Is it the level of detail, the quality of writing, how much the character might relate to yours, their backstory, etc.?
Are there any nos/red flags besides the obvious taboo stuff? Lack of grammar, spelling, and punctuation come to mind, but to each their own.
I saw someone the other day with an incredible TRP who was getting walkup after walkup. The next time I saw them, there were RPers surrounding them like flies on around a bright lamp.
Penny for your thoughts
I’m going to confess something.
I don’t read 95% of all TRPs.
I meet a lot of new characters so it gets kind of cumbersome to do. So generally I favor short and sweet profiles with quick RP hooks over long descriptions. But I will say that some have managed to catch my eye, either by being so well written that I enjoy reading the descriptions, or being so unique I can’t NOT read it.
Usually the most popular or eyecatching are non-player races, like ogres, dryads, or arakkoa. They tend to just turn heads for being so foreign that many people want to ICly ask what they’re doing in Orgrimmar/Stormwind.
Lack of grammar spelling and punctuation are the least of my concerns. I like full but short profiles that give me the information I need to build an interaction but makes it readable in the moment. I will ignore profiles that have a bunch of stuff filled out with paragraphs because I’m not interested in reading more than a few sentences at a time when trying to learn about a character.
A quick, but informative read. It also really stokes my fire when people use the “at a glance” slots for actual visual ques about the character. I’ve noticed a lot of people use them to list their characters thoughts, history, etc. If I can give someone’s TRP a quick look and gather enough information to formulate an idea of how/why to approach and engage that character, then that’s a good TRP in my opinion. A good TRP should function as a welcome mat for RP.
You’re going to find many different definitions here. It’s not something an objective metric can easily be applied too–some prefer crisp brevity, some don’t mind reading novellas. Some don’t want too much detail and others drink it up. Some are put off by loose grammar and typos, and others don’t mind that at all.
In the end you’ve got to write what appeals most to you and what feels and flows best. You’ll be the one looking at it more than anyone else.
If spelling, grammar and punctuation are an issue in a TRP, I honestly don’t bother to read very far into it. If a person can’t be bothered to put forth a token amount of effort into the presentation of their own profile, I don’t usually have high hopes for quality, text-based RP.
The TRP is the “first impression,” were I to see your character from across the room and pick out a few key details; it shouldn’t be more than two or three short paragraphs to pique my curiosity. In general, physical characteristics are what I’m interested in reading about. I like good, detailed descriptions of a character’s appearance and general mannerisms, perhaps with a few simple RP hooks. If the character has unusual features or equipment that is plainly visible, then I appreciate being able to read about it up front. You get bonus points if you’ve put forth reasonable effort in making your in-game avatar’s appearance align with your TRP description (within the constraints of the game, of course).
I don’t much care to read someone’s whole, involved backstory, or extended family history, or pages and pages of anything. Again, the TRP is simply the first impression. Anything beyond that, I prefer to discover organically over the course of RP.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Sassy answer: Talk about nothing but donuts and how much your character loves them.
Mmm. Donuts.
Gorram it, now I want donuts.
You monsters, I’ve been holding to this diet for close to three months now.
Proper grammar is a must; it is a requirement for my RP, as it makes it more engaging and immersive. When the sentences don’t flow because they’re interrupted with typos, it can break immersion because I’m trying to figure out what they have to say.
I like short and sweet - just a few paragraphs, highlighting the interesting things about the character, and what makes them stand out from all the other characters (not appearance-wise, but just… as a character).
I also like the first glances. They give me opportunities to engage with the character. If it’s interesting, it gives me a hook to go off of, and it’s easier to walk up to them. Maybe they have an interesting item with them, or have a specific smell, or some feature about them that gauges interest. Any physical information that gives me a reason to approach makes it good.
(so BASICALLY)
1.) Well-written.
2.) Short and sweet.
3.) Stands out from other profiles (in a good way).
4.) Gives opportunities for engagement.
Also, if they seem friendly in any of the OOC information, I’m more inclined to approach.
