I know a lot of people who have become frustrated with admin's making certain PB's mandatory for their canons. How do the rest of your feel and why?

Personally, I don't mind site creators suggesting PB's, but I hate when they set them in stone.

for me, i try to be as careful about the canon subject as possible. i hate being told how to create a character. if i have the option to change the playby, sure. but, if you're telling me that it's that face or nothing? forget it. sometimes, it's not a huge deal but, usually, it's because you want that character to be shipped with a specific face and what not and i've never liked that so i usually don't join those boards.

If they have a good reason--say, their RP is based on a TV show, and they don't want people to get confused--then I'm OK with it. However, strict specificity with regards to playbys has always seemed, to me, a misplacement of priorities. RP should be about the writing, not the graphics. Sites with strict playby requirements often lose my support in other ways, by emphasizing form over content.

I said "depends." Only because if the site accepts original characters, I'll still join the site... I just won't take a canon. ;P

But really, if the site is ALL canon (which I don't like anyway), but I was still looking into joining, and I found out that the PB's were set in stone, HECK NO I wouldn't join. Especially when the administration team is really snobby about it. "We picked the PB's, so deal with it," or "We like these ones, so suck it up," or something similar. That's just ridiculous. As an RPer, I feel it's my prerogative to use whatever model/actor/celebrity I'd like, so long as he or she is the best "face" or "empty shell" for my CHARACTER to utilize.

If it is TV or movie based, I can see requiring that certain canons have their normal faces... but on an original site... it just seems snobby and "holier-than-thou" to me. "We are the admins, so we now decide who's face can and cannot be on our board... and we'll sure as hell remind you that we have the power here."

HOWEVER. I DO like suggested PB's. Gives me a sort of idea in my head as to how the admins view their canon characters... so if they suggest someone with brown hair and hazel eyes and a thin face, but I don't like the specific PB, I'll try and find someone else with brown hair, hazel eyes and a thin face.... etc.

I rant too much on this site. XD

I said "Depends" because it depends on how good the canon is. If it's a well-written canon then I don't care if it's an unchangeable PB, but if it's kind of a crappy canon that you'll have to do a lot to, then I'm gonna want to change my PB.

It also depends on how much I like or dislike the PB. For example, once the canon that I wanted to play had a PB who was Lindsay Lohan, and I hate her. So it has a lot of factors.

No. I'm going to be pretty blunt about it - there are admins who may pick PBs that I do not care for and do not fit my vision of what the character should be. A big reason I RP is to expand my own creativity in conjunction with others, so to have a forced PB would likely grate my nerves.

Usually, I like a nice median and I do it with my own sites that require canons as well; give a fair description of what they look like and then let the player have at the rest, which includes play-by. It's just silly to pre-decide what they look like, I mean, authors get away with it but thats because that's a published work. The whole point of an RP is centered around, as said, the writing, and for the administrator to see fit to choose canon PBs that, to me, is just restricting a member's creativity and thus, is very silly.

</my two cents>

If it's an original board with so-called made 'canons', definitely not. It's quite a turn off for me if the admins stick to the preselected playbys so anally, especially if it's some celeb I simply cannot stand or just doesn't fit my vision of the character.

I voted "Depends..." because there are a lot of variables, to me. For one, if the canon I like has a PB I like (the case in the rpg I joined a few days ago) then obviously it doesn't make any difference to me.

It also depends on how much creativity with the canon I have outside of the PB. If I can pick the name, and there are some general characteristics or pre-existing friendships to keep in mind, but overall I get to play, then that's fine. If I'm constantly having to double-check the canon listing just to fill out my application, because there are too many details for me to remember at once, no way. One of my favorite parts of role-playing, and writing in general, is character creation; if I don't get to have fun there, I'm not going to have fun anywhere else.

I mind, and I don't mind. So, I guess it depends. If the playbys are set and aren't chosen on the lame basis such as making sure everyone in a relationship has photos with their partner, then I'm... usually "okay" with it. It may make me think twice, but I don't really mind. As long as I don't hate the playby, that is. XD

But I prefer suggested playbys. Suggested playbys are nice, just for the option of choosing who you like. ^_^

If the character's really interesting and I feel I really really want to play him/her, of course. Either way, I don't usually mind canon PBs, unless it's somebody I'm really annoyed with or who I don't think matches the characters. And think about this: why spend countless hours looking for a PB when one's already being offered to you on a silver platter?

I said "depends" as well, since I think that it's up to the board and the so-called 'canons' whether or not I'll be joining. If I see a premade character that sounds interesting, with a playby I can tolerate or one that I actually like, then by all means I'll go for it. Otherwise, I wouldn't join - though there are other factors that would convince me to join a site or ignore it altogether.