With the release of the new Character Creation guidelines, including the new template, I have decided to host an open forum of sorts to answer community questions regarding the changes. Any questions ranging from what changes were made, how the update works, and our thought process behind the changes are all up for discussion. I will do my best to answer all questions at my first available opportunity. As of this moment, this discussion is set to remain open for one week's time, after which this thread will be locked.

Thank you in advance,

JMN

First and foremost i would like to congratulate all of the staff that worked on the new character guidelines as they look stunning, and over all look good, however i do have a few questions.

First, is there a possibility we can get a complete change list, of all that was reformatted from the previous guidelines so more veteran members know exactly what changed, here is what I've noted so far.

• Rp sample removed, and no longer required
  
• Likes, and dislikes combined into interests
  
• Fears combined into motivations
  
• (Probably the most important change IMO) Hair style/Length is no longer required under "Hair" and has simply been changed to hair color.

Second, I've noticed under the Naruto Sample application that Naruto's Positive SC is will of fire, which while unique functions similarly to strong-willed. IS this something future applicants will be allowed to do with their positives/negative, or can we expect will of fire to be added into the positive special characteristics soon.

Third, I've noticed the new images separating each section are no longer centered as they were in the last guidelines. If a member prefers the image to be centered as it was in the last guidelines, are they going to be forbidden from doing so?

All of my questions for now. the new guidelines look amazing, and i can't wait to try them out when i inevitably make another character <3
-Ash

Thank you for your questions!

1.) You're right, this should be done. I will edit the complete list of changes into the Update Log after work, today.

2.) Will of Fire may be added a Konoha-only option when the Special Characteristics Guidelines are examined. For now, it is simply an appropriate placeholder in a sample meant to demonstrate the appropriate method of completion.

3.) The graphics are not meant to be centered. As with the previous template, it is to be completed as provided with no editing outside of the contents of each field and an optional character image at the top.

The Character creation seemed to have been streamlined and simplified a lot, was this just made to appeal to people that where discouraged by the investment needed to make a character or to promote Character development by having a more vague character?

Thanks in advance.

Thank you for your question Takamura.

I would disagree that the changes lead to a more vague character. The intention was to streamline the process, definitely. What we found was that it was often the case for all of the separate fields, each with their own minimum word count requirement, to be a bit tedious. This was especially true for fields I deemed less critical to character development such as Likes/Dislikes. I would argue that focusing more on critical concepts and spending less time "lost in the weeds", so to speak, is more effective for identifying a character's direction for the writer.

It was fairly common for members to resort to "fluffing" the content and including trivial factoids simply because the requirements demanded they write more, even though they might not have had anything more of substance to add. There us certain information and an amount of thought necessary to create a character and the Character Creation Template should serve as a tool that assists in identifying and refining those thoughts and ideas.

The update was done under the guiding principle that the template should be only as complex and/or tedious as need be, but nothing beyond that. In addition, I would also say that lowering the barrier of entry for new members or new characters was also a goal of this update. We want people to spend time creating quality characters that add value to the IC world, but this is an rp site. As such, one of our primary goals should be to facilitate the actual act of role play, not hinder it with unnecessarily time consuming work out of character.

I hope that answered your question.

This is short but still, should those of us with existing characters update them to fit with the new template?

Thank you for your question Lilly!

Characters with currently approved & valid Character sheets are not required to create a new one with the new template. Your previous application is still perfectly valid. Any new characters or updates to older characters, however, must be done in accordance with the new template.

That being said, any who wish to move over to the new template voluntarily are free to do so if they choose. They must simply have the updated Character Sheet approved like any other application.

I do have one question!

You mention there's to be no changes to the template, IE no centering etc.

Would members be allowed to add in additional fields / sub fields to the character template, 'so long as all current fields remain there.'

Ie, if a person wanted to add more fields to add more detail, would that be okay? On the proviso that nothing is removed.

Yep the annoying bastard has a question! So new template alright. Who designed the templated, and who picked the color, that color.