Character sheet sins

[Ryik]

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Every so often, I see this one thing that bothers me so enormously, that I can't help but skip it entirely on character sheets. </p>


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<div class="ipsQuote_contents"><p> Name: Age: Gender: <em>Sexuality</em>: </p></div>


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<p> I absolutely hate it when sexuality is on character sheets. I just feel that this is so incredibly untrue to life. It removes valuable potential for meaningful interactions or even plot points. You rarely ever see anyone roleplaying their character attracted or coming on to someone with an incompatible sexuality, much less attaching heavy emotions to such an interaction. In a way, even though it's mostly included in character sheets for RPs with an eye towards romance, it actually hurts potential for romantic interactions. At the same time, it pidgeonholes the character into that one specified sexuality. In a world of grays, specifying the sexuality means that your character inherently needs to be black, white, or tangerine. I can't just say "my character believes he's straight" without inherently calling into question his straightness. What if nothing happens, no decisive character development that would lead him to think otherwise? He'd still reject homosexual relationships, and now my App seems partially untrue. If he denied someone tooth and nail using his sexuality as the reason, roleplayers might be inclined to "initiate" gay conversion campaigns, which they otherwise probably wouldn't. On the other hand, if I were to say "he's straight", he can't <em>become</em> bi-curious. He can't <em>decide</em> he has different preferences from what he did before, or else it becomes completely untrue. What the fuck is the point of designating a sexuality? What do you guys think should <em>never</em> go on a character sheet?


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[Myxyzptlk]

Every so often, I see this one thing that bothers me so enormously, that I can't help but refuse to give an answer. (Stating my desire to leave it ambiguous instead)
I absolutely hate it when sexuality is on character sheets. I just feel that this is so incredibly untrue to life. It removes valuable potential for meaningful interactions or even plot points. You rarely ever see anyone roleplaying their character attracted or coming on to someone with an incompatible sexuality, much less attaching heavy emotions to such an interaction. In a way, even though it's mostly included in character sheets for RPs with an eye towards romance, it actually hurts potential for romantic interactions.


At the same time, it pidgeonholes the character into that one specified sexuality. In a world of grays, specifying the sexuality means that your character inherently needs to be black, white, or tangerine. I can't just say "my character believes he's straight" without inherently calling into question his straightness. What if nothing happens, no decisive character development that would lead him to think otherwise? He'd still reject homosexual relationships, and now my App seems partially untrue. If he denied someone tooth and nail using his sexuality as the reason, roleplayers might be inclined to "initiate" gay conversion campaigns, which they otherwise probably wouldn't. On the other hand, if I were to say "he's straight", he can't become bi-curious. He can't decide he has different preferences from what he did before, or else it becomes completely untrue. What the fuck is the point of designating a sexuality?


What do you guys think should never go on a character sheet?

In all honesty it's something I gloss over too, I've never came across before in any of my RPs but I've seen them in Interest Checks. The only thing where sexual orientation ever seems to matter is a slice of life roleplay entirely dedicated to romancing your character with anothers. Whether my character is Heterosexual or Bisexual is absolutely irrelevant towards the plot of the roleplay.


Once the roleplay is underway everyone will direct their focus to the roleplay and development of their characters and when they decide to give a short backstory no one is going to write "Alfie has had ten years of military training, he is also straight.". Gee, Alfie... That sure is a great skill to have... It just seems like unnecessary filler to me.

 

[Reinhardt]

"Alfie has had ten years of military training, he is also straight."

This made me laugh.


"When 10 years of military training is not enough to overpower your enemy, tell them you're straight."

 

[Myxyzptlk]

This made me laugh.
"When 10 years of military training is not enough to overpower your enemy, tell them you're straight."

They'll drop down in fear within ten seconds, guaranteed!

 

[Seiden]

I don't even see why "sexuality" should be separated from "personality". Like, are you also going to ask for my character's favourite colour or favourite meal? That's no different than asking for their favourite gender to have sex with. And, as you said, it means every character is set to one sexuality just like they are set to their sex or age. Every side of one's personality can evolve. They can become more or less mature, more or less serious, but also more or less sexual or more or less homosexual. I've had characters whose sexually evolved, like going from asexual and repulsed by sex to a normal sexual life. Just like some changed other points of their personality, by becoming more self-confident for example.


