attractive is up to them.

It all depends on the character I'm playing. I take in account age, gender, lifestyle, profession. Some are good looking, some are average. Plus, if I go too in-depth with the few female characters I play, I feel like I gotta take care of business, then I do that for a few hours then nothing gets done.

Generally speaking I play dwarves whenever possible (so no). Whenever I'm stuck with a human they're usually good looking but then again so am I. My current character here wouldn't be a good example lol. But that's just because I had to make him old to have been a former Union soldier

When I search images for my characters, I tend to take into account their personality and name. If it connects with them, then let there be a character appearance!

With me, I don't think I purposefully do it as much as I tend to fall into it. I always make a character that fits the setting, which includes their appearance. I tend to play in a colorful fantasy setting more often than not where it seems NOBODY has imperfections, but I'd very much play someone a bit uglier if the setting called for it. Stuff like my current RP, Duel Academy, is based off of a few related shows that only have a handful of 'imperfect' characters among them. Even then, they're not so imperfect since they fit their designs well. The other RP I'm in, EoD, is a sort of 'Crushing idealism' thing. We all play an ideal of SOMETHING, whether we realize it or not, only to eventually have that character be broken by the setting.

So in the two above examples, I play idealistic and 'attractive' looking people. There were two RP I joined here that fit a less idealistic character, and I took that chance. I don't remember the first one's name and it never really took off either, but I made a 40 year old veteran that had his age showing in there. The second was something to do with a bunch of 'adventurers' out for fame and glory, but in a murky world. I think it was called 'Rask's horn band' or something along those lines. The nicest one among them was a snob and while looking pretty, was also realistic. My character was another adult that had quite an unattractive personality and imperfect features. Stuff like that is where I play my less 'attractive' characters.

So you could say I fit the setting, but I tend to gravitate more towards attractiveness and idealism because that's just the kind of settings I end up playing in more often than not.

I wouldn't say I do it on purpose, as far I know I have never gone out of my way to specifically make an attractive character. But, my process is slightly weird. Despite being male, the majority of my characters at this point are female and I always start my sheets with two things; a name and a picture. I take a picture and write my character based on that. The personality, background, and everything else all come down to what inspiration the picture has given me. While I never focus on making an attractive character, it happens sometimes and I realize that I like the description I had written for the character to explain what the pictures don't.

To clarify though, I stay away from anime pictures and real people unless the setting requires a real person. Both ruin my feel for a character when I'm writing them as anime pictures are far too childish looking most of the time and a real person leaves little to the mind to describe. But, I also can end up creating bland characters. Like one in a dark fantasy RP I was in which was described as bland with brown hair, brown eyes, and a homely complexion. She isn't what one would classify as overly attractive and it made sense since she was a member of a band of warriors where death was likely to happen.

Not usually though I have made a few who had good looks in the corner of traits. Most of my characters tend to be the average joe style character. It's never a really important trait but it is there and it defines them to some extend in the eyes of first meeting other people.

Because I am fortunate as I am to have good friends and better yet, their company and talent to call upon, all of my characters who I portray with an actual image have it tailored uniquely to them. But within this and the context of the question at hand, I can safely say the answer is "No, not by conventional standards or attractiveness." A few reasons for this stems from the truth that I play more monstrous sorts, be them outright monsters such as half-beasts or shapechangers, the latter whose identities lie in their non-human form or forms.

In a way, because my characters are so colored red by their animal nature and influence, many are scarred or even in some cases, suffering lingering injury that helps identify them or humanize them despite the truth they might be only vaguely human. They are certainly not "ugly", but most would consider them little more than savage races or just predators of prey outright.

If and when I do need to portray humans, I tend to keep bit tone down these elements, as I do not play the charismatic or forward types; at best they might be near or above average, but it is never mandatory to their identity. I tend avoid imagery of people for that reason - most are, as some others have said, "too perfect".

I take no shame in saying that all of my characters are hot asf. There is nothing wrong with having a model acting as the face claim for your character(s). They can be seasoned war vets, mages with unbelievably high magical prowess, an angsty teenager, a demigod, or whatever have you. Every character I make is pretty, and I take great pride in that. Since it is not real life, I prefer to go for the appearances of pretty people. If that means that I am in the wrong here, then so be it.

Now, with all of that being said, I do think that a picture, while crucial to the overall aesthetic of the character, I do not think it is the most important thing. As people have said, it is the personality, and feeling that one gets from another's character(s). A picture is there for aesthetic and reference only; even if it does help that the image is 100% on the hot scale.

Generally speaking I play dwarves whenever possible (so no). Whenever I'm stuck with a human they're usually good looking but then again so am I. My current character here wouldn't be a good example lol. But that's just because I had to make him old to have been a former Union soldier

I have found my twin.

If I'm playing a human, I don't tend to make them ugly, because I'm fairly self confident. But I don't try for any particularly good looking character either.
However, I love playing Dwarves, as well as Lizardmen. If I am a non human, I usually go with 'cool' or 'badass' looking rather than attractive. They're generally not good looking though, conventionally.