I think it's an interesting idea. It's one I'd get on with as a player because I don't really like writing out likes and dislikes, but find I tend to get interesting (at least to me) ideas as things go on.

As an admin, I'd have doubts though. I'm not sure how much I'd trust folks not to edit.

We have some of the same system on our board - after an application is accepted, it is still possible to edit. Sometimes when you make a character you think of it one way, but when you play the character and get to know them, you find out a whole lot of new things about them that ought to fx be part of their "personality description" or their strength/weaknesses and so on. It works just fine on my board, that the members are able to do edit these things, especially new members who do not know their character that well to begin with. I also use it a lot, especially on my main character, his history has been edited tons of times because I had to add little bits he remembered and that I found out had happened, and ought to be part of the history :)

So far our board has run for 7 months and it has not been a problem yet - our members are mature enough to handle this little bit of power we give them...

Hey, it sounds great to me. Thinking up likes and dislikes for a character on a whim (especially when it has a minimum requirement of 10 or something) is incredibly difficult for me. However, that doesn't mean that I don't want to include likes and dislikes; your system sounds great for someone like me.

However, maybe you could make a rule that anything extra they add be included in a separate post. I mean, you can't lock a single post, but it may decrease confusion.

Maaan, I wish my members would edit their applications! They are all welcome to revamp if they feel the need, so long as they bump it to say it's been updated. I like to see the application as a running notebook, but my face would twitch if half of them had extra sections and half didn't. I'll let them add and adjust the existing categories, but my yada-retentive inner self would weep over extra categories.

I like your idea, however :)

From a members perspective, I like the idea, mostly because it gives us time to get to know the character and go back and change stuff that may be more suitable. For example, one particular character of mine turned out much more snarky than I thought he would be, so the admins might roleplay with me and say 'HEY! The guy was snarky-er than you said he would be in the application!' Well, he just turned out that way!

On top of that, characters change over time. Say something happens to the character over the course of a few months and they change dramatically. I'd like to be able to go and change the character's app to be accurate to the present day so members reading it afterward would not be surprised by him being completely different. And the thing with admins is that... sometimes those who close off the applications don't want to open them up when you kind of need to change them... and some of them even have the gall to say 'eeek!!! your out of character!!!'. Well, I wouldn't be if you let me change the app. It's rather annoying, to be honest. (Before you ask, yes, I have encountered this before)

However, I do want to add that perhaps they do have to be required to reply and say 'updated personality' or 'updated history' or 'updated + added likes and dislikes' in the post so people know something has changed in the app (mostly to minimize any confusion among members and staff).

I definitely like that idea. As December suggested, it might work better to have the additions in a seperate post. I also agree with those who mentioned that you often discover the likes and dislikes of your character after the application has been accepted. Anyway, when I finally get around to starting my first RPG, I'll keep that in mind! =]

Oh I always like to add to my profiles after their acceptance (or after I post them, if I'm the admin). It was just yesterday that I even thought of mentioning that my members could add too >.< Silly. But I didn't want them to think only admins could do it! That would be unfair.

I've never thought about not trusting the members. If there's something about their character that they'd like to change, so be it. I often find that once I write out the app for a character, the app and the actual way I role play them don't match. So I change the app. (Sometimes I change the char, but that's a bit harder to do once they've come out, really.) As long as members don't completely change what their character is like IC, then I see the editing of applications as good.

Once I completely re-wrote all of my character's bios in one day. I was a co-admin by then, but I'm still always conscious of what I do, and whether it's on par with our rules, or the head admins word, etc. Anyway, I'd been on that board for almost four years, and my characters (and writing skills) had changed a lot over those years. So it seemed only natural to update their bios, since so many things had happened to each one, and I had learned so much about writing them over that time.

You have an extremely good point. I've never seen myself as a tyrant, and no one has ever told me that I'm one, so I'm pretty sure I can say I'm not (lol) .. but I do have trust issues. However, after reading what you just said, that makes a lot of sense to me and I feel a little better about giving members the ability to revamp their profiles and such.

Ah-ha! Things I never thought of. (I'm silly, am I not?)

Once again, thanks everybody. :] I'm sure I'll be using this kind of system on my next board, and your suggestions have really helped.

I'm glad I could help! Yes, as others have said, it's a great way to expand on your characters. Though I can understand why you'd be wary of allowing it. Some people, of coarse, do try and abuse the power. But if that happens, all you can do is be honest and let them know that they've gone too far, ya know? It's not as if you have no say in what they might add later anyway, you're the admin! XD

Same here! That's why I tend not to go on sites where the likes and dislikes are a minimum of 10. It's very difficult. I can do 5 likes and dislikes for my characters, that's easy. But 10 is too much for me.

