Yes, I'm asking your opinions again. Yes, I'm probably going to regret it. Again.

As always, keep it civil and don't make me stab you.

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In this topic, I want us to discus character creation.

What is your opinion onn character sheets?


What is your character creation process? Is character creation just all together overrated?

Face claims. Whatever fits the situation and genre to be honest.

Colour codes, I think letting people use there own layouts as long as all the key details are in works well. It means people can personalise and maybe be more invested.

Right.... Main image and use hinders and appendix images. Easier to read.

As above, provide the categories, long as there filled and done, it's not a issues. Especially with slice of life. Let people decide what extra info they want to add.

Try to get to know players or learn abit about them, it seems to have worked, on both 350+ and 500+ post roll play Ive done with help. We even completed one, so I can say our ideas where not a failure!

In general. No hard and fast rule.
Adapt to what works.
No point fighting the tides of RPG.

What is your opinion on character sheets?
I believe they are a necessary evil that comes along with role play. Even if you don't have stats to roll on you do need to take a bit and think about the character you want to RP. Does it fit the scenario or the RP? What motivates them? Whether it be writing a book, a play, a tv show, movie, or RP - character sheets help. Especially at the beginning so you can reference and not contradict yourself. Sure your character will change over the course of an RP, that is why Character sheets have to be updated over time.

Faceclaims? Real life? Anime? Digital? Hand drawn? None?
This is all subjective to the role play and the GM but for me it has been a process. At first I used none, then even I went through the ~anime phase~, then hand drawn, then I created my own. Now I default to a FC from real life. There are multiple reasons for this but the biggest one as of the last year is because I do create music videos in tribute to scenes in my rps or deaths that have occurred. It's a fun little extra so having people use real face claims makes it so much easier to put those together.

Color codes?
I used to hate color codes, that was until I started using them. Much of the time they do seem pointless but then when you get 2+ characters of the same gender collabing it saves a lot of confusion. Especially if say you have 3 or 4 working together and at least two of them have the same hair or eye color. It helps create a much better flow and recognition.

What's the 'right amount' of images?
Depends on the role play. For most of my CS's I do prefer to have 5 or 6. Why so many? Well much of the time if I don't have that many slots the rpers add that many anyways lol. Outside of that, when I am filling out a CS I like to find images to show different aspects of the character - appearance, psychology, etc. Having images helps me better lock into my character. A picture is worth a thousand words you know, :P.

Freeform or GM provided code?
Oh I cannot do freeform. Oh lord no. I believe a GM should provide one and the same one should be used for every rper coming into the mix. Why? Fair play and equal expectations across the board. Doesn't matter how detailed the CS is, everyone should be required to provide the same amount of information minimal. Not only that but having a uniformed CS helps Gms more efficiently reference a players CS.

Things that should be be included/excluded?
There is a lot that can go into a CS that depends on the RP itself. Things I believe should be in every CS is A.P.H. - Appearance, personality, history. Appearance to know what the character looks like. Personality so you have a foundation of how your character is going to think and react to situations. History because your character came from somewhere, they have gone through things, this helps explain A. & P. because your history is going to influence both.

Skills, possessions, other stuff - that all is dependent on the RP. You don't have to worry about skills as much if it is just a hang out RP. You don't need number stats as much if you aren't rolling for checks. A lot just depends on who you are rping with and how large the group is.

What is your character creation process? Is character creation just all together overrated?
I have 2 standard style CS's. One for Rps within the LAU (Lady A Universe: This is my main 6 RPs) and ILU (Illusory Liaisons Universe: This is for the new RP Saga) - Both include certain standards I want to see in every CS, they differ though greatly in things like skills and the numbers since ILU Rp's are heavily based on stats and rolls being made.