Sexuality is overrated anyway. I do not see how this can be important in a character sheet or in a player's profile. Luckily I haven't seen that on RPNations, but on every other English community I am on, people are like "Hello, my name is XXX, I'm that gender and this is my sexuality". They often put their sexual orientation in their sign. Like if this was the most important thing to know about them, before even knowing their personality or interest. And it often is the same for characters. People will pick a sexual orientation for their character before even wondering is their character will be shy and reserved or a social butterfly. Like if this was the main point of a character.

 

[ApfelSeine]

I don't even see why "sexuality" should be separated from "personality". Like, are you also going to ask for my character's favourite colour or favourite meal? That's no different than asking for their favourite gender to have sex with. And, as you said, it means every character is set to one sexuality just like they are set to their sex or age. Every side of one's personality can evolve. They can become more or less mature, more or less serious, but also more or less sexual or more or less homosexual. I've had characters whose sexually evolved, like going from asexual and repulsed by sex to a normal sexual life. Just like some changed other points of their personality, by becoming more self-confident for example.
Sexuality is overrated anyway. I do not see how this can be important in a character sheet or in a player's profile. Luckily I haven't seen that on RPNations, but on every other English community I am on, people are like "Hello, my name is XXX, I'm that gender and this is my sexuality". They often put their sexual orientation in their sign. Like if this was the most important thing to know about them, before even knowing their personality or interest. And it often is the same for characters. People will pick a sexual orientation for their character before even wondering is their character will be shy and reserved or a social butterfly. Like if this was the main point of a character.

I don't really think that preferences are really a part of one's personality. It seems to me that personality is the collection of traits which define how a person behaves, and sexuality and other preferences do not do that. Preferences define where a character will focus their attention, but not how they will do so. It's tricky because sexuality is still a part of who someone is and is not generally subject to change, so it's not as fickle as some preferences. But at the same time, it's not really indicative of behavior, so it isn't really a personality trait either. I think that is why it is often places as it's own separate categories.


I agree with the other people in this thread who have been saying that sexuality is not entirely necessary in most circumstances. I don't think it's completely useless though. Some people who play gay characters will occasionally run into a roleplay where someone's character falls in love with their character, but the other player gets very mad or nasty when they find out that the character is gay. Having sexuality as an option allows players to know that the roleplay is a safe space for different sexualities, and it keeps other players from investing so much energy into wanting to romance a character. After all, for some people it really is a huge letdown that can make leave them feeling very upset when they don't know ahead of time that they shouldn't have been shipping their character with someone else's. It's sometimes just easier to have people state it upfront.


Something which I find more useless than listing sexuality in a character sheet is listing likes and dislikes. They usually do not come into play and sometimes preferences such as those are subject to change. On top of that, likes and dislikes can generally just be established during the roleplay. There is not much reason to establish them ahead of time. The only reason that I can see it being useful to establish likes and dislikes upfront is if the characters are supposed to already know each other. Otherwise, there is not much reason to put it in the character sheet instead of revealing it over the course of the roleplay.

 

[Ryik]

I agree with the other people in this thread who have been saying that sexuality is not entirely necessary in most circumstances. I don't think it's completely useless though. Some people who play gay characters will occasionally run into a roleplay where someone's character falls in love with their character, but the other player gets very mad or nasty when they find out that the character is gay. Having sexuality as an option allows players to know that the roleplay is a safe space for different sexualities, and it keeps other players from investing so much energy into wanting to romance a character. After all, for some people it really is a huge letdown that can make leave them feeling very upset when they don't know ahead of time that they shouldn't have been shipping their character with someone else's. It's sometimes just easier to have people state it upfront.

But the emotional letdown of a sunken ship is the exact feeling great writing elicits from a reader.


As I said, I find this letdown, this huge personal grievance, far more true to life than keeping the character - and, by extension, the roleplayer's feelings sheltered to predetermined successes.


On that topic, I don't understand the need to "let people know that the roleplay is a safe space for different sexualities". If your gay character is accepted, and someone in it wants you to RP them out of character, then maybe you shouldn't rethink being in an RP with such low standards of quality in the first place. If people want to know your characters' sexuality so that they can choose whether to ship them with their characters or not, then something's wrong.


