[s]Don't stab me. D:[/s]

[quote]
What is your opinion on character sheets?
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My opinion of these have changed fairly dramatically over the years. Used to enjoy them just as much as the roleplaying process, like the starting piece of the writing puzzle. Now I consider them more as a necessary evil. There's so many nagging things I could rant about revolving around character sheet things I've seen only on this forum that have completely ruined them for me. I'm almost unsure if it has anything to do with the original concept. Password codes buried in between character sheet code that nobody follows. Overly long and elaborate sheets that are also too vague to easily parse. People using sheets in petty/malicious ways to judge someone's writing that they so obviously ignore for others. Overly long and boring sheets that the creator doesn't even follow in the roleplay. I could go on forever. But, even after all of it...a GM still most certainly needs them to effectively do their job.

[quote]
Faceclaims?
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I have less concerns for this one. Whatever suits the roleplay in question is fine. Personal tastes usually triumphs here, though it helps for everybody to have consistent looking art. If everyone else is using an anime avatar, just bite the bullet and remove the CW actor off your sheet. Vice versa. But I rarely see people complaining about inappropriate face claims, which certainly makes it a more enjoyable process all around for everyone.

[quote]
Color codes?
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I'll admit this is something (and possibly one of the very few positive) original concepts I've only seen this forum partake in. I don't think there's ever a necessity to use this. I also understand people that can't stand them, or dislike it aesthetically since it's unlike traditional writing. But forum writing has more opportunities for aesthetically changes than traditional writing doesn't have. So I think it's totally harmless and maybe it makes writing more interesting for younger writers, in the same way they'd prefer pictures in stories. As one example of how it can be effectively used.  

[quote]
What's the 'right amount' of images?
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Depends on the complexity of the sheet, or the aesthetic choices of the roleplay. A picture is a thousand words, and frankly I'd rather have an image than a pedantically detailed description that will still likely fail to appeal in the same way a picture/image can. If we're describing specifically for a character sheet, one tends to be sufficient enough. (It's often difficult to find more than one that's consistent in its art.)

[quote]
Freeform or GM provided code?
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I think the only time freeform character sheets could work is 1x1 roleplaying. It's just putting too much pressure on players just starting up to just make them assume what information you need to provide for the character. If you complain that it's too much, or not enough, than you've failed even harder than the people that make poorly defined character sheets. People here waste too much time on the character sheets and than never actually post in the roleplay. I can't imagine giving somebody here the freedom to dilly-dally on a bunch of unneeded extra information, nobody will need for the zero payoff it will provide to anyone else in the campaign. Just make the sheet clear and concise, and have players follow those guidelines...

[quote]
Things that should be be included/excluded?
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Don't add rules for character sheets you personally don't follow or let others break because you like them more. It's in very poor taste. But if we're strictly discussing character creation, the only thing that needs to be added is what's relevant/plot related information. But people that enjoy character sheets will always add more than that. I won't begrudge them for that alone. 

Something that people need to absolutely start doing more of, because so many roleplays could be spared the 'that one guy's hiatus killed everything' syndrome, is putting meta information in the character sheet. At the bottom, put something like (Character Control:) and @mention a player in the roleplay that you'd allow them to write something for your character in an event of an emergency or crippling laziness. (I mean 'having a life'.) 

I mean in other forums it tended to just be ret-conned, or dealt with by the GM themselves, but it was never this persistent, frequent or late in RP's cycle. But the beginning/starting process for many RP's here are so stretched out that it would just be a useful cautionary measure, that probably would have done several roleplays some good.

[quote]
What is your character creation process? Is character creation just all together overrated?
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I sort of loathe the creation process nowadays, because it feels like it's making a character static when like in most writing they're suppose to progress and change. So if my character goes through an arc that changes them, needing to also change the CS to reflect that makes the process feel even more tedious and a waste of everyone's time. I also don't even think it shows someone's writing or roleplaying ability very well either, which it's often used for here. It could possibly be an effective first impression of the characters in the roleplay, but some people I've learned don't read people's CS's...so that's also kind of out of the bag. As for overrated? I don't think that would be the right word. I'm not sure how fond the majority is of creating character sheets. Necessary? Probably, in most cases.