Ever noticed that in most RPs, you rarely get anyone of normal size? A boy who is six feet tall should NOT weigh only 122lbs. Even worse is when the boy weighs 122lbs and is described as 'very muscular'. Well, I'd imagine that muscle puts on a good deal of weight. And if you really think about it...that's one unhealthy-looking bodybuilder. Or a bodybuilder with bulimia. o.O

Then for girls, they're often so thin and sickly that they'd probably float right out of a window in real life. My own character, Lyra, has a weight sort of based off of mine; I'm five foot one and weighing 120lbs (If I'm to stay that way, I need to lay off the bacon...) and so when I made her five foot five, I added about three or four pounds. That's not so bad, is it?

Anyway, I hope I'm not the only one who thinks that people should start paying attention to their characters' weights. There's a lot of wraiths running around.

Oh I agree

It's part of the reason why I dislike using models as played bys... Most of them are sickly thin.

I actually have and have played overweight characters

-gasp-

And NOT as a funny thing. As serious characters that just happen to be big.

I'm usually pretty good with height and weight ratios, 'cause as a costumer, I deal with people's bodies and proportions all day long. But yeah, you're right. I had someone try to tell me that her char had a 34" bust and Ds. Noooo, that's not really possible. A 34D, sure, but a 34" bust is maaaaybe an A cup. It might be a B, if you were really tiny.

My guys are usually modelled after their PBs, who are performers and actors, but never models. Average size and weight, FTW!!

Oi, tell me about it. I'm playing a Marvel canon character and I looked up his height and weight in the OHOTMU. 6'8" and 225lbs. And he's often drawn as some sort of muscle god. Uh ... no. My description calls him downright spindly looking.

That's another factor a lot of people don't take into consideration. Muscle mass is more dense than fat. You have two guys the same height and one's a bodybuilder, he's going to weigh more than the other one even if he's not fat at all.

Yeah I completely agree with you. Some of these girls people create could be picked up by a small breeze and then carried off. They must eat crackers for a living... x.x

And with the men who are 6 feet tall, very mustcular, and weigh only 122lb.????? o.O I feel sorry for the character and the person's lack of knowledge as far as healthy weight goes.

I usually base the weight of my character off of myself. I am 5'0 and I currently weight 113.2lbs. Granted, this is a year or so after I quit playing softball. When I was an avid softball player, I weighted 125lb. to 130 lb. I could still weigh a few pounds less but anything less than 105;b. I would consider unhealthy for my height.

I look the same as I did when I played softball but I have to tell you people who know nothing about weight differences between fat and muscle. Muscle is much more dence than fat, thus it weighs more. To be exact, muscle weighs 1.1g/ml and fat weighs 0.9g/ml.

Ha. People's weights can vary so much without apparent differences (I have a friend--who's beautiful and looks quite thin--and weighs 170; she's 5'9'' or so); I don't even list a character's weight, I simply describe them. You know, average, tall, skinny, out of shape, etc. It's downright silly, in my opinion, to require a 'weight/height' section on an app. So much less descriptive than the nuances of reality.

As for character shape, in general, there is a trend toward thinness... I contribute, I admit. >.> It's partly because of the character type I usually play (and, admittedly, I like to play reasonably attractive men). It's also because it's quite hard to find a playby who's heavier and still has good-quality (as in, for photoshop, not 'pretty') pictures. I have managed it for some of my older characters. Still working on it, though. I think it'd be much easier on a forum without graphics. Someday I'm starting one of those.

Yeah, I have real trouble finding female over-weight played-bys but my current favourite character, Wesley, has the BEST played by. He's good looking yet not really slim. I love it.

I don't base my girl characters weights off myself o.O So I guess and BMI check. Same for my males. I've only had a few human role play characters, though. One was a healthy weight (girl), one was muscularish (he was a cop) and the other had an eating disorder, so obviously was quite a bit smaller (and he was a street kid) and a few other BMI healthy boys. If there's a /reason/ for the person to be overly skinny, I figure go for it. Otherwise norm is a lot better. And a lot more original.

I've never seen a play by that wasn't pretty. I guess that kinda drew me away from role playing people, even if I did follow the trend (except Serial. He really wasn't pretty at all, haha. How can an anorexic street kid be pretty?).