I have been known to nitpick with great meticulousness, and things like this strikes me as nothing short of metagaming. A character's actions, at all times, should be independent of any roleplayer's wishes, and I know that this is impossible to pull off perfectly, (and at times for very good reasons) but that doesn't mean it's better to just not try. It may be easier to have people state such labels upfront, but conflict is the essence of drama. I don't know about you, but I'd hate an RP where everything goes perfectly.

 

[Primal Conundrum]

Apfel, I'm right there with you in thinking that likes and dislikes aren't useful information to have in a character sheet. The best explanation that I saw of why to include them, though, is to ensure that people are putting some thought into their characters beyond appearance and sexuality. Now obviously, if you're dealing with good roleplayers, that's not a concern and so those fields can generally just be omitted, but I have to say I can see the value of them when running a game with really green players.


I think the thing I hate most on character sheets is when the sheet is written in a way that it's supposed to sound like the character is describing themselves. A first-person character sheet. If anyone is unfamiliar with them, I envy you. Back when I used to try to find worthwhile RP on Gaia (obvious mistake, looking back) I would run in to that one all the damn time.


I also think that overly decorated sheets are terrible. I don't mean a bit of flair, I mean the kind where there's more formatting than content. Took me a while finding forum RP off Gaia to realize that most places don't have this shitty subculture of "advanced RP just means decorated RP with long posts, the quality of the writing is still terrible".

 

[LegoLad659]

But the emotional letdown of a sunken ship is the exact feeling great writing elicits from a reader.

I think she's more talking about gross overreaction than emotional letdown. Just tossing that out there, that's what I got out of what she said.

 

[Ryik]

I think she's more talking about gross overreaction than emotional letdown. Just tossing that out there, that's what I got out of what she said.

But das gross

 

[Doctor Nope]

I don't like it when a character sheet asks for "relationships/crush". The character hasn't even started interacting with the others, how am I supposed to know these things?

 

[Myxyzptlk]

Aging can be a problem for me.


I haven't roleplayed in much off site forums before discovering RPNation but I did do a fair share of MMORPG roleplays. Now when it comes to age my problem isn't with restrictions such as the middle schoolers have to be within ages 11-14 but in settings where the age of a persons OC is absolutely absurd. It bothers me when every evil demon is an edgy 16 year old with a tragic backstory but still has the time to romance with another character. The tragic backstory is another problem of its own but the fact that the demon is 16 will have you to believe he died prematurely doing some batshit crazy things.


Okay so maybe the 16 year old demon could still be plausible given the circumstances, so lets talk about when it's NOT plausible. Alright say the setting takes place in the future where soldiers pilot mech suits in order to fight against large creatures invading the planet Earth. Volunteers have heard the call and willingly draft themselves to learn how to pilot these gargantuan machines, in order to be able to undergo the mandatory training the volunteers have to be ages 21 and above. Despite the gamemaker having clearly set an age restriction visible to the human eye some doofus tries to volunteer their 16 year old angsty teenager with a tragic backstory but is still open for a relationship. And if they want to make matters worse they'll expect the gamemaker to accept it, as if they want you to possibly break the law and allow a 16 year old boy to pilot a mech suit.

 

[B E E S]

[QUOTE="Doctor Nope]I don't like it when a character sheet asks for "relationships/crush". The character hasn't even started interacting with the others, how am I supposed to know these things?

[/QUOTE]
You're not supposed to fill it out until later into the roleplay from my experience. It's a way to better keep track of your character(s) relationships in list format. It's a very useful thing imo. Plus you can edit it as relationships change.


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Also, to everyone saying how sexuality doesn't shape the personality, that really isn't the case. Someone will experience life in a different way if they are LGBT+ than if they are cishet due to oppression, internalized homophobia and transphobia...etc. which can absolutely help to shape a personality. Obviously it isn't the only thing that shapes the personality but it can be a factor. For example a gay man may be very closed off because their parents kicked them out due to their sexuality...etc. Obviously this isn't always the case, although for many people the fact that their sexuality and/or gender identity are something that politicians debate about and people claim to be something that can send them to hell may affect them. I do think though, that in roleplays that are action based and not slice of life, there really isn't a need to know the sexuality unless it played a significant part in the character's life since in action based roleplays romance really shouldn't be even a minor plot point if you ask me.