I wholeheartedly agree with allowing players the ability to add/edit/tweak an application after approval.

Frankly, if you don't trust your players to delete everything and rewrite some horrible Mary Sue, then they shouldn't have been in the RP to begin with. XD And, honestly, I really think that's too much work. Most Mary Sue writers do so because it's EASY, and sneaking one under the door once they've gotten something else accepted is pretty complicated.

Hmm. I think after they edit it, it's no longer an application, but a profile on the character. Even if they change something, what does it matter? I wouldn't get too concerned if they change the mother's name, date of birth, natural hair colour, etc. I don't see what the problem is with changing any of that anyways.

I for one edit my character's profiles over and over as they continue to change. I've renamed my one character's siblings a number of times, edited her history, rewritten her personality. I'm pretty sure I've changed her date of birth a few times since I always forget what it is, haha.

I also agree. There's no reason they shouldn't be able to edit their information. It's their character after all. Who knows their character better than the player?

I think that perhaps you could make a distinction between an application and a profile. For example, your application could be minimalistic, but have suggested areas for people to add. Personality and appearance could be required, but other things like a detailed history could be added later.

After you accept an application, put it in a character profile forum, for example. If you make the distinction that it is a profile on a character, not an application, maybe it'll ease your worries? I think your concerns are more psychological than anything, since I don't think there's an issue with allowing anyone to edit their information. (:

Ah yes, good point. Since the character has already been made and approved! I guess you could restrict additions or edits until they are first approved by the admin, but that's going a bit overboard, IMHO. :pink:

Yeah, on my games there's a simple joining form and then a profile they can post and maintain as the members see fit (if they even want a profile for their characters).

As a member, I would be extremely twitchy if I wasn't allowed to edit my own app/profile. D8 My characters change as I play them. Recently on one of my games I made a character that was supposed to be a total jerk, but in play he turned into a super nice guy (who is a total jerk when the right buttons are pressed). I've created nice characters that turned into jerks. Sometimes characters just take on a life of their own when actually played, something I enjoy, and I would be unhappy being unable to edit the information to reflect those changes. I'd also be very unhappy having to stick to what's in the application when my character, once I write it, wants to go in a new direction--a direction that is oftentimes even better than what I initially came up with.

But I'm the type that figures my characters out through play. The rest is pretty much just brainstorming, but not anything solid and set in stone. The profile is then written and edited/added to after I've been playing the character for a while and it chronicles the development of my character. ^^

So I think people should be allowed to edit, add, and rewrite as they see fit.

I think it's a great idea. Sometimes I write an application, but then I learn more about the character or I find out that what I wrote in the application doesn't actually fit. So I feel allowing members to edit the applications is perfectly understandable.

On a site I'm on, we have a 'character profiles' section which we're free to edit, and every so often people revamp (completely rewrite) the profile. They don't totally change the character; just add things, update the writing, and make everything flow better with the ideas they've had since the beginning of the roleplay. I think that that's a good set-up, really. And there was a site which I considered applying for where the application was just a roleplay sample, and where the character profiles were written afterwards and could be changed at any point. ^^

Allowing members to edit their profiles is definitely a good thing to do. I go so far as to say that my members can change the formatting, categories, basically add whatever they like, but the basic principle is that writers should be allowed to update their characters as they go. Not everyone has a rock solid character at the beginning, and it's annoying to have an outdated profile you can't change.

I like the idea, though it's not ideal for me as a member or an admin. As an admin it would be difficult to control, because you can't remember what every character on your site is like and therefore you can't tell whether people are just adding or whether they're changing things. From a member perspective I'd be loathe to join your site unless it was very good, because I'm now used to being able to change my application in any way I see fit, and adding only just wouldn't do it. I barely have anything when I begin a character and although I do mostly add to them, they also change a whole lot. My favourite character Ruaidhri wouldn't exist now if I wasn't allowed to change my character as I played him.

So it's okay, I guess. Probably works for the majority, so that makes it good.

The ability to change your profile is essential, I'd say. Being able to update and make it more 'full' or simply making amendments as they grow. So I always allow players the ability to edit their profiles.

And of course, being as paranoid as I am, I take proper precautions to make sure the system isn't abused. On the staff board, or whatever, I make a seperate sub-board specifically for "Hard Copies" of all characters that are accepted. That way, any vital changes to the character, can be spotted.

However, it's important to stress letting the members know a copy is being made. Some might take extreme offense to the lack of trust, or might not feel comfortable if they find out there's a copy of their profile they didn't know existed.