Free form apps are generally 800 word or more applications that describe the character's personality and history all in one without separation by categories or list tags. Since this is a modern fantasy rpg I'm (finally) trying to build, I wanted to know what's the preferred template out there. One thing I shall NOT do is get a Mad Libs application - those things annoy the hell out of me and I know how tedious they can get.

At the same time, I want people to be able to express themselves as much as they want without hindrance by categories and the like. If they want to do an application that's merely dialogue or whatever, that's fine with me. One of the things I've learned as a writer is that no one should try to tell you what to write or how to write it (unless it's going to be dangerous, of course).

Er, yeah. Opinions?

You can give them an either or?

As an administrator and a member I personally don't like freeform but that's me. I like my bullet lists of character strengths and weaknesses and easy to find information on a whim.

Personally, I think the basics (age, physical specs, living arrangements, skills/powers/etc) and then a section for the history, with the option of writing it in first person or third, is the best way to go. I don't know if you're doing modern fantasy or not, but a lot of people on my site like to write their histories as if the character is sitting there telling you about themselves, and this would probably work okay on a non-modern setting too.

We tried letting people pick between a couple different app styles but in the end went back to the simple one. Not everyone likes to fill out a long app or go in to a lot of back story, so giving the option to make it as detailed (or not) as they want, seems to make most people happy.

Plus, with a freeform app, you run in to the word count territory, and you'll probably have to deal with the occasional person who's app is super short and lacking in any real info about the character, whereas, with the basic info/history setup you at least have all that stuff covered, regardless of what they put in the actual history.

If you have a dedicated staff to accepting and reviewing applications I think you should try out something like this.

1) Have a standard application template, for members who don't want to put in the extra work to make their own or free-form application. Maybe offer a few variations.

2) Approved member templates. Have members pm you a template they think will work for their character. Have them fill in a nutshell description of the information they'd include in these templates and then suggest edits or changes as your or your staff sees fit.

3) No-template/free-form. Have members let you know if they'll try freeform, see if it works. If not suggest other methods or templates, or just edits or changes they need to make in the app.

It may take a lot of work, but I think it could really work.

I'd say go with freeform, but give members the option to style it as a standard application with headers and categories if they so choose. So for folks like Morrigan that don't like freeform, they can just add the headers and pick their preferred headers and base their application off of that. :3

You can have a list of suggested topics to cover and let members answer it however they like. As long as you're clear about your expectations, it should work out really well.