ngl it's been really cool to see the responses to this q, so i do want to add my own:
+ fundamentally? attitude of the rp-er. my last few rp experiences have rlly like, made me a lot more open to being interested / seeing things in characters i wouldn't normally like / would consider uninteresting / may even outright dislike that i do find cool, interesting, or at the very least "hey, yeah, i have to give props here" and that shift in view majorly has to do with rp-er attitude. if you're trying your best, are enthusiastic about your material and others' material, open to things, throw back ideas and are willing to bounce back, get things done, etc -- fuck it, that's more important than whether or not i disagree with character traits or their portrayals, whether or not the writing is or isn't poetry to rival richard siken, w/e else. i'll find something to like and appreciate about your character, even if they originally didnt jive well to me, if the attitude, heart, and willingness to rp and make a story is clearly there. i've seen and interacted with far too many rp-ers whose characters were good on paper, writing incredible, so on - but weren't the best people oocly; in the same way i've interacted and seen far too many rp-ers who my first impression of their character was pretty lackluster, only to be genuinely surprised and end up eating my words when i saw how the rp-er can step up to the occasion, roll with the punches, and just make spaces feel good. and genuinely, the latter is really the reminder to me of why it's so fun to see ppl's characters and plots in action.
on an actual character level though, some + points for me tend to be:
+ devil's advocate to a couple previous posts when i say this: but playing around with the freeform. i like the creativity it offers! and honestly, these past few months i've found that profiles that exercise brevity and have some unique / stylistic approach (i.e. text logs, transcripts, vignettes, poetry, articles) are more memorable to me and really helps make the character feel, like, a character for me. i just love seeing how ppl can push the boundaries of creativity in freeform apps, and that gives me a gauge of how they might approach rp, characters, writing, etc. also the briefer the better; i have mad respect for briefer apps, and believe that if you can portray the vibes and energy of the character in less than a few paragraphs -- that's a strong character voice.
+ not necessarily manga caps, but unpopular fcs in general, or fcs from places you may not expect. there's no deep reason for it; i just like seeing the variety and it also broadens my pool of places to grab fcs from mwahahaha
+ characters, and rp-ers of said characters, willing to take Ls and work upwards to get Ws ! i have MASSIVE respect for that. it's definitely a personal taste thing, but my favorite narratives revolve around flawed characters losing a lot and having to Work with gritted teeth to get what they want and/or succeed. so i always love seeing characters who can be knocked down several pegs, don't always have to be on top, don't always have to be cool, don't always have to be badass, don't have to always be right, so on. make 'em fail, make 'em lash out, make 'em unlikeable, make 'em make stupid choices, etc. it makes it all them all the more interesting and legit to me, and also makes their Ws even stronger and more satisfying to watch.
+ in addition to the above: characters who can embrace absurdity, be silly, be vulnerable, etc. maybe they don't have to like it icly, but if they're in absurdist threads that challenge their "too cool / too badass / too serious / etc." personality, i love it.
+ and just like, flawed(?) characters as a whole. one piece of writing criticism i've kept to heart growing up was that if people dislike a character's choices because of the character / the character's deliberate flaws leading to that choice, then that's a successful / strong character. if people dislike a character's choices because of the writer / the way in which the writing lead to that choice didn't make sense, then that's a character that might need work (best example of this latter bit being game of thrones s8). ofc its not like, that black and white, especially in rp, but it's still a piece of writing opinion i do like when it comes to character work. (personally too, it's kinda satisfying hearing people didn't like my character because of deliberate flaws they have. in a roundabout way it just kinda reads that i got the characterization right, idk.)
|