Personally I think that character creation is underrated. It is a pivotal tool that if used through out an Rp can be invaluable. Especially if you are having a hard time coming up with a post. If you have a good solid CS to work from, you can reference it and remember little tidbits that can be used to help you get back into your characters mindset. It gives you a foundation and frame work to build on. Yeah yeah, people go ~well I want to get a feel for my character~ - Yeah we all do but if you don't start somewhere chances are you are going to fall into the same character you have played a thousand times. Want to branch out, us the CS, build from it, update it as needed, use it to know where you started and to plot a path to where you want to go character wise. Good CS utilization will help turn a flat 2 dimensional character into a fully fleshed out character with depth.

Etc.
In conclusion I feel that are needed. They help keep things in check and equal across the board for every Rper in an RP. Not everyone likes them. I know plenty of people have not joined my rps because they don't like filling out a CS. To each their own like with anything. It all boils down to finding the right balance between what the RP needs and how the GM wants to execute the RP.

Faceclaims? Real life? Anime? Digital? Hand drawn? None?

I'm really 50/50 on images. On one end they're a hella easy way to estimate someone's appearance, but on the other hand, if you don't draw them yourself you're often constrained by another person's ideas. If you can draw yourself, use them by all means, but if you can't, think about how 'worth it' it is. If you have a pretty creative and out-there idea for your character's appearance, written might be better. On the other hand, if you're going for something a lot more simple, an image could work.

I dislike the use of fan- or official art of already established characters from franchises, though. I can't disconnect that character from their story, and it always feels out of place. Others are free to do as they wish, but if I ever use an image, I'll make sure it's an 'original' image; i.e. a one-off or series of drawings without a story attached to them.

Real people is fucking creepy though. I don't see the appeal.

Color codes?

I only use color for dialogue when everyone else uses color for dialogue. Other than that, I think only the titles and subtitles in your CS should have color, as that's prolly the best way to organize and not make your CS look like rainbow vomit.

What's the 'right amount' of images?

Not often I see people use more than the 1 for their appearance. Don't really see the need for any more either, unless it's a fancy custom-made header, which is always nice to see. Definitely feel like putting in more than 3 is going a bit far and bloats the thing, though, but there's examples of it done well out there. I think.

Freeform or GM provided code?

That's up to the GM to decide. A GM should always provide a baseline, but if people want to go outside the norm, they should be allowed as long as it's readable imo. Not much of an opinion here.

Things that should be be included/excluded?

I once saw a person use the word biography as a synonym for appearance. That's some vomit-inducing stuff right there for me.

I think you can list most non-basic stuff in an 'Extra' or 'Other' section, and it shouldn't be a list of things imo. I don't really care what your character's favorite food is, unless we're playing like a restaurant RP or smth. It's mostly harmless, so as long as it doesn't feel like you're cluttering things, I'm aight with anything.

Essentials are what Amalthea mentioned pree much, tho. Appearance, History and Personality are the core, but a name would be good too -w-. I'm also a fan of listing ages, but this is a preference thing. It gets you some good insight. Other than all that though, I don't really see what else there's really worth writing about.

What is your character creation process? Is character creation just all together overrated?

Character creation being overrated? If you're roleplaying you better present the role you're playing, lol. I think CSes are pretty essential, not only for presenting said role, but also to gauge how good of a writer someone is from a cursory glance.

My personal way is just thinking on every detail of my character beforehand, then jotting it all down in one go. I probably should revise my stuff more, but I'm a pree lazy individual.

Don't stab me. D:

What is your opinion on character sheets?

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.

Faceclaims?

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.

Color codes?

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.

What's the 'right amount' of images?

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.)

Freeform or GM provided code?

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...

Things that should be be included/excluded?

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.

What is your character creation process? Is character creation just all together overrated?

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.

Is character creation just all together overrated?

yes

thanks for coming to my ted talk

Character creation is a fickle beast. My rule of thumb as a GM, is don't make characters that are very clear rips from popular media unless you're playing in a fandom-related setting. Other than that, I literally do no care what character sheets look like as long as they communicate the necessary information.

I actually take character sheets that have a lot of effort put into them as a bad sign, personally. This is just my personal experience, but it usually indicates that a player is more interested in showcasing their character than they are in playing as a group, writing, or even role playing, to a certain extent. Of course, this doesn't always apply. But by law of averages, it seems to be the case more often than not, in my experiences. Players that tend to stick around and offer the most enjoyable experiences often submit sub-par or mostly empty sheets.