As with many others I tend to prefer brevity in a profile. I think they are best when they dominantly present information that is relevant to onlookers; generally low on prose or extraneous information.
While not explicitly required I also appreciate a listing of hooks for potential engagement.
These next two may be more accurately seen as peeves but I feel they’re relevant enough to mention here:
I also personally don’t care for custom font colors, as many cases of that I’ve seen were in too dark of a shade to be easily legible. In such cases I tend to ignore the profile entirely.
I also don’t care for folks who dump all their character’s info in the At a Glance tabs. I don’t believe those tabs were meant for that much information. In addition it overall makes things difficult to read when paragraphs worth of content is crammed into a relatively small box.
I’m not gonna lie. My TRP has always been subjected to spontaneous editing and random rewrites at the drop of a hat. My writing style changes so often and so rapidly that my profiles never stay the same for too long, and it’s an honest epidemic at this rate.
The way I see it, first glances are just that; they’re what you see and what you gather from a brief cursory glimpse. If your glances are longer than a paragraph, I’m probably not going to read it- simple as that. Regardless, though, I’m guilty of having a fairly long biography. I use it to describe the character’s appearance in depth, while also hinting towards possible hooks and points of interest.
If my glances get someone’s interest enough to get a full look at my TRP, great! If not, then I’ve also made it so it’s not a necessity to read a great big hulk of words, because all of the juicy stuff has already been read before they get there.
What I like…
FIRST GLANCES. If your character has obvious differences in appearance from your model or obvious mannerisms central to the character, then put that in your first glances, not your character background. Make the title self-explanatory and limit it to a couple of sentences at most. This makes it easier for me to mouse over and gather information as you walk by.
I don’t mind if all the rest is a dozen pages worth of superfluous backstory. If I have you stopping, then I can read that at my leisure. I do prefer it when people put obvious information/public knowledge up top and more obscure information/general history down below, though.
In short, keep all the more relevant stuff up front and easy to find. Don’t make people have to dig or pour through large amounts of material just to get a feel for the character.
Donut you do it.
I prefer something brief. Give me a brief summery for history of your going to put anything at all. Other than that I prefer a TRP that focuses on things other characters would notice at first glance.
I’m with the Save History For RP crowd.
We don’t just look at people and know their stories.
Plus, some of these profiles are hella lengthy and I just don’t have the patience to read like 19 paragraphs to decide if I want to even talk to them.
Gimme some hooks, some things I’d notice at a glance and let’s go from there.
I really like the at a glances feature. Have all five of them filled out if you want, but at least it’s an easy way to say what the other person sees.
I don’t mind long profiles if they’re not filled with needless embellishments. I don’t usually read other people’s profiles unless I’ve been rping with them for some time though.
Plus, remember that profiles don’t need to be read by everyone. Put whatever you want in there and people who are going to read it, will. Thankfully you don’t get an RP score based on how many views your profile has. Imagine The toxicity that would generate!
I’m with a lot of other people here: while I personally love reading long TRPs, when I’m actually roleplaying, short, sweet, and informative is best. A big reason for this is that I wanna be able to glean what’s important about someone’s character quickly, so I can start composing stuff for them to work with right away. I do a lot of impromptu RP, so this is harder to do if I have to skim through a big, chunky backstory looking for hooks. I believe it’s better, even in your bio pages, to focus on details about your character that matter most when it comes to interacting with them: I’ve gotten a lot more compliments on my shorter profiles for this reason, I think!
Also, this?
This right here is extremely important for me as well. I’ve passed over characters I’ve otherwise been really interested in because the player seems stand offish, rude, or otherwise just plain mean in their OOC text. I’ve seen people make fun of it because it’s honestly pretty common, but telling people you’re friendly or that you want walk-ups can make such a big difference in how many takers you get. I’d much rather write with someone nice than someone with amazing prose.
Ones that let you know the important stuff upfront. Also ones with hooks. And if you’d let me know that it is ok to whisper you to set up future rp, it makes me way more likely to do it.
I usually don’t think to read profiles until I’m knee deep in them so at a glance and currently sections are nice since you see them on mouseover.