[quote=@Raxacoricofallapatorius]
What do you guys think? Do you feel like you encounter a great variety of characters in RP or are they all pretty similar? What style of character do you like to play as? Are your characters very diverse in their traits and personalities or do you prefer to follow a similar structure for them? Discuss.
[/quote]

It may sound counter-intuitive, but I actually find that RPs with stricter GMs tend to have players with more diverse character types. Roleplays with more rules or which encourage cooperation over individual agency tend to encourage more creativity in terms of character design, whereas more lenient GMs tend to have more characters gravitating to the usual types. If you were to ask me why this happens I wouldn't be able to tell you, I mean limits breed creativity and all that, but somehow that just doesn't feel enough to really justify the kind of pattern I observed.

If I were to throw a wild guess, I would probably say that being forced to make a choice that isn't necessarily better helps define character identity more. I find that a lot of times, characters tend to be trying to exploit the system, and thus end up much more similar in types. Like the way that if you ask someone their three wishes and you give them no rules, then like 90% of people will start by asking for some variation of "more wishes". Likewise, a GM that is lenient regarding personality is more likely to have characters whose personalities are designed as Mary Sues or war-machine-assassin-teen etc... Or one with more leniency in powers will start seeing the standard catch-all pretty-much-insta-death powers and the like. There's no point in reinventing the wheel unless the terrain isn't favorable to just going with the standard wheel.

- - -

There are definitely a few patterns I see in terms of my characters..

Overall Type: My absolute favorite character type is the child character. I'm not talking about teens here, younger than that. My reasons are fourfold. First, I like the unique perspectives of such characters, the naive and incomplete view they have of the world, and the sometimes simplistic or struggling attempts at explaining things they just can't comprehend. Another is the unique inherent challenges of such characters, which I'm sure hardly need any elaboration on. Natural physical weakness, lack of experience and knowledge etc... Thirdly, these characters can bring out sides of others characters that you don't normally see. Lastly, it's a character that often has a unique role in the group by nature that isn't usually occupied. For one who is concerned about having such a unique distinction within a group, that is excellent for me. 
There are other types of characters I like as well, but they tend to come more in waves or seasons in which I focus more on other particular types, whereas the child character one is more consistent.

Gender: Almost all of my characters are either female, or some kind of trap. The reason for this is nothing special, I just like female FCs more, and ended up getting a ton of potential FCs saved up on my PC. 

Personality:
-Curious ---> Very useful trait to have, allows me to get the character to do things and go to places and ask questions others might not be overly inclined to.

-Not overly intelligent---> I used to roleplay a lot of very intelligent characters, but as time went on I realize that these are both more fitting for the kind of more light-hearted/comedic sort of roleplays I prefer, and can be overall a lot of fun to play, for any of the many potential reasons: some are just less intelligent, others are too naive and bubbly, others are too prideful or clumsy... Plus, this way I don't have to try to compete with the constant metagaming that happens whenever a character tries making any sort of plan.

-Easily Embarrassed---> I like to put characters in embarrassing situations and have them react accordingly. It's hilarious.

-Cowardly and/or paranoid ---> I usually like to keep my characters alive, and I find this trait helps find an IC way to be especially focused on that.


Backstory / Arcs: Regret and guilt are too feelings that really resonate with me in stories due to my own life experiences. My characters often go through tragic or ironic fates, but this is almost never a situation in which they are strictly 'victims', almost all of my characters are the causes for their own problems or downfall, or at the very least they are being slapped back by karma.
-Downfall and Redemption

Powers:
-Shapeshifting
-Copy
-Mental Influence (when permitted)


Besides these patterns though, I actually feel I have a ton of variation, and of course I do actively decide to make characters outside of my comfort zone as well, though I tend to make characters more within my comfort zone for RPs I am more inclined towards in my commitment, as I want my favorite types of characters to go into the RPs I hope last longer and would be more at a loss in losing.

Either way, a lot of the times what makes me join an RP is getting a specific character idea for it.