Best course of action is to just not use character sheets as a point of reference for a role player. Lurk their previous posts instead.

Gonna crash the party with an outlandish opinion. There is no such thing as a good character sheet. There are only varying degrees of bad. Why do I dare say such heresy? In no world can you condense the complexities of human emotion and psychology into something remotely digestible.

For every CS I write, there's usually 2-3x more words in a separate doc I refer to as a psych profile. This is haphazardly scribbled notes I used to keep track of the complexities of characters. As I've grown more complex and more believable with my characters I've taken to putting less and less into CSs because to me, nothing I write in the CS will be truly representative so I do my best to minimize misrepresentation. The art of a CS as I see it is about giving just enough information to allow the character to be fairly judged by the GM, while giving as little else as possible to avoid misrepresentation.

I kept this version extremely brief because there was no point being verbose and going into various minutia of things.

EDIT:

Best course of action is to just not use character sheets as a point of reference for a role player. Lurk their previous posts instead.

There are people on this site who know I take massive issue with what you're implying there, Lady A being among them.

I am going to preface that my answers might be a mix of my own experience as a GM, player, and general roleplayer of ten years (as of June of this year). There might be variations that some have already said in thier own posts, but that's probably because a lot of us have similar views about this particular subject.

What is your opinion on character sheets?

Faceclaims? Real life? Anime? Digital? Hand drawn? None?

Color codes?

What's the 'right amount' of images?

Freeform or GM provided code?

Things that should be included/excluded?

What is your character creation process?

I take inspiration from various mediums: novels, TV and film, anime, art, etc. If I have a concept, I go with my gut. If I need inspiration, I go to things that fit the character I am making. If it's a slice of life character, I will go to my favorite real life dramas, soap operas, teen dramas, etc. If we are talking fandoms, I watch/read said fandom and see what happens. It's honestly the combined total of my own interests plus whatever my brain cooks up. Sometimes the character ends up like a forced fart and sometimes it's the best thing I've ever written. Whichever the case, I am thankful the inspiration kicks in when it does.

Without bringing up the rather awful issue of diffrent sections.

We all have learned abit from our own sections, and taken influences and opinions from that. Lady A, has alot stricter ideas, others air lighter on some issues, and levels of complexity.

What we used to will shape our options.

Honestly for me, CS sheets needs to be flexible, depending how it all slots. Adapt to what works, and yeah some things do peacve but that's how the Guild likes it. Cannot fight the tides, it's far easier to work with and adapt them to your own purpose.

What is your opinion on character sheets?

Pretty much essential if you want to have any sort of order and consistency to your roleplays. I like them because they give me something to reference when I'm writing because it's hard to remember all the details of every character, even my own, months down the road and I need to recall something, be it an appearance detail, a piece of seldom used equipment, skill, or part of their history that is suddenly relevant. A good character sheet also tells you who a character is and in my games, I request people have detailed histories with all important information, because I A) don't accept "it'll be revealed in the roleplay" as an excuse because chances are, it'll never come up and B) it prevents players from changing critical details about their characters later on, like conveniently adding stuff that contradicts what was approved or giving themselves a backstory point that would resolve or add a favourable condition to a character like, I don't know, suddenly a character is nobility and the guards are sworn to protect them or some shit.

You can also tell a lot about a person's ability to cooperate with a GM by how well they respond to criticism and suggestions during the review process of a character sheet, as well as how well they can craft a reasonably solid character. A big reason I ask for pretty involved character sheets is because I've seen way too many games go right into the shitter because GMs take anyone who applies or don't enforce standards, and suddenly you end up with personality clashes in games, power-gaming prone characters, cringy edgelords and Sues, and just generally a fustercluck that can ultimately drive players away from a game if everyone isn't on the same page to start. Best way to do that is to have a firm set of standards and expectations, review and give feedback on sheets, and filter out anyone who has a crap personality from the get go. If someone's willing to put in the extra effort in a character sheet and respond well to feedback, there's a good chance they're going to be a good fit for the RP, simple as that. If you aren't going to put any effort into a character sheet, why would I pick you over someone who did? There's plenty of games more your speed, I just build mine based on what I've found works over GMing for six years. I just don't want to deal with bullshit after the game launches and find out the player has an attitude, power or metagaming problems, or they can't be assed to read others' posts.