Personally I don't think extremely thin is a good image to portray anywhere; especially RP where a lot of younger kids see it and may think that's how the world should be.

(Warning: this post may have made no sense. I just woke up. Lemme alone.)

Yeah, that's why I no longer mention weight. I used to, but it doesn't really make sense anymore because a number doesn't tell you as much as a description of a character's build.

Muscles weighs more than fat, some people I know weigh a LOT but are super thin, and visa versa. Numbers don't mean anything to me. I can't really visualize what they mean, so it seems pointless.

The only character I'm gonna keep the weight section for is one of my gals that is 200+ lbs of pure muscle. xD Because no dude's gonna really be sweeping her off her feet, and if she tackles you--you feel it. :B

I shall admit; the majority of my characters are slim, but only one could be described as underweight. One of my favourites is female, 220lbs. She's been quite moody lately, so she'll be comfort eating, so that'll go up XD. She is tall, but at her weight, I can't very well palm her off as being, 'big boned'.

I did find it hard, very hard to find a suitable PB, but I just made do. Then I found lardbiscuit, which I posted in the PB help forum, that had a selection of plus sized female models. Usually I have to take a slim female and create the illusion of extra weight, however, I finally settled on someone suitably sized for the job.

Largely I don't give much thought to weight, rarely give out numbers unless it's significant or I'm asked, and I tend to default to slim because of the sorts of characters I'm playing. Broker was created as 'slightly over weight' to start with when she was 19. She hit 180lbs and the weight was distributed so she looked pudgy. Now she's 30, heavier, and finds it harder to shift. Her weight became part of who she was; a big, intimidating looking woman and I played off it. Others, unless it's significant, I won't bother. The other issue is I have a habit of playing characters whose jobs or lifestyles would be hindered if they were bigger, or hell, if they were skinny.

I'm sure a 300lb assassin would be a hoot.

I admit, I do like using models when I can find good ones. And by 'good' I mean attractive without being toothpicks. I did find a girl on Vampirefreaks that I'd love to use one day - she's not a twig, but she's gorgeous anyway. Not stunningly, either...just that natural beauty people achieve with a tiny bit of makeup.



Just shows that not all beautiful people are skinny and sickly.

^^^ She's really pretty. :]

I totally understand where everybody is coming from, here. I admit, most of my characters are slim. I just seem to find it hard to play an overweight character when I, myself, have never been overweight, and therefore would not know what sort of things that character would be going through, mentally and physically.

A little off topic: If my own body proportions were put into a character, that character would automatically be labeled as a skeleton and should be able to fall over with the slightest breeze. I stand at 5'5" and only weigh 97 lb. And yes, I do eat. >.> In fact, with what I eat, I should weigh a lot more than I do. Stupid metabolism.

Sorry about the tangent.

Anyhoo, I agree that with characters, not everybody is stick thin.

God, I agree with you. In previous applications I always had sections to list height and weight, but I always included a link to a BMI calculator. BMIs are not the most accurate things, but it will at least give you an idea of an average weight. Despite this, however, people would always pick the lowest weight they could to still be considered "average" weight, even though in some cases (especially taking into account the character's PB and body type) it was still totally unrealistic.

I've just decided to stop asking for weight. It only irritates me when people put ignorant numbers down. =/

This also brings up another point: Why is everyone so TALL? I rarely see male characters that are under 5'10", and girls are either 5'8" or like 5'2" (because it's cute).

LOL.
Fortunately my characters are usually in the middle when it comes to height. I never really liked playing a tree.
I never paid much attention to it, but geeze. In forums that are strictly humans only, there sure are a lot of Ents walking around.

My characters vary radically height-wise. xD

My shortest female is 4'10" (she's a drow...that's tall for her race!) and my tallest female is 5'10".

My shortest male is 5'4", and the tallest is 6'3", I believe.

Then I play a bajillion characters that fall between those two extremes. xD

Most of my guys are around 5'8", and most of my girls are about 5'5".

I don't play female characters because I'm tired of having all of the negative weight issues with them.

