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Face claims or descriptions?

I can see the reasons for either, but I certainly appreciate any source material my partner wishes to share. Nor, do I mind using my imagination.
 
i like my rp partner to give me 2-3 faceclaims for MC.. that way I know he is into her and I'll pick the one I like. we both are happy
 
The annoying thing about face claims is some people are strictly realistic and some people prefer anime or cartoons or video game CGI type characters. I feel like a character in writing can be all of those if you have a strong enough imagination.

If I have an anime face claim for my most fleshed out character but my partner hates anime it doesn't help me too much.
 
I like faceclaims and picture references because it cuts down on time spent describing your character and gets you to the fun faster. ๐Ÿ˜˜
 
All of them have their benefits, but I think when it comes down to it, I prefer descriptions. Leaves a lot to the imagination. ​
 
I would highly prefer a description over someone using a cartoon/anime FC. pictures of real life people skeeve me out for FC's so I guess illustrations/commissions are a lot easier for me to digest.
 
Most of time the "face claim" itself is an inspiration for me. It's the spring board for a character or plot idea.
And I think having something sensory to see helps. Roleplaying isn't the same as reading a book for me, so I like a bit of multimedia.

Having images in a requests thread too helps break it up a bit, I feel, so it isn't just text.
Once a story is doven into, however, I just do descriptions.

Fandomizer said:
The annoying thing about face claims is some people are strictly realistic and some people prefer anime or cartoons or video game CGI type characters. I feel like a character in writing can be all of those if you have a strong enough imagination.

If I have an anime face claim for my most fleshed out character but my partner hates anime it doesn't help me too much.
Click to expand...

See, I've always seen using "face claims" as a strictly inspirational thing, and never felt it had to be one or the other, even within a particular roleplay. So I don't mind mixing anime with realistic art with photographs. But I guess some people feel image use is to set a tone, so, only use photos for a realistic rp, only use anime for a cartoony fantasy rp... I just don't feel that need.
 
I always do both. I'll provide a faceclaim for a character, but won't use that as an excuse to skip out on describing them in a post. My descriptions are very detailed, and I treat the pictures I use as a means of emphasizing and painting a clearer picture of what I'm portraying. The combination seems to be well received by most of my partners, but the important key is to not be lazy about either side of it.
 
I prefer descriptions. Most face claims aren't true to what the character should look like. When I use a face claim I always tell my partner it is more an example of what they look like rather than anything definite. Sometimes I add things like "Imagine this but taller/shorter or longer hair/more muscled etc"
 
I strongly strongly prefer having face claims, I am very much someone who visualizes what is happening while writing/reading so having the reference makes everything come easier to me.
 
In the end, I prefer having an image to work off of, be it a face claim or a drawn picture. I think being able to share a few options with my writing partner and trying to find out what their ideal character for the situation is will always lead to a more enjoyable story. There are pieces of information that descriptions won't be able to cover unless both of us spend a bit too much time truly setting up the character.

The same goes with settings. I think there are times where you can keep the flow of the story going much more smoothly by throwing in a picture of the room your character just entered and then adding onto it with your own descriptions.
 
I struggle with faceclaims, usually because when I'm creating a character a certain image/feel for them is conjured in my head and then I struggle to find a photo/picture that "fits". If I use them, I also tend to use artwork rather than real photos - though usually not anime style art. Generally I don't use faceclaims unless it's a requirement of a perspective writing partner and then I'm open to talking about it.

I'm less attached when it comes to one-shots. More character/plot intensive stories are more of a struggle for the above reasons.
 
I like the combination of both. Often times I find face claims lacking what I want to portray in my character, so I'll add in little description notes. I do feel like face claims give a better feel of a character but sometimes I feel like I get lazy in my writing by just slapping up a face claim.
 
I definitely like both! It is important to describe characters using lots of detail as that is the part of roleplay I love most. But I want my partner to really be able to really picture my character.

I usually play with men, and I love playing as girls that make them super hard so sending face claims really helps with that I feel so they can finally fuck one of their dream women.

But I do not like face claims for the men I RP with. I generally like just sticking to descriptions for men I find it more attractive for me.
 
If I use a face claim, I tend to prefer anime. However, secondary, I will be totally fine with written descriptions. This last one is a preference when the visual is just not working out.
 
Something I was totally caught off guard with was someone who would not play with me because I preferred face claims. I found that rather stupid because my preference for face claims does not mean I have to use them, I can describe a character. People can be, weird sometimes.
 
I use both. I can do description only but I find it a bit harder to get 'in' to that. I am a visual person and prefer to have images to help accentuate descriptions. Or is it vice versa?
 
I always use images as references to my characters, and will expect them from my partners. I tend to prefer whichever medium fits the vibe of the role-play I'm going with. Since I play a lot of fandom, that will usually cause my preference to fluctuate. I recently had been planning a role-play, but my partner wanted to use an illustration. Normally I might not mind this, since it was comic book related, but I'm currently in the headspace of thinking about the setting and characters with more of a realism slant. I have trouble thinking about more realistic and gritty details when I'm considering the characters to look like illustrations. There's also the problem of style matching the images to insure a consistent look to the role-play.

I require character reference, because I never trust my partners to paint an adequate picture of their character, nor do I trust them to uphold a level of total consistency. Quite often you have instances where an eye color changes, or suddenly a jawline is described differently than it was before, or a bust is this size or that size. Furthermore, if I forget those details about my partner's character, I'd rather not have to go shifting through posts to find the details.

Believe it or not, when someone cares about color then the words azure, sapphire, and ocean blue are not the same color eyes. A reference gives me an accurate master to reference when my partner decides to get poetic.

A common solution is to create character profiles where a description is outlined. This is handy, but does not totally solve all of my problems.

Most importantly, I have trouble holding a visual image super well in my head. I get snippets or blurry/foggy/shifting images. I'm best at seeing an image and then capturing that within the limited scope of my ability to visualize. Conceptualizing and rendering an image in my head from scratch is very difficult for me. Having some reference images to look at, at least for the characters, allows me to look at something and draw inspiration from it.

Even the most skilled writers can be vague about a character's description. Many novels bank on this fact or gloss it over. A recent controversy concerning the skin color of Hermione Granger is a good example of this. There's not much written about what she looks like specifically, and proponents for a certain skin color don't have too much to draw from. It should be an easy case to demolish with many different examples. This is not to stir up argument about this particular issue, but to illustrate (haha) the problem with relying on description alone. While role-playing is different than writing a novel and a higher level of description might be expected, due to the interactive and collaborative nature, who is so grand that they can always meet such lofty requirements? I doubt I am.
 
Faceclaims all the way. A picture is worth a thousand words, and that's no cliche. I firmly believe that, as we're working in a multimedia environment, we should make use of stuff like faceclaims and other imagery to help enhance the story.
 
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