Faceclaims? Real life? Anime? Digital? Hand drawn? None?

One thing I've seen in other RPs I found really kind of cringy and awful is people using excessive faceclaims of actors or models or whatever and posting a lot of gifs all over their character sheets of this actor saying quotes or making expressions or whatever, it was distracting and it gave the impression that they cared more about the aesthetics of the actor rather than adding substance to the character itself. I don't like using real-life people for the most part, I do if it's required, but I personally don't care for it. I prefer semi-realistic artwork to be used, and crediting/ linking the artist if possible. I don't usually require an image in my games if you can't find something that works for your character, I always ask for a written description regardless. There's always minor details that a simple picture can't always convey. Main thing I ask people do is not use anime pictures because they're thematically jarring outside of the genre.

Color codes?

I'll do them if most people want them, but generally I find a game gets by just fine without them. Saves on formatting, at least.

What's the 'right amount' of images?

A profile picture, and images related to the character like what their armour and weapons look like, markings, tattoos etc. Visual references are amazing when they serve a purpose.

Freeform or GM provided code?

I usually do basic CS coding for players, but they're free to spruce it up as they see fit, so long as the contents remain the same.

Things that should be be included/excluded?

I'm not really a fan of "excluding" things, but basically the essentials for me are,

What is your character creation process? Is character creation just all together overrated?

Usually I start off with a rough idea of what I want to do with a character before I even start writing (something like a pacifist non-lethal character who fights with a staff and has a code against killing, or alcoholic tomboy mechanic who likes painting and practical jokes, or Lara Croft inspired relic hunter who is terrible at fighting but is an expert with a lockpick, for quick examples) and then I kind of work on the story aspects for them. How did they get to the point they're at during the beginning of the RP? They know this and this skill, how did they acquire them? Just keep asking a bunch of questions and keep filling in the answers as I go, and it kind of goes in a flow of "A happened because of B, which resulted in C" where the story covers the major life shaping events and experiences that happened to the character, and what the result was.

For example, "Tim became fascinated with street racing due to an incident shortly after his 16th birthday where he escaped from his rivals on his way back from night classes by car jacking someone at a set of lights and narrowly escaping death at the hands of his pursuers and his inexperience behind the wheel and found it awoken an incredible high", or whatever. Just give context to why a character knows what they do, why they can do what they do, and for the love of god, give them some friggin' character flaws. Do this enough times, covering the bases from their formative years to the present, and you've got a pretty details backstory that should be logically consistent and gives weight to the other aspects to the sheet. I want to know why Hector the Well-Endowed is the greatest swordsman in the Southern Hemisphere; simply making the claim and not giving any context is lazy and uninspired. It also tells me that you want your character to be a super badass without having to give merit to it or have them sword-chop their way through every situation with ease.

From there, it's a matter of figuring out what kind of skills and equipment make sense in the context of the character, and the appearance can be done at any time depending on inspiration or drive. I do try to streamline a lot of the content and not involve a lot of filler details for brevity's sake, but a character sheet acts as a resume for any roleplay. It shows you give a shit about making a good impression towards commitment and interest rather than winging it and joining on a whim.

Things, especially aesthetic shit, are conditional based on the preference of the player... at the time. I change the way I write sign-ups literally every time I make one! But from the perspective of being GM, I've been swinging back and forth with introducing something, and the way I've been approaching sign-ups depends a lot on the "point" of the RP -- they're an extension of the tone, plot, and themes. Just like a superpowers section isn't always relevant. Say in one RP I ask for characters' -- they're teachers -- their specific positions, and their personal motivations for working in those positions, because it's plot-relevant. I wouldn't ask for their "inventories" because it's a contemporary RP mostly limited to a public school campus, not an adventure story where the items you bring with you matter.