 

[ApfelSeine]

But the emotional letdown of a sunken ship is the exact feeling great writing elicits from a reader.
As I said, I find this letdown, this huge personal grievance, far more true to life than keeping the character - and, by extension, the roleplayer's feelings sheltered to predetermined successes.


On that topic, I don't understand the need to "let people know that the roleplay is a safe space for different sexualities". If your gay character is accepted, and someone in it wants you to RP them out of character, then maybe you shouldn't rethink being in an RP with such low standards of quality in the first place. If people want to know your characters' sexuality so that they can choose whether to ship them with their characters or not, then something's wrong.


I have been known to nitpick with great meticulousness, and things like this strikes me as nothing short of metagaming. A character's actions, at all times, should be independent of any roleplayer's wishes, and I know that this is impossible to pull off perfectly, (and at times for very good reasons) but that doesn't mean it's better to just not try. It may be easier to have people state such labels upfront, but conflict is the essence of drama. I don't know about you, but I'd hate an RP where everything goes perfectly.

I do enjoy stories with sunken ships. I find them much more enjoyable when the reason is less "it's a one sided love because one of the characters is gay" and more "real life got in the way, out circumstances kept them apart". That holds more intrigue for me personally.


You may not think it is necessary, but just scroll through the one on one interest checks for a bit and you'll see plenty of "mxf only please~~~~". There's nothing wrong with having preferences, but it does go to show that not everyone will be immediately accepting of a gay character, or want to invest a lot of time into building up romantic tension with them. Like @LegoLad659 said, people often overreact when disappointed. It could be very easily avoided by knowing ahead of time not to pursue a character.


It may be your preference to have drama let down to reflect real life. There's nothing wrong with that, but there are people who feel differently. Some people react to letdown very badly, feel taken out of it if they are suddenly shut down. It can be jarring and take the fun out of it for them. Every person is different, and every person deserves to have a place to roleplay and have fun.


If you surround yourself with other people who enjoy strife and heartbreak and other realistic set ups, then it's perfectly acceptable to keep a lot of things out of a character sheet. Drama and disappointment are not things that everyone enjoys though. For the people who do not like those things, or who are tired of getting essentially driven out of a roleplay because their character turns out to be gay and someone in roleplay isn't comfortable with gay characters (or some such reason), having some roleplays which establish sexuality ahead of time lets these players know that they're not going to have to deal all of the drama and things that they don't like. As such, there is a place for roleplays which ask for characters' sexuality, even it is not the sort of roleplay which is ideal for you.

 

[sakigamis]

[QUOTE="Doctor Nope]I don't like it when a character sheet asks for "relationships/crush". The character hasn't even started interacting with the others, how am I supposed to know these things?

[/QUOTE]I can't remember the last time I saw this one outside of fandom-based RPs and in that case it's more understandable, but yeah, that'd be my reaction if I saw that in a more OC-focused setting/something where the characters don't have history together already.

 

[ApfelSeine]

Also, to everyone saying how sexuality doesn't shape the personality, that really isn't the case. Someone will experience life in a different way if they are LGBT+ than if they are cishet due to oppression, internalized homophobia and transphobia...etc. which can absolutely help to shape a personality. Obviously it isn't the only thing that shapes the personality but it can be a factor.

No one has said that being gay doesn't effect personality in this thread from what I can see. It absolutely can shape development depending on how the people in their lives react to it or treat them. With that said, it is still not a personality trait. People who are gay do not all have the same tastes. Including sexuality as a personality trait is like including "this character likes guys with dark hair", or other such preferences in their personality. Who you like and what your preferences are not a part of personality. They are a vital part of what makes a person a unique individual, but that is not the same thing as personality. That is why if sexuality is going to be included, it should be separate from personality.


That's mainly a gripe about semantics since personality and preferences are two completely different things. Personality is a combination of behavioral traits. There are other things which are vital to a person's identity that are not part of personality. Being a certain ethnicity or religion can affect how a person is treated and grows up too, but that's not personality either. I think it's important to make those distinctions.

