There are a lot of things that make a good rp character, imo. Personally if I’m reading an app, I’m always going to read the freeform section and/or history section. I think it’s very easy to spot a character that has had time and effort put into it by how well written those sections are. I always read the apps of whomever I’m writing with, and I assume everyone does the same? I dunno.

but you can always tell when someone didn’t spend a lot of time writing an app. I’m not saying every character app you write needs to be an essay by any means; but i should be able to understand your character at least half as well as you do from the app. If I walk away from reading an application with little idea of what a character is like, I feel like you’ve objectively failed the point of the app.

A good rp character should be dynamic, and have notable flaws and strengths. I should be able to tell you what those flaws and strengths are, and not come up empty. As someone who writes almost exclusively “bad guys” or morally dubious at best, I find the balance of strengths and weaknesses to be even more important. Writing evil characters or characters with few positive traits is hard, but that is the sign of a competent writer. The same can be said for “good” characters as well, just in reverse. I think “good” characters often get the short end of the stick, as it can be really challenging to write someone with few instantly recognizably “bad” traits without coming off as being a Mary Sue. 

What makes a good rp character is the attitude of the rper

It sounds like a cope out answer but it really is the only answer in my eyes. It doesn’t matter how good the character is when the rper is isn’t plotting and threading with people, having fun and expressing their character

I always have way more fun with rpers whose grammar and writing isn’t great or/and whose rping isn’t what would make people turn their heads. Because ultimately in creative writing, they really aren’t the most important.

And i end up loving their character because of them. They don’t even need an app. Just show me your love for your baby and treat me and my character with respect bc you are also down to learn about others too.

Simple and elegant answer that I can get completely behind. Because I can say with great confidence, that 9.9 times out of 10 my grievances in RPs have always been an issue not with the characters, but the writers behind them. Like, I've had my share of reading characters that have pretty interesting profiles - like say, has an interesting backstory, a neat gimmick, a strong personality, etc. - but when we do get down to threading the RP experience fell massively short because the RPer writing that character turned out to be a petulant little shit with an ego that could fill a castle.

Here are my judgy opinions.

APPs
I don't need apps to be long but I would like them to have actual facts in it, the more concrete the better (but I rarely see actual numbers put in).
E.g. born here, names of family, years spent doing x, jobs, specific hobby or liking random object y.
This gives me ton of plot points to work with and things to reference even when the character isn't present.
I can work with less but I avoid apps that that either have nothing or are overly emotional/narrative freeform.
I got less patient as I got older and really can't vibe with long monologues anymore. I just want to know who is your daddy and what does he do.

FCs
I am wary of characters that are made with very recently popular faceclaims, like the show just came out. I associate this with dramatic muse shift rpers.
Conversely, if I see someone using manga caps I'm all in, sign me up.

i may not agree with the list but i do have to respect the bravery and honesty :)))

A good character, to me, is one that is adaptable and can evolve over time, rather than being the same person throughout an entire experience. It can be really hard sometimes to accomplish character growth and development in the right kind of way, especially without having to experience such things yourself. Characters that have the ability to change the way they see the world or interact with it because of events that happen in their "lives", or experience a reasonable and natural growth pattern are by far some of the best characters I've ever written or rp'ed with.

I've talked about this elsewhere, but I will also die on the hill that standard "long-form" histories are clearly development that belong in Development forums, not the place where I'm just trying to see how old your character was when they moved to the city so mine's been a childhood friend for how many years

Please for the love of hot muscle ladies, can we normalize bullet-point timelines??

I have the controversial opinion that this goes for abilities/magic/super intricate tech, too. Just tell me in general how your character approaches problems, we have the whole thread to talk specifics

A lot of my enjoyment of another person's character comes from the experiencing plotting / threading with that person. I can / will RP with just about anyone, will explore a plethora of topics and personalities etc; but if the vibe is off from the person -- its gonna make the character an ick for me too. I think that being communicative, and offering something that gives plotting points is also super important. 

To Stallas' point - give me facts about your character, if you can't weave a thought together to present for a plot, perhaps if you say: 
- They were in the academy from this year to this year. Then they traveled to the Western World of Terros for 5 years where they were a mercenary, then they got bla bla bla .. I can see if my own history coincides and toss together an idea. 

