i get to a nice pretty place (cuz i'm all about the aesthetics), look around, hey this is a shmexy joint, and bham!

*original characters allowed* up in some kind of big sadistic bright lights!- ok i'm exaggerating for dramatic effect but when you have a board based on x-men or the dc universe, and it has this wonderful glorious decorated history of characters, why the heck do people still find the need to make their own fancy little folk?

i think it's kind of disrespectful to the source material, if you want to play an original character why don't you go play in an original board? (i'm totally fine with oc's on original boards)

Admins want to attract members to their board, and by saying "Canons only" or "Originals only" on a Marvel or DC forum is cutting off those people who like to think of their own character with powers or play as a canon. There are ideas people have for their own characters to have powers which won't be as amazing and brilliant as some of the professionally-written ones from a comic-book, but they're still amazing because they're original; rather than seeing the same-old Wolverine smoke and stab someone in the face once more, you can see a character who does something you'd never have thought about. Having canons and originals together means you can chooese either or; some people are put off by canons and - like you - some are put off by having originals on such forums. people like to "make their own fancy little folk" because it's inventive; it's creative; it's an original personality and not just one seen once more; and it's more for the canons to interact with, as well as one another. Role-playing is about doing as you like, and in no other possible situation would you be able to have a character you thought up interacting with Batman or Cyclops.

I play original characters on /Marvel/DC forums whenever I see a forum that catches my eye, and I will take canons, but I tend to opt for forums that accept both canons and originals because I love thinking up original characters. I can shape them to my own liking, not just have an admin say "that's not exactly what his personality's like; can you change it?" Or "the history's missing stuff out; can you spend more time on it?" With an original character, the personality is yours to bend as you please; the history can include whatever you like.

It's not disrespectful; it's people showing an interest in the comics/movies, which isn't disrespecting them, it's promoting them.

Edit :: By the way, I didn't really intend this to be as long as it is, but I wanted to get my point across. xD

Because not everyone wants to be limited to only what's in the canon, as much as that may be. Out of 3 characters in a canon game, 2 of my characters are originals and one is canon only by surname and one tidbit where he was mentioned in passing in thye books.

If a site said canon only to me, I'd prolly go against applying, or pick a character who i can mold into my liking. Freedom is the most important for me in RPing.

If I can change a canon, then I would take one. If it's a case of a real-life roleplay where you just get a few bullet points to describe the fictional canon made up by the admins then I don't mind; I'll join because I still have some freedom.

But I still like to have my own ideas; use my own play-bys. With Marvel and DC forums, you don't always get that. People always say there'd be someone better to act as a play-by because they've seen them used before, even if you want to stick with your own claim.

Wow...Harsh much?

OC's are what can make or break an RP, in my opinion. Because, if all you have is canon characters, then you have no room for originality. And there is SO much you can do with a bit of time and a character application.

I'm into a Tin Man RP, and my only characters, are OCs. Why? Because they allow me to make my people out to be whatever I want. I want a trendy, super-cool inventor chick with massive brown curls, pink eyes, and a fun attitude, but who comes with a smelly, yet intellegent older brother who just happens to be a pervert and a ladies man, and I got it. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. If she's well written, then I got her. (she happens to be my main character, by the way, and I've been using her since I saw the Tin Man series in December)

Pretty much, you can't judge all OCs by a few bad ones, and you can't be against OCs on a canon board. I personally encourage OCs on both of the boards I run. It promotes creativity. ^^

Maybe they want originals in the X-Men/Whatever universe? Don't see what's so wrong or hard to understand about that. I don't know anything about X-Men, buttt to me that's like saying originals in Harry Potter roleplays is stupid. Which... is stupid. Not bashing canon only sites, since I've made some of my own, but original characters give people more opportunities to explore the universe and setting already established. Nothing wrong with that.

If I play cannons its often characters with practially nothing known about them.

Like Braska in FFX
Or Ursa in ATLA

you know those people who you have guidelines for, but no real base? The ones you can do almost anything with? Those are the one's I like.

Other than that, I play OCs, why? Because an orginal character allows you to put your own spin on things. You have guidelines so that it fits within the world, but other than that your in the clear- its nice.

I'd say that as long as canons are allowed in addition to the original characters, then, why not?

But it also really depends on the plot - if it's set a good deal after the comics/movies, or something, then it's more of an original X-Men roleplay anyway.

I can definitely understand your disappointment if it wasn't blatantly advertised on the forum (until you got to the application area, or something), and you were hoping for an X-Men canon RP.

But don't give up on it. :pink: You might be able to be just as happy with your own character, if they don't allow canons as well.