 

[B E E S]

No one has said that being gay doesn't effect personality in this thread from what I can see. It absolutely can shape development depending on how the people in their lives react to it or treat them. With that said, it is still not a personality trait. People who are gay do not all have the same tastes. Including sexuality as a personality trait is like including "this character likes guys with dark hair", or other such preferences in their personality. Who you like and what your preferences are not a part of personality. They are a vital part of what makes a person a unique individual, but that is not the same thing as personality. That is why if sexuality is going to be included, it should be separate from personality.
That's mainly a gripe about semantics since personality and preferences are two completely different things. Personality is a combination of behavioral traits. There are other things which are vital to a person's identity that are not part of personality. Being a certain ethnicity or religion can affect how a person is treated and grows up too, but that's not personality either. I think it's important to make those distinctions.

Ah yeah, I understand your points. To be honest I've only ever seen sexuality in the general section along with character name...etc, so I must admit I made a mistake out of confusion. But I absolutely agree with you. I'm not always the best at phrasing things, and for that I apologize.

 

[Ryik]

Okay so maybe the 16 year old demon could still be plausible given the circumstances, so lets talk about when it's NOT plausible. Alright say the setting takes place in the future where soldiers pilot mech suits in order to fight against large creatures invading the planet Earth. Volunteers have heard the call and willingly draft themselves to learn how to pilot these gargantuan machines, in order to be able to undergo the mandatory training the volunteers have to be ages 21 and above. Despite the gamemaker having clearly set an age restriction visible to the human eye some doofus tries to volunteer their 16 year old angsty teenager with a tragic backstory but is still open for a relationship. And if they want to make matters worse they'll expect the gamemaker to accept it, as if they want you to possibly break the law and allow a 16 year old boy to pilot a mech suit.

Preach man. Don't forget the part where everybody and their grandmothers are six and a half feet tall.


The worst part is, they seem to get accepted half the time without so much as a single question, but I suppose this is getting off-topic

I do enjoy stories with sunken ships. I find them much more enjoyable when the reason is less "it's a one sided love because one of the characters is gay" and more "real life got in the way, out circumstances kept them apart". That holds more intrigue for me personally.


You may not think it is necessary, but just scroll through the one on one interest checks for a bit and you'll see plenty of "mxf only please~~~~". There's nothing wrong with having preferences, but it does go to show that not everyone will be immediately accepting of a gay character, or want to invest a lot of time into building up romantic tension with them. Like @LegoLad659 said, people often overreact when disappointed. It could be very easily avoided by knowing ahead of time not to pursue a character.

Is that in the 1x1 RPs? I'm mostly referring to group RPs. Haven't been in a 1x1 RP yet, but have seen what you mean in the 1x1 interest checks.


1x1 RPs are basically collaborative writing in my eyes. In which case, I can see where you're coming from. Not many establish a deep world for the more informal style of RP it offers, so, focusing on the characters, it becomes a waste to keep their interactions sterilized to mundane friendship.


Yeah, no, I agree, I am 100% only referring to Group RPs, and ones without a very small cap of participants at that.

It may be your preference to have drama let down to reflect real life. There's nothing wrong with that, but there are people who feel differently. Some people react to letdown very badly, feel taken out of it if they are suddenly shut down. It can be jarring and take the fun out of it for them. Every person is different, and every person deserves to have a place to roleplay and have fun.


If you surround yourself with other people who enjoy strife and heartbreak and other realistic set ups, then it's perfectly acceptable to keep a lot of things out of a character sheet. Drama and disappointment are not things that everyone enjoys though. For the people who do not like those things, or who are tired of getting essentially driven out of a roleplay because their character turns out to be gay and someone in roleplay isn't comfortable with gay characters (or some such reason), having some roleplays which establish sexuality ahead of time lets these players know that they're not going to have to deal all of the drama and things that they don't like. As such, there is a place for roleplays which ask for characters' sexuality, even it is not the sort of roleplay which is ideal for you.

And for those people, in terms of group RPs, I agree to disagree. In my opinion, its status as a (large?) group RP entails the forfeit of a individual's control of relationships with other players' characters, and lining up compatible sexualities doesn't change that.


I still find it far-fetched that anyone would be driven out of a roleplay for no reason other than a character's sexuality, considering most RPs I find on RPN with designated sexualities have character sexuality ratios far outside the (statistical) norm, (in favor of non-heterosexual) or even enforce improbably even sexuality ratios, but that's altogether unrelated methinks.