I've played bigger girls before, but no one RPs with them.

I'm trying to decide if I should put my anti-media rant in here or if I should make another thread to it. It directly relates, but I don't want to ruin this thread.

I try to go off of my own weight.

I'm not underweight, nor am I overweight. I also try to research some of these things before I make a random assumption, such as BMI, ethnicity, type of country, etc.

I generally base height and weight on the PB, because, hi, that would be what they look like, so it seems logical to be accurate.

Also, I'm another one of those people who looks thinner than my weight would suggest, so I pay attention to that as well.

Wow, I don't think any of that made sense. Have I mentioned that our air conditioner broke and it's 90 degrees out?

if i could ever find a Playby whose thick i'd play 'em. I mean i have but rarely since its hard to find pics and such, at least for me. But i never use numbers really anyway, but if i need to sometimes i guess based on my own height n weight or i consult an BMI.

it doesn't really bother me that their are rarely any thicker ppl in rp's i guess kinda cuz its like media and such. Their just aren't that many heavy set ppl in the spotlight. I have tried to use a thick girl and yeah lyk nobody wants to rp with her. I feel bad like shes a real person and everyone's ignoring her.... I think thats why i stopped trying to make them. I'm too overly sensitive about silly things. lol.

By the way sometimes i use characters and still adjust the numbers, i mean i know they don't look it and stuff but if thats the case (in my case) i just mix it up because they playby could just have the general appearance minus or add a few factors, its my character right.

How to play the fat character:

Tip #1. Do not use a playby, or use an ambiguous one that only shows partial face, or partial body. This cuts down any excuses people have about, 'I would play one but I need a picture...'

Tip #2. Join threads, don't make them. For a first-ever thread, aim to join with a bang so you can get a lot of first impressions and potentially have something to work with later on down the line.

Tip #3. Make that character the tiniest bit interesting. Don't just create a watery character who likes their cake and expect people to flock. If you don't then put in the elbow grease to generate interest in plots, you're implying that you need a PB to get you anywhere in gaming. That is not roleplay, that is online dating.

Tip #4. Never ever ever start threads with scenes reminiscent of, 'I wander lonely as a cloud...'. This is actually pretty dull by any standards, not just fat girls.

Tip #5. GET OFF SUPERFICIAL GAMES!!! Look for something about story, not about PBs. Do a bit of leg-work, people!

Tip #6. If you choose to create a character who is overweight, but don't want to be all, 'my weight is my single character quirk and I'm going to milk it!' Then don't go out of your way to mention the weight. Throw it in where appropriate, but just because you create a fat chick does not mean you have to mention it over and over again. Alternatively, throw it in once the thread has already got started. Expect your fellow roleplayer to do their reading because it's their own fault if they don't.

S'all I can think of. Ahem.

Amen to that, Panda. ^_^
You should make a documentation on that.

And what about places that are really good... but require PBs?

It's just me being curious because, well, that is assuming that PBs are not required.

That's great advice, Panda. I think many of us could pay attention to it. And I second the motion that you write a documentation on it.

Here's the thing, I try to be a realistic when I deal with my characters, especially my girls, so this is what I do.
For every inch above 5 feet, it's five pounds. (5'5=125 inches) That's how it's supposed to be, it's what's healthy. Sometimes I take a few pounds off or add a few, but generally that's what I do.

Guys... Bleargh, I do whatever I feel like but cause I'm no guy, I'm not good at all of that and rarely play them so when I do I just BS the weight.

Well, my best friend is 6'3" and he weighs 135 lbs. He's not exactly what you would call muscular or even athletic. More like just skin and bones.

Yeah, some people really are skin and bones, because of a finicky little thing called metabolism. Other times they either don't eat or are sick. I lost quite a bit of weight when I was sick for a week last year, all because my throat hurt too much to talk or swallow.

But in the RP world, there seems to be a lot of sick people running around.

You mean aside from the fact that if the game was really good, it wouldn't require a PB in the first place, it would just make it a nice option? Refer to Tip #5.

Or check out the selection of urls I provided in this thread.