I have a list of essentials much like Dervish, but mine's a lot shorter; right now it's only really the character's name, age, and their height/weight and/or build. I also would like for players to sell a character with the fewest words possible; a 150/200-word summary is recurrent.

Right now, as someone who's very frustrated with arbitrary character information, I'm debating whether writing samples are helpful. Because it's essentially asking for a short story, and not everyone may be that motivated, or be able to tackle it in due time. A lot of RPs die because they take too long to start, and I'm unsure whether writing samples add to that problem. Because otherwise I would love to throw prompts at people and it would make for shorter sign-ups, since longer ones make me itch. So if writing samples have or haven't worked for you...

Some notes about my reactions to other peoples' sign-ups: I think the "some-things-aren't-relevant" mentality still applies? Although I'll admit I'm disappointed with other GMs seemingly copy/pasting the same formats, the same Appearance/Personality/History triad, which is just a forum RP staple at this point. For some characters, I combine Appearance & Personality. Sometimes I don't even approach Appearance because I don't feel like it. Sometimes it's all written in-character, and she's overselling themselves to get hired in her bad, broken English while dropping mentions of "chloroform" because that's just in her mind. In-character sign-ups are underrated and a lot of fun, haha.

Generally, I like the character creation process. I like writing character profiles, and making characters. I think sign-ups can, and in my opinion should, function as character introductions so people don't waste time IC.

And uhhh I also strongly relate with Sierra's note about dedicating a separate doc to scribbled "psych" details, because all of my actualized characters usually have one of those as well. So sign-ups don't cover everything, and as a GM I would expect people to work on developing their character beyond the criteria I would present to them. Though a lot of that's IC and all.

long post boyz

@Karkinos Best way, I found, to avoid the "too long to start" situation is to write out the intro post before the application deadline is done and then plugging in relevant characters and details afterwards so nobody's waiting for long. I also give deadlines for when the next move along post happens several days in advance to let people know to get a post up before then before the game goes and just keep a step ahead.

@Dervish Oh yeah, always smart to prep ahead of time, and the best RP I've been in used deadlines to great effect.

I would think writing samples would be more on the players than the GM in terms of getting the RP started. The last RP i started on a different site ran into that roadblock where I had an established, seemingly-invested player base, but the moment it came to signing up, interest pretty much evaporated. So I'm paranoid about super-extensive sign-ups because it was at least a fourth my fault, lol.

@Karkinos It can always be a bit of a crapshoot if people make it past the interest stage, and if they do apply, if they stay interested. Something I did in my current RP I'm running to start was have an open campfire collab for people to introduce their characters and socialize (since they were all working on the same job), and I think it really was a hit with people because they could hit the ground running and just go nuts while my coGM and I finished touches for the game proper. I think having little writing games and exercises to warm people up may have some merit, so I might expand upon that.

@Dervish Honestly that campfire collab sounds like a lot of fun. And writing exercises for RPs are very under-utilized! Thank you for reminding me about those. That might actually work better than samples with more or less the same effect, lol. Like the GM still gets a sense of players' writing styles beforehand that they can consider.

Character sheets?:
Absolutely and fully necessary both as a player and a GM. It is needed to know what other characters are in the roleplay so you can figure out what would be complimentary or just redundant to play, or to see whether or not you want to play in the rp alongside that cast.
As a GM it is even more important to be able to see what someone is trying to bring into your rp, and there are many, many times when I've had to reject folks who want to bring in something that doesn't fit.

Faceclaims?:
Any but RL models. It looks creepy and just annyoing.
Everything else I enjoy.

Color codes?:
Don't care so long as it doesn't burn my eyes.

What's the 'right amout' of images?:
One. Maybe two. Per post anyway. Could have multiple different pictures for different moods. Or ages. Depends.

Freeform or GM provided code?:
I like to have a GM provided code that I can then edit if something seems to be missing.