Back onto the broader topic, I also hate nicknames on the character sheet. I get why they're there, but you could always just write it under Name: as 'Firstname "Nickname" Lastname'. Every time nicknames are on the default character sheet, and I mean every single time, I see people giving their characters nicknames that are never, ever used. No, no one is going to call your character "Midnight". Your character doesn't even give out the name "Midnight". Literally no one calls them that. How did they even get such a nickname? Even if they had it in the past, wouldn't characters give them their own, less absurd nickname?

 

[Primal Conundrum]

Yeah, not enough people seem to realize that nine times out of ten, nicknames aren't cool or flattering—also, they're usually short and roll off the tongue. "Midnight" is a trash-tier nickname. If, however, a character tried to introduce themselves along the lines of "But my friends call me Midnight", I would consider it to be the moral obligation of other characters in that RP to razz the nicknamed character, then proceed to come up with an annoying new nickname for them.

 

[ApfelSeine]

Well I brought up one on ones, but I meant that as an example of how many players are out there who's default mentality is to ship their character with someone's character of the opposite gender. In group roleplays, of course one can't pair up their character with just anyone's, even if the sexualities are compatible. But some people do get irritable if it seems that the only reason their character is rejected is that the character is gay. To them, it may appear to be a an explanation pulled straight out of nowhere (since it's probably not like a character "acts gay", considering sexuality is separate from personality) whereas if it's established ahead of time they don't get worked up about it. Of course it would be best if all players were understanding of character development that exists outside of a character sheet, but not everyone starts out mature and good natured.


People do get driven out for things like having their character be gay. Usually it's not blatant, but when people are angry about something, some will occasionally use underhanded tactics to frustrate the player and make them go elsewhere. It happens, even though it's stupid and frustrating that some people are like that. It's because of this that some GMs like to establish that players who join should be open to various sexualities. Rather than draw attention to it in the rules that not everyone reads, they'll put it into the character sheet.


Of course it's more fun to not know everything and be surprised (for some players at least). If I had my way, character sheets wouldn't necessary at all, except maaaaaybe to provide reference for appearance. But character sheets are created for a reason, and at least part of that reason is to drive off players who don't fit the roleplay


Character sheets are made detailed to scare off players who don't put a lot of thought into their characters. They ask for age to make sure that people aren't putting a child into a military unit, or some other adult set up (or aren't putting an adult into a school setting, or setting about child characters). They ask for personality/backstory to avoid overly edgy or mary sue characters. All the things in a character sheet are put in for a reason, even though mechanics wise GMs really don't need to know everything about a character. I consider sexuality to be put in to scare off homophobic players.


Overall, almost none of it is necessary. Some things seem entirely outrageous or unnecessary. There usually is a reason that the GM puts the category in though.

 

[Sunbather]

If you use Emily Rudd or any of the Disney channel looking boys as a fc, I will flip


When I make futuristic roleplays, I often include sexuality, because my sheet resembles a database entry with gathered information. Otherwise, I agree, I don't feel it's at all necessary. If it's a source of distress, it will/should play a role in either the personality or history part, so it's useless as a standalone.


The more I RP the more I feel as if I maybe want to leave out the personality entirely, actually. Just let it play out IC and see where it goes. But I very much do enjoy crafting characters, so coming up with unique personas is fun to me. Also, I'd prefer to avoid cookie cutter edgelord No. 43943984.


I guess I don't really have a set petpeeve. More or less just contextual things I dislike.

 

[call me rae]

I don't even see why "sexuality" should be separated from "personality". Like, are you also going to ask for my character's favourite colour or favourite meal? .

Would it surprise you to know there are people that in fact do ask for favorite food and color in their CS? I mean talk about ridiculous filler, what does the fact that my character likes mac-n-cheese have to do with anything?


Now on to the original point as @ApfelSeine is correct it's mostly put in romance roleplays to ensure that their can be sufficient amount of pairings to help move the plot forward. When a roleplay is specifically about people hooking up than it makes sense for their sexuality to be used as that's directly relevant to the plot.


I also think there is another fairly obvious answer to the question to. Some people ( and consequently some characters ) do define themselves by their sexuality. or at least their sexuality is a genuinely big part of how they see themselves and effects them as a person/character.


That's true to real life. People place different emphasis on different aspects of themselves. Nothing wrong with that.