Like other people have said, originals usually attract more members because it leaves things more open-ended. :lol:

I understand canon only, and I prefer that, personally, especially in Marvel/DC verse games--there's so many characters to choose from, and some completely obscure ones that can easily be moulded into your liking. What I dislike is people not allowing you to take your own interpretation on a character, or breaking canon relationships, and the like. What if your version of so-and-so doesn't like Guy #1, but the admins insist that it be kept the same, despite being an "alternate universe" or in a different one, perhaps one they were never really introduced in.

There's benefits to both, but I don't think allowing OCs is a reason to stray from a site.

I'd prefer it if canons were rather loosely taken care of. Like band and school rps, it's better to just put a last name and maybe a few traits and let the members do the rest. Unless it's based on a book or something, and the canons are Bella Swan or Max Ride where you have to put the character's correct info.

I hate it when they go the whole hog and put the full name, the PB they want, and all traits. No freedom whatsoever. And the PBs are always overused, and the names common. On my RPG, the canons PBs are chosen, but they're basically just suggestions; if you don't like the PB, they're changeable.

I for one love originals. So much freedom. :] But maybe that's just my favorite characters I've made speaking...

When I first started on an x-men site, I frankly didn't know enough about marvel and/or x-men to play a canon with the respect it deserved. I understood the basic concept and found it appealing, but I didn't know the characters well enough to represent them. And, while there were lots of characters that were canon, I was still able to think up unique powers and abilities that weren't in the canon. By getting involved with the site, I was able to learn more about the canons and, eventually, start playing some canons.

However, for me, there's always a certain degree of stress involved with playing canons. When you play a canon (especially a well known one), everyone knows that character. They have some preconception of how they expect that character to be played. While I suspect it doesn't happen as much as I feel like, I always wonder if people are critiquing the way I play a canon. After about a year of rping on x-men sites, I started playing Magneto (I like playing pscyho revoluntionaries with causes). I enjoyed playing him, but I know I always felt a bit stressed whenever posting with him because I felt like the standards would be higher. There's definitely more freedom with original characters.

ok my opinion has now swiftly changed regarding original characters..i hate you guys :p

I've played in both canon-only and mixed oc/canon sites, and run both. My current game is a canon-only X-Men game set in the movieverse. Does it cost me players who only want to run their pet serial killer strippers and lost love-children of Mystique and Apocalypse? Yes ... but, somehow, I live with that. It's hard, but I do. I'm tough that way.

It doesn't seem to cost me creative players, though. Practically nothing is established about the characters in the movies (some are nothing more than names on a screen), so as long as the result is recognizable, players can let their imaginations run wild. Quicksilver has a wonderful and fascinating background involving the Sinti gypsies. Logan was with the OSS and has been adopted by a Canadian First Nations tribe.

I'm not meaning to bash on OCs here, and I certainly don't feel they're disrespectful to the canon universe or should be consigned to the lowest levels of the abyss. On the other hand, nor do I find them to be the sole paragons of creativity.

YMMV

I don't play canons for two reasons:

#1 - I don't like taking on a character that 'belongs' to a site. I guess this is more geared towards original boards, but yeah... I'm possessive about my fancy little folk, and if I leave a board, I want to know that the character is coming with me, and no one's going to be allowed to play that character.

#2 - This is really just a continuation of the former reason, but I enjoy thinking up my characters. I like the creative process of it. I like being original. I'm not saying you can't be creative or original when joining a canon, but with those kinds of characters, you'll always be limited to the information that's given. You have to stay consistent to that, or you're just wrecking the canon.

Marvel Universe has an ENORMOUS abundance of character types, mutations, and everything. It is literally huge. You would struggle to make an original character in a Marvel Universe that is actually original and hasn't been done in some shape by the comics already. That is how big it is.

While I do love the Marvel canons, I don't think 'originals allowed' is disrespectful. It's just an easy cop out for people who have a shallow knowledge of the comics, if any at all. It's when someone makes a canon lore based site--such as X-Men and don't allow canons because they're completely ignoring the characters the lore was built for. That is disrespectful.

One of the reasons I mainly take original characters over canons is because I have an incredibly small knowledge of the Marvel universe. Even though the first forum I ever joined was X-men, I had to do a lot of research just to find out about one character. xD And the Guthrie's are really the only family I know enough about to get a decent application out of one of them. I dislike taking the main characters because I know there'd be someone who could play them better, and who'd focus on them more.

Well, as long as an original character is not over the top or pretend to be even or more powerful as a canon character is, I think it's OK. However, I've seen boards where OC's are overpowered are too far-fetched TV real. I believe the key to handle original character is balance. One can't have several original running around a board. ^^