Things that should be be included/excluded?
Included - Name, Appearance, abilities and powers, backstory, personality
Excluded - Weaknesses (a lot of people seem to require needless achilles heels on characters that don't make sense. Such as a human taking EXTRA damage from fire or something. Just have a stab in the neck still be a stab in the neck and everything will be fine)
Sexuality (A lot of folks seem to focus on this section and make it the entire character, therefor forgetting to actually make a character. I prefer to leave this section out entirely, have people make their characters, and THEN assign whatever romantic interest they want from there)

What is your character creation process?:
I tend to get inspired by a stereotype or trope and then proceed to play on it, evolving it over time to be more and more my own and unique. I start off with shameless ripoffs and parodies and then end up with something I can truly call mine, and other people usually like it too.

Is character creation just all together overrated?:
No

beep beep from the ArenaSnow jeep

What is your opinion onn character sheets?
These days I take individual partners as a whole into account over sheets, but if it's a public context and I want to indulge the very likely dose of death, then it's a pretty minimal standard for things to have the beginning of a chance to work. Remove this step in a public roleplay and more times than not, the anarchy just wipes out the game even faster. Beyond the minimal quality control, it's good to give people a general idea of who exactly they are dealing with, what they see as an accessible reference when handling someone. Yeah, yeah, personality is fluid. I'm taking about physical elements, their 'default' presentations unless otherwise noted in posts, their abilities to know what they can do (and hold them accountable for it). Even the gist of who they are to see what kind of 'feel' someone would get on a first meeting.

Faceclaims? Real life? Anime? Digital? Hand drawn? None?
Doesn't matter much to me, at least as far as what others use. If it conveys the proper gist, it works, and I can pretty much abstract everything into the same 'style' of appearance so that anime-built characters can mingle with the more realistic. Sometime I have no character image at all, and it is almost impossible for me to find one. In that case, I'd have a total lack of images, because I am incompetent at drawing and unwilling to learn, leaving me dependent on internet images that may not convey what I'm looking for at all. An image is ideal and practically standard on a CS around here, which is why I started to build characters from images. That makes the finding job easy, obviously >.>

As for the actual image, if the real life version fits, by all means I go for it. Same with digital, which I find is often easier to find the niches that I want when I go for characters in more fantasy contexts. Anime I find too restricted and lacking in the diversity I want for me to use it on a regular basis aside from a few niche games. It's simply not diverse enough for me, nor do the images often fit if I haven't picked one beforehand. Hand Drawn is something I don't come across too often given the above system, but rarely does that suit me at all in any context.

Color codes?
Meh. But then, I'm something of a minimalist as far as formatting goes. I strictly prefer to read the content over pretty colors and what the flavor of cool is on the guild or whatever else. If it seems appropriate, maybe. Approaching this all in the context of a CS.

Someone evidently took it to IC colors. To that I respond, meh. I take two perspectives here. First is that if people can't read my dialogue from my action/internal pieces, then my writing has failed, and adding colors is just a bandaid to bad writing. I just don't think it will help one bit. Conversely, if my writing is perfectly solid and everyone/almost everyone reading it is perfectly able to distinguish action/internal from dialogue, then there is no need for colors. At that point, all I'm doing is making it easier for people to skim it. No thanks.

Some people make abysmal color choices that blend so badly with the guild background I wonder if they're trying to kill me. My iffy eyesight probably doesn't help.

What's the 'right amout' of images?
On average, just one. Here, I'm average. I couldn't be arsed to find a dozen gifs of an already rare faceclaim (and if it's digital, how am I going to piece together a bunch of images?) to lag up someone's reading of my sheet for aesthetic purposes (isn't that what it usually is?). If it's beyond the character, then only if context appropriate, such as a piece of equipment I found a decent image for. If the logic is just to provide more ways to see the character (perhaps just static images), then I simply don't believe in finding that many images after the first one nor do I think it would contribute to people's understanding of the gist I try to make.