And a character sheet is designed primarily just to be a reference point for the GM and the player to ensure that a player character fits into a roleplay. So yes sometimes that might give rise to so called "useless" information - or information put into a CS that does not affect the plot or roleplay. But remember your character is supposed to be an actual living person in the roleplay universe.


So they should probably have a favorite color or a favorite food. And some idea of their sexuality. Does that mean those things are important to the roleplay? Not but they are little pieces that make your character seem like a more realized person.


Not saying I won't scrap the lot if it was me personally. But I'm not going to really fuss if someone else has me write them out for my character either.

 

[CloudyBlueDay]

I'm very guilty of asking for sexuality in my CS's, mostly for shipping purposes. Just because the CS asks something doesn't mean it's "vital". I like to have fun with my characters (and CS's), get a little off track, learn the silly bits about them you might not get the chance to learn IC if things are going to be intense. Putting the sexuality of your character doesn't have to mean that's what defines them, of course, but it can help in some aspects, especially for roleplays where you expect romance or the like. If you're worried about the sexuality "caging them in", just put questioning or curious. It's not so big of a deal. Honestly, if the CS had the important stuff (personality, history) I don't mind filling out some fun bits, like favorite color, favorite food. Besides, you never know how that info might be used in the roleplay! WHAT IF THE VERY STRUCTURE OF THE ROLEPLAY IS BASED AROUND COLORS AND FOODS AND NOBODY KNOWS IT???? I myself plan to factor in favorite foods in my next, actually majorly dark-themed, roleplay.


In short, my opinion is that if you feel you can trust the GM, there is no wrong option to put on a CS, and if you don't agree with something there, don't join the rp.

 

[ApfelSeine]

I'm very guilty of asking for sexuality in my CS's, mostly for shipping purposes. Just because the CS asks something doesn't mean it's "vital". I like to have fun with my characters (and CS's), get a little off track, learn the silly bits about them you might not get the chance to learn IC if things are going to be intense. Putting the sexuality of your character doesn't have to mean that's what defines them, of course, but it can help in some aspects, especially for roleplays where you expect romance or the like. If you're worried about the sexuality "caging them in", just put questioning or curious. It's not so big of a deal. Honestly, if the CS had the important stuff (personality, history) I don't mind filling out some fun bits, like favorite color, favorite food. Besides, you never know how that info might be used in the roleplay! WHAT IF THE VERY STRUCTURE OF THE ROLEPLAY IS BASED AROUND COLORS AND FOODS AND NOBODY KNOWS IT???? I myself plan to factor in favorite foods in my next, actually majorly dark-themed, roleplay.
In short, my opinion is that if you feel you can trust the GM, there is no wrong option to put on a CS, and if you don't agree with something there, don't join the rp.

A roleplay about a cooking contest might mean that favorite foods factor in as indications of the characters' tastes, and favorite colors could factor in to give an indication of a character's aesthetic sense (in a roundabout way). Though I would be quite interested to see such things being tied into a dark themed roleplay xD


I think you have a good point that the GM will have their reasons for asking things, even seemingly arbitrary things. There is no "right" way to roleplay in all circumstances, so there is no "right" character sheet for all circumstances. It's all a matter of what people want to do in the end. If people want to learn about a character through extremely detailed character sheets, they can. If they want to wing it and let characters be revealed over time, they can do that too. Or they can find the comfortable place in the middle if that's what they prefer. Everyone has setups that work for them, and others which do not work for them. It's all a matter of taste.

 

[CloudyBlueDay]

A roleplay about a cooking contest might mean that favorite foods factor in as indications of the characters' tastes, and favorite colors could factor in to give an indication of a character's aesthetic sense (in a roundabout way). Though I would be quite interested to see such things being tied into a dark themed roleplay xD

I can't say without spoiling too much, but Time Travel Cheesecake is involved. :v But I swear the rest is serious D:

I think you have a good point that the GM will have their reasons for asking things, even seemingly arbitrary things. There is no "right" way to roleplay in all circumstances, so there is no "right" character sheet for all circumstances. It's all a matter of what people want to do in the end. If people want to learn about a character through extremely detailed character sheets, they can. If they want to wing it and let characters be revealed over time, they can do that too. Or they can find the comfortable place in the middle if that's what they prefer. Everyone has setups that work for them, and others which do not work for them. It's all a matter of taste.

Exactly what I was thinking.