A big thing I've found in recent times is, I would 90% of the time prefer to intertwine a backstory, regardless of how minimal into my threads rather than meet and greets.  They just always feel stale and very, very seldom has it ever really expanded beyond that singular thread. I'd rather them know each other - whether by reputation, a friend, their own brief meeting or history; it gives the thread a bit of oomph, and more to work with then trying to explain why my character gonna hang out with this dude at the bar.  So a character that isn't like "I have been in isolation for 42 years" is definitely preferable to me. 


Regarding apps, and this is a me thing -- I've said it before -- I'll say it again. If it is a JOB to read through, I'm just not going to. I don't wanna read your 9k word application - it can be beautifully written and excellent prose, but my brain immediately zones out when the scroll bar shrivels up. It just difficult to get through, and its a barrier for me - so I prefer quick overview and some specific details/wants.  

But I'm also low-key an app hater so, there's that too LOL I get why they are a thing and their value, I just hate writing them. 

Characters are as fun as their writer's make them, if they are engaging and easy to create stories with; that makes it good to me. 

what i try to add:
- unique quirks. i'm talking like verbal quirks or appearances or like bits/gags that i repeatedly slap on them: i think a lot of ppl underestimate the power of a representative symbol/thing/idea for a character especially in terms of getting them established in a world or other people's awareness when plotting. ex. 2nd spiderverse movie "chai tea", bakugou mha nicknaming every other character, etcetera. helps people remember your character and draw connections between them and other things. would i say this makes for a better character not really...BUT i would say it def makes for a better/smoother rp experience even if in small ways because making your character "relevant" for lack of a better word or memorable to other rpers is a plus for any plotting or whatever you plan to pursue
- flaws. i wrote mary sues and it wasn't even like when i was seven it was like...decently recent and i admit it ok !!! nowadays i try to inject flaws into my characters, and i specifically try to avoid like. "they're just TOO good and TOO incredible and everyone else takes ADVANTAGE of their INCREDIBLY PURE NATURE" as flaws, and head towards more "stingy" or "delusional" or "no sense of boundaries" or "short-tempered" instead. i also try to portray their flaws as like...not ONLY AWFUL things most of the time but also like...conditionally flaws? for example yes they're stingy (bad) but they're also cost conscious and good with a budget (good), they're delusional (bad) but in like an optimistic way (good).

keep an eye out for:
- overattachment/overprojection. def guilty of this in the past (sry 2 anyone who knew me...im better now i swear) but if someone takes stuff about their character as a personal thing you need 2 run asap. like if MY character hates YOUR character it doesnt mean i hate you !! if MY character rejects YOUR character it doesnt mean i hate you !! this doesn't only apply to bad things either. if my character thinks yours is pretty and suddenly you're in my dms and we're like bffs even tho we've never talked before i will also be like hmmm...
- plot availability. if your character hates all other people, hates talking, hates being in public spaces...im sorry i don't have the energy to be chasing after your character and leading the thread and forcing them to be together even if its "ic" behavior !!! characters who need other characters to "prove" themselves to them or "spark their interest or whatever"...i would rather play an otome game im sorry </3 i also appreciate initiative and try to avoid characters who don't have it: stuff like characters who only "follow" without adding their own action to move the thread forward isn't fun to me, and that doesn't mean every character has to be the most go-getter manic pixie girl, but they need to give some sort of emotional or verbal response that prompts something in the thread imo even if they are a follower!!

profile:
- reputation. obsessed w/reputation systems in a bridgertonesque way (i have never seen bridgerton). LOVE epithets LOVE seeing people's perceptions of a character. i think this is like...the part that is most usually relevant to me as an rper because it's a shorthand of what the rper expects their character to come across as/is trying to make their character like even if its not 100% true (because obvi more rp = more depth = more revealed!!)
- plot hooks. the more interesting the better for ex. "our characters might have known each other six years ago bc they went to the same school" vs "my char was like publicly pathetically crushing on the most popular girl in school and publicly, like, promposal-ing her every week, a fact that still haunts his rep to adulthood"/"he works at ye olde generic tavern" versus "works at and has been ensuring ye olde generic tavern's drinks are more water than alcohol"
- detailedness. personally i prefer lots of details but only the interesting ones, axe whatever isn't relevant and i don't really need the app to be in like. proper sentence form either

for me

look to add:

- ease of plotting. i do love like my edgy porcupines, but i try to give them some reason to not immediately screech everyone down.
- concise backstory/character analysis, mostly because it drives me batty when people interact and they’ve obviously not read the app. if it’s short (maybe) they will…

avoid:

- being too niche/front-loading them with too many flaws. i’m chronically unable to not indulge myself where my hobbies are concerned though so lol

for others

keep an eye out for:

- “good” ooc behavior. are they chill, do they seem nice/honest, etc. ofc i don’t need to have any ooc link with someone to rp with them, but i don’t wanna write with people who just personally give me bad vibes y’know.
- good writing…not really prose/style but whether or not their ongoing plots interest me/match up to things i like. 
- a willingness to be silly and vulnerable with their character. especially if that silliness/vulnerability isn’t something meticulously plotted or romantic in nature. 

avoid:

- people who take their characters (and themselves…) too seriously. ex: ooc whinging regarding ic perceptions can be a real turn off. any kind of ooc bragging or boasting makes me cringe
- really long apps. i’m lazy and i don’t feel like reading through 2k words for a shot at Maybe plotting and threading with someone.

A character that fits into the story we're writing and that I can easily play against.

I play in appless environments a lot (I primarily do MMO RP and Pathfinder these days), so an app length doesn't matter to me, and I'm probably not even gonna read an app unless I'm approving it or I NEED to know something from it tbh. I prefer plotters to apps, because I don't actually want to know everything about your character. Give me a tl;dr with plot hooks, please.

If you have a plotter, I will read that. I cannot overstate how much I prefer knowing what you want to write with the character instead of what the character has already been through. I am fine learning history and personality and powers and shit through IC, unless they're relevant to our starting plot. But I only want the most relevant tidbits. It's more fun to me to "get to know" the character as I go.

I’m also going to be a grump about this. But also with no formatting because im just gonna brain barf

— +1 to manga caps. I feel like there’s this reliance on popular fcs or good art to help a character stand out when I think it’s the writing that stands out. Using bw manga caps shows me that you’re confident enough in your own characterization to make people not gaf about graphics. love that
— Biographies. Oh my god biographies. if you must freeform at least give me a tl;dr at the bottom summarizing the big bullet points. I’m not going to know what to do just by feeling out your character vibe. I feel like actual “histories” are unfashionable now and it makes me very sad.
— I want characters that feel “lived-in” to the setting. If I can take your prince and slot him in any other feudal AU then … IDK I feel like you can do more with that. When people incorporate past timeline events into their bios??? Sooooooooo good. Soooooo yummy
— I think boons/flaws is too binary of a way to think about characterization. Balancing the two sides was always the most annoying part of how old profiles were set up. Like IDK I know people IRL who are smarts AND brave AND kind and don’t have any major fucked up backstory. Those people exist! I think the more interesting approach is “do you have authorial awareness about that character.” For EX: If I play an overly nice character I acknowledge that more cynical characters may suspect them of being insincere at first. If someone is smart then I qualify what “smart” means, and flesh out their specializations so that “smart” doesn’t just feel like a narrative bludgeon again their intellectual lessers.
— Conversely I’m very eye emoji when apps describe the character as “a genius” or “charismatic” or “persuasive” and their actual writing is not… that. Don’t write a hotshot lawyer if your actual character is inclined to make 1093824903274392485 logical mistakes. Or if your character is supposed to be popular with women but his actual personality comes off as more an incel. Or the character doesn’t manage to convince anybody of anything. Doing that is forcing other people to have to make logical leaps/justifications in order to maintain narrative consistency. Which just isn’t fun.

edit: ALSO NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE A SUBVERSION TO BE INTERESTING. My fav canons are usually the ones who really lean into their role instead of just lashing out against it. IDK it's like you were born rich raised rich so ur going to have to work REALLY HARD in the backstory to convince me that yes your character is really actually miserable and wants to see a different way forward.

the role player.

A good writer can make such a cut and dry trope-reliant, popular fc character feel amazing. I can't identify qualities that absolutely make a great character because, to me, the execution is what sells it.