It is very rare that I write anything about my character's weight in their "appearance" or whatever people call it on their boards... I usually expect that the character I have, with the avatar I chose for them, have somewhat the same body structure as the avatar - so I merely describe if they're muscular, agile, slim, ordinary or whatever they are. But I never state exactly what their weight is, unless they're very under- or overweight, I don't see the reason to do that... I expect my characters to be "ordinary", and not too slim or too fat...

I myself weigh more than I look like weighing, and I know I'd look like skin and bones if I weighed 15 kilos less than what I do. Yet often I find that people who are taller than me (I'm not very tall), wishes to weigh 20 kilos less than me o.O

apparently (from what I read in this thread) that is also the case on many RP's... but as written, I rarely state character weight and it's not often I come across it in other applications on my board. It's just not -that- important to me, to know exactly what they weigh, because I often as written expect the character to have somewhat the same body as their avatar...

The height and weight thing is pretty frustrating, I will admit, and I really don't like having to fill it out for my characters because, honestly, I am a terrible estimator of those kinds of things. Like you all said, I'd much rather just describe their general build-- curvy, stocky, willowy, having a runner's figure or something else. : ) And I give them good reasons for being the way they are too. For example, I have a fairly strong, buff-type male character, but he's got a bit of an obsession with running and served with the CIA for a good portion of his life so far.

What bothers me the most, I think, is when you have the characters who are on the "willowy" side, but the players still expect them to be able to go around kicking butt. I have one female character who is on the small side (average height, but fairly slim) but she couldn't win a fight if her life depended on it because, hello, she has no muscles. On the other hand, that male character I mentioned earlier can kick some serious booty, but he looks like he could.

Hah, that rambled a lot, my apologies. ^^

I vary my characters in body type and height, and try to give them the right weight... I know I'm not perfect, but I do try. Some of my characters, both from the past and right now:

5'4", 125 pounds (average)
5'8", 145-150 pounds (this one was curvy)
5'9", 130 pounds (this one wasn't)
5'2", 105-110 pounds (she was notedly small in body-type)
5'10" 135-140 pounds (very small frame, but toned body)
5'8", 120 pounds (she's both SKINNY, and has a small frame, and she's noted to be so)
5'9", 130-135 pounds (she's averageish, if tall)
6'0", 170-180 pounds (she's tall and very fit)
5'6", 145 pounds (curvy, womanly body)
5'8", 145 pounds (again, womanly curved body)

...I think I got them mostly right, though I know I'm probably off on some of them. >_>

I play a male character who's about 5'10 and when I am asked to fill out his weight [to my insane annoyance, by the way] I make him on the smaller side. Why?

He's a junkie. It fits his character. I understand the annoyance of making super thin sounding characters, it's like if I made said heroin addict 200lbs. It's unrealistic. People ought to figure out the body type of a character before filling out the weight. Plus if I ween the character off of the various drugs he uses, his weight is bound to go up. It seems like a very confining question on an application.

If PB's are for absolutely ANYTHING, they should be fitting in the hight/weight department -.- but that's another rant for another time.

Edit- I've got a friend who plays an anorexic dancer and she makes her disgustingly thin and its a very negative attribute when it comes to her character. I bet it gets awfully frustrating for her when she sees a supposed healthy characters who are 5'7 and weight 98lbs.

This is a bit of an annoyance for me as well. I play mostly in X-Men boards and all the girls there are like 5'7" and 115lbs. (Keep in mind these are supposed to be women who go through regular intensive physical workouts and who can take down a man bigger than them in hand-to-hand combat.) It just irks me because when I was at my peak fitness (I was swimming competitively and doing some weight lifting as well) I was never down to that weight and I'm a good two inches shorter than that.

When I get my own site, I'll definitely be sticking The Photographic Height and Weight Chart into a resources section to help people out. It probably won't help, but it'll make me feel better. :p

God, Mercedes. Those girls shouldn't have the energy to get up in the morning, let alone combat anyone. Is their mutation the ability to live off microbes in the air?

Seriously, I didn't realise how light that was till I put it into a converter, but I've heard about so many girls who got put in psych wards for their eating disorders when they got that thin.

