I know that some people like to do really extensive profiles, and I don’t begrudge them of it. It’s not unlike writing stories for your character, maybe even a little like scrapbooking, and if a really deep dive into what makes the character tick, or a comprehensive history, or knowing exactly what kind of equipment they have on them at all times makes you personally connect to your character more and interests you, do it!
Not gonna lie, though, imma skim that bad boy. Lightly.
If you put everything about your character into your RP profile, wha’s the point in RPing with you when I already know everything about you?
My primary RP activity these days is often limited to just sitting in a city and reading TRPs, so more is better so long as it’s not repetitive or redundant.
I feel like the more people write in their profiles, the more of a sense you get about their writing style. While obviously it can still be fun to RP with people who write with brevity, a larger sample size is helpful if I want to consider RPing with that person.
My main’s TRP consists of nothing more than the informational section filled in, and a catchy slogan in the description, only four words. My character follows his model’s appearance pretty well, and he’s an easily established character. I try not to let my TRP define my character, but his story.
i don’t usually read them but more power to those who love to write and read them
Back when I played MUDs I had the idea of “But how do you see that?” drilled into me. My TRP descriptions end up short and to the point because of that.
I think it’s up to personal preference. I typically write just a very brief background. For Tragan I filled in a lot more but he’s an old character that has been in RP for a long time.
I think the only logical argument for “Less is More” is the idea that some people can’t help but metagame and so you are helping them by not telling them things their character shouldn’t know.
Other than that though, not really? People who don’t care about the extra details don’t have to read them. The rest is a matter of the quality of your profile. You want the most important information listed first so that people who only want the essentials can get them easily, for example. I like to have a basic info section first, then a backstory and personality section separate from that.
While I don’t believe shortness itself can be argued to be a virtue, I do believe that brevity is a virtue. A profile that has many words but says very little is not good. However, if you have a lot to say and you can maintain a sense of brevity to avoid purple prose and keep readers engaged, I think that’s a strong quality in a writer!
Yep I think less is more here. I usually just use it to briefly describe the character’s appearance or visible traits that can be seen IC cus imo that way not only will most people bother reading it but it will also be beneficial for the overall rp encounter
Cus lets be honest, nobody reads the novels about other ppl’s characters, it’s what happens IC that really matters
I love having more to read. I like giving the reader that option of having more.
I’m guilty of skipping over peoples history section if it’s longer than a paragraph. My character doesn’t know your character yet - knowing that information personally is useless. Share your history via RP.
It all depends on the content as well. A chunk of my char’s trp is dedicated to how they interact with others, or what kind of gear they’re wearing or what they have on them.
Additionally, for those who chose to use TRP as their personal wiki- there’s a perfectly good wiki site for the server that one could utilize instead, along with google docs to give more permanency to the information.
As someone who uses my TRP as a personal wiki for most things aside from Personality and History (which I believe is something that should be kept private), I disagree. One can always use external sources, but its very nice to have this information accessible in game without having to tab out.
Tabbing out mid scene to check a wiki page or a google doc is tedious and from personal experience, detracts from the scene at hand.
That being said always back up your TRP in google docs or a similar format! You never know when it will get wiped and you’ll need a back up!
As a little PSA, there’s ways of finding the file and telling software such as Google Drive to automatically upload a copy of this file to your drive every day or so. This way your TRP:3 profile is automatically backed up in the event of unpredictable catastrophe.
No no no!
The more the better in my opinion!
It’s honestly sad how so many ppl barely fill out TRPs, or even leave them empty!
I understand not wanting to write a book, but just a few details would be great!
I also understand the reasoning of “I leave my TRP blank so you can RP with me to find out more about me” but i personally like to get a gist of the character and person beforehand…and also, i feel like when ppl have NOTHING written down it’s hard to keep track of what you’re saying and therefore their lore is constantly changing and shifting to fit what they’re saying in the moment, even if it’s a total contradiction to something they said earlier…which is a major turn off to me.
I personally come from 10+ years of forum RPing, so I’m used to writing hefty character sheets and posts, therefore all my TRPs are pretty long and detailed. However, i do create a TLDR/OOC section at the bottom of my TRPs that highlights the main points, and i separate my personality section from the history section…hoping that at the very least ppl will read the personality and TLDR OOC section at the bottom!
![:slight_smile:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")
Amen to that, a long TRP that is properly fleshed out is fantastic at consistency. You have no idea how many times the small details about characters seems to be lost - left hand right hand, dominant eye, height, etc. etc. Honestly, most players I see hand wave the little stuff like dominant hand by saying they are ambidextrous and the like.
Even if no one else reads your TRP, its a fantastic resource available to you for improving consistency with your RP.
That being said? I tend to leave out both Personality and History from my TRP for two reasons; Both are something that are best to discover through RP rather than info dump and the fact that a large TRP can negatively affect in game performance, especially if someone has laggy internet or a low end CPU.
I absolutely keep a (private) document for both of those, but for my TRP I keep them out to leave a little bit of mystery and to keep the file size down.
For myself as a guard, I’ve always found that more is better. We come into regular contact with trolls for instance, so usually a fully or semi-filled out TRP can really help us avoid people who just want to cause trouble.
Additionally, it also helps on their side too if they perhaps want to come off as credible, or simply provide more information to the players they are roleplaying with (i.e. appearance etc.).
THIS!
I know I shouldn’t, and try not to…but sometimes if I see someone without a MRP or TRP at all, or with one that’s basically empty, I automatically wonder if they’re a troll or someone who doesn’t care about RPing much.
There just seems to be SO MUCH trolling in the major hubs now…
It’s fun to read TRPs of all sizes.
I personally do quick footnotes of what my character did in [x] expansion. Things to give a bit of background to her character while not giving it all away at once. I love it when folks fill out their “at a glace” sections.
The thing is though, unless it’s clear they’re trolling, they may be new to the RP scene. Not really nice to ignore RPers just because they’re not using an addon or have a TRP as fleshed out as you like or are used to. I’ve met some great RPers who have had skimpy to no profiles.
People forget too that just because someone has a lot going on in their TRP doesn’t mean they’re a -good- RPer either. I’m a forum RPer generally, been so for over 12 years, I’ve written every length under the sunlight. But it doesn’t matter if you have 12 paragraphs if it contributes nothing. Congratulations, you can type a lot.
I’ve seen some TRPs that were like mini novels that literally described each thread of their characters armor and yet still nothing about that actual character.
Good and bad RPers come in all text sizes and I’ve noticed a growing trend of people ignoring those who are just more casual.
As for trolls - they’re easy to pick out and even easier to ignore. At most you wasted 5 minutes on them.
Please don’t respond to me and insinuate i said anything about ignoring people who don’t have TRPs or profiles . I never even mentioned the word Ignore once on this thread until just now.
I wouldn’t ignore anyone for any reason short of them being beyond toxic or offensive to RPers trying to RP in peace.
I know what it’s like to be constantly ignored, do not insinuate I would ignore someone because of a silly profile and not give them a chance.