Someone brought up this point on the play-by-post board, and it turned some gears in my head:
When most PBP / online games recruit, the first thing that happens is everyone throws their characters into the thread. Some are just concepts, but more often they're pretty much complete, to the point where really, we're massaging backstory to fit the aspects (which are already filled in).
That's cool:
1. its one way for the GM to vet players coming in from the wild,
2. we've done it that way for 50 years (AD&D, GURPS, Hero, ect ect ect) and its done all right...
But I just can't help but wonder... it seems to completely hijack the "collaborative / character generation as play / together we create the awesome / the rpg is not the story of me, it is the story of us" intent of DFRPG's city/character generation process.
Wanted to throw it out there as food for thought, and wondered what the rest of y'all think.