I always use BMI calculators to figure my character's weight out.. I usually try and make their BMI around 21 as well, which is pretty normal, although in some cases I've made exceptions. One character I was writing a twin of, and the other twin was down as having like.. a BMI of 15, and since the girl wasn't ill, I figured it'd have to be the metabolism, or something.. And I dunno much about twins genetics, but I know all the twins I know are similar in weight, and so basically I tried to put my character's weight up as much as possible without it being too drastic a change from her sister, I put it up to about a BMI of 15.5. It felt kind of odd to me, but I figured no-one else cared, so it didn't really matter.

I also have a character who is 35 years old, and has recently given birth.. So she's obviously a little bit bigger, no fat, per say.. But probably a little overweight, and definitely bigger than she was, and she's short too, and she hates it terribly, because she's dating a 'toy boy' xD And doesn't want him to run off with someone younger and gorgeous. I usually don't mention her weight unless it's needed though, because even though she isn't comfortable with her looks at this moment in time, she usually pushes it to the back of her head since she does have a child now, and her baby is probably going to be priority. xD

Other than that, my characters are all pretty much average weight.. One's taller and thinner, but her BMI is still average, 19/20.. And then my other girl is average all over, average height, average weight, average prettiness. I have a boy too, who's weight and height I've never given any thought, but his playby is very average, so he would be too.

That photographic weight chart is brilliant, by the way, I'll definitely be using it in future.

I used the word average far too much in this averagely average post. xD

Oooh, I think I'm going to add that chart to my sites. Thank you. :pink:

Vanity: That made my day, seriously. =P
But it really is true about superhero/mutant women! They aren't going to have superior strength if they're skinny enough to be carried off by the wind! Even Wonder Woman had muscles of her own. And besides, if you watch any cartoon that has to do with mutated humans or superheroes, it takes ENERGY to even be able to shoot things out of your hand.

I think I'm agreeing with that microbe theory...

Weight is not a factor in any of my characters. Although, none of them cound really be overweight. One is a tremendous womaniser, and let's face it, being slim helps. Another is an ahtlete, and another is skin and bones becausof many factors, then there's the sadistic mafia boss and the hyperactive demon... I can't imagine any of them as overweight.

I hope no one makes fat characters on purpose. That sounds like no fun at all. Being overweight is something which offers different playing options sure, but it's not defining and you should only make your character overweight if it fits to the personality and history you have assigned. It's kind of like building your character around them having a stutter. How long will you last before getting bored?

Honestly, some of the best characters I've ever seen were not slim or skinny in any fashion. One also had a stutter. A good really roleplayer can take on any persona and make it fun, and honestly, if other characters at the site can't accept an overweight character, then they are probably not mature writers or roleplayers. And personally, I hate it when everyone is the same. THAT is boring!

But I believe the overall complaint was that weights are not just all slim, but downright impossible for that height.

I might just be being naiive, but I think that part of the problem is that people don't necessarily know how much people should weigh/measure; I mean, I definitely don't have a clue about what weight is overweight and what isn't. I don't see the point in 'height/weight' sections in applications, even with BMI calculators attached - if you have to look it up to see what's sensible, then how can anyone else know that it IS sensible?

Having said that, I am sick of 'people often think she's anorexic and she hates it'/'she's underweight but eats like a pig'/etc. There are people like that, I know people like that, but for every character? No. I don't really like all the characters who've had an eating disorder and are still deathly thin from it, either. (However - on celebrity roleplay forums this would all be perfectly acceptable, as I have no problem in believing that they'd be ridiculously thin. But in normal schools/worlds, it's silly.)

But then, I had a fat character a while back who I deleted because she was a pretty shit character and because everyone was being patronisingly nice to her. And I haven't made any properly overweight characters since. So I guess I'm a hypocrite? : P Although, going off real life... nearly everyone that I know at school is skinny, or skinny-ish. So it's all a bit confusing!

The thing that gets me about weights and stuff is, it's all in pounds. I'm 5'6" and 10 1/2 stone - can't remember the kilos.

I would have real trouble figuring out weight in pounds, because I've never weighed myself that way, and nor has anyone else in my acquaintance. I take it this is an American way of doing it?

But to get back on track with the debate, I give height and body-type. (Thin, well-built, stocky, etc.)