Freeform or GM provided code?
Assuming I didn't find a lot of the GM provided code I've seen frivolous and unnecessary, then I'd say I would go for GM code because it establishes a baseline of uniformity that I like to see in a roleplay. Yes, as you can probably tell, I'm a boring sheetwriter. It's not my focus. But in any case, GM unless the GM's code is too fancy or if the code is inefficient to the extent that minimalists like me and proper sheet coders would say it's pretty bad.
Things that should be be included/excluded?
Primary elements that I always look for are appearance (basic building block for IC content), capabilities (their spells, their talents, their cybernetic implants, everything they can whip out of a hat to modify a scene. Especially looking to avoid gimmicky shit like a 22 year old female with no mentioned powers or things of note being able to beat the living shit out of a traditional orc while using fire magic), and a general summary of who the character is. It can come from their past, listed attributes, and a synopsis of a character's personality (which, if you're putting effort into creating it and being as authentic as possible, is impossible to sum up on the sheet completely and maintain across a roleplay unchanged).

And as others have hit above, personality is a tricky thing. That's the biggest dynamic factor and something I have multiple theories for designing. I consider it the sum of basic character traits/attributes/keywords, their biases, and other elements of their past that serve as modifiers along with the situation they're handling. Basically, it's four parts, and there is absolutely no way I will be able to make a fully accurate summary (note, summary, not synopsis) about every way a character thinks. Too many bits and pieces. I parse all of the modifiers and try to create an authentic decision based on the relevant variables. Aside from that being why it often takes forever for me to post, it's something I just don't feel fits into a roleplay if expressed in the way that I perceive it. I never list out the modifiers and biases in the way that I think them (very flat and probably confusing, I tell ya) and the history is just an element if I even express it completely in a sheet. Still, I think it is completely possible for you to ask your character some basic questions about how they would generally handle things, and develop a paragraph or two from there to see where the character generally comes from. That is usable information.

What specifically you look for and how you word your sheet is very dependent on what kind of game you're running. You probably won't ask for a list of abilities in a slice of life high school game with nothing special to development, etc. The point beyond the essentials above is to vet and see what people are bringing to the table, as well as provide ammunition for the GM. Other motivations are always involved of course. Case by case.

Gonna crash the party with an outlandish opinion. There is no such thing as a good character sheet. There are only varying degrees of bad. Why do I dare say such heresy? In no world can you condense the complexities of human emotion and psychology into something remotely digestible.

I'd call this only applicable if you approach a character sheet as something more than just an intentionally limited summary designed to a) give a reference point for other players, b) present abilities and hold them accountable, c) something to indicate you actually put a degree of thought into the character being used, and d) a step for a GM to see what kind of characters are coming in and if the character is suitable just from its basic summary, which is ultimately what a character sheet is. Perhaps we just have different ideas of what a character sheet is supposed to accomplish, but based on those four factors, I entirely disagree with your opinion because I don't believe a character sheet was ever supposed to be a complete analysis of the beast that is pshychology and other changing elements of a character. On average, that's not why they're made, and that's rarely a complete motivation unless someone is naive enough to think the entire sum of their character can be completely maintained by one sheet. So on some level, yes, I do think you can measure what is objectively good about a sheet if you go by the elements that you can describe almost completely and by the gists created that help a GM figure out what they're dealing with.

What is your opinion on character sheets?

What is there to say? They aren't widely used because it's a fad. It's important to let everyone know what you plan on doing in the RP. We don't want the story filled with big sword wielding emos with spiky hair. We don't want a bunch of characters with zero chemistry, and sometimes we just want to see what your character is all about. There's a reason why nobody opts to let people just jump in on more serious Rps.

Faceclaims? Real life? Anime? Digital? Hand drawn? None?

This is preference, and I honestly don't think it really matters as long as it fits the theme of the RP. I wouldn't join an anime RP with a RL face claim, no more than I would join a WWII era RP with an anime face claim if the RP is trying to be an authentic war story.

