A quick overview of my thoughts on this matter:
For me, a good character is one who either has a unique power or twist, and a noticable personality.
I think that the root of our discussion springs from this; some characters feel unique to us in some way, while others do not. However, that has to be put in perspective because:
Good wRHGs aren't usually those with unique powers and flashy personalities. They can catch the eye but in the end, its the character's progression that matters to me.
We have different tolerances for how different or unique a character has to be in order to set them apart...
Uniqueness can only