But if you want to hear my personal preferences, each type of picture has its ups and downs. Anime characters tend to be more about the outfits, so you don't get more minute details represented in anime pictures, like square jaws or facial creases. I actually like this, because it takes things like my character's race out of the equation. Real life is okay, but more often than not people tend to use celebrities or other overly pretty people. Even though most anime characters are inherently “attractive,” I find the readers have a bit more leeway in deciding if a character is attractive for themselves, where the extra details almost force you to perceive a character a certain way. Which is not to say the limited body types for animecharacters isn't a problem sometimes. Digital and hand drawn tends to fall between the two, sharing the benefits and drawbacks of one or the other. Honestly, I use to go without pictures, but I got tired of people forgetting details. A picture at the very least puts everyone on the same page.

Color codes?

Coloring headers and the like to make a character sheet look sharp is fine if you know what you're doing. I'm not a huge fan of gradients, super dark colors, eye burn blue, etc. But I think that has more to do with the guild BG not being a web safe color and changing on everyone's devices. The gradient fans have no excuse though. Especially when they use ugly gradients.

What's the 'right amout' of images?

Images are kind of data intensive for some people, so the fewer the better. But if you want to have a picture of a character or a weapon, sure, include it.

Freeform or GM provided code?

I like to fill out a GM provided code and maybe make small edits to it to personalize it, when I'm feeling cheeky. As a GM, I also like providing code to get a certain level of consistency.

Things that should be be included/excluded?

What should be included is everything the GM needs to know to run the RP, and everything else should be excluded. I tend to raise an eyebrow when I see weird fields like my character's marital status or measurements that go beyond height and weight. If it's not important to the RP, it's just a waste of time. Same with passwords.

What is your character creation process? Is character creation just all together overrated?

My character creation process varies depending on what I'm trying to do. The two processes I use most in recent times I have nicknamed the “who is this?” process and the “Revamp” Process.

“Who is this” essentially has me looking for a picture for a character to play in an RP. I sometimes know certain aspects of the character I want to play, and find a picture that matches. I will avoid going for face claims where I know the character well, or ones that have a severe lack of accessories or design features. Once I have a picture, I will ask myself questions about them. Why they are wearing every article of clothing, why their face is like that, etc. From these questions I will get data that I can create more questions with, and the process repeats until I've created the character.

“Revamp” is a bit different, as I'll look for a character I know a bit about. I don't necessarily need a picture for this, just a character in mind. Though I will always go for a character that I don't like. Preferably one that I hate everything about. The next step is to decide what this character's “job” was in story, and make adjustments to make the character different and enjoyable to play. The end result is usually a character that has a similar flavor to the old character, but is nothing like them and is actually one I respect.

And character creation is most certainly not overrated. Some people do get a bit too caught up creating a character and don't spend enough time actually playing them, but having an interesting character with desires that make sense is not something to be overlooked.

No doubt I'm echoing most of the above posters, but what else is new? Besides, I love @HaleyTheRandom's random posts

What is your opinion on character sheets?: Personally I love them, because it gives me the opportunity to sort out the way I want to portray them in the RP, and it's a great reference because I sometimes forget details.

Faceclaims?: Generally I like real pics, and usually of unknowns, but I also love a well-written descriptions to accompany the image because there may be instances where the picture just doesn't do your character justice.

Color codes?: I don't use them personally because I find no need for them. Also, depending on the color chosen, it makes the CS harder to read >.>

What's the 'right amount' of images?: I think one is enough, because anymore (especially a CS full of gifs that make your eyes want to commit suicide) is just overkill.

Freeform or GM provided code?: Eh, that's a tough one, but I have no problem using the GM's code if they are expecting a uniformed appearance. God knows I can get all OCD on certain things, so why shouldn't a GM? :)

Things that should be be included/excluded?: I like categories dealing with "Personality Traits" because it's sort of a quick ref sheet on the overall character themself, and just gives a bird's eye view without having to really read the entire sheet.

Um, not that I don't fully read player's sheets. I mean...sometimes I've skimmed through a long history but-

Oh look! lunch period is over.

*makes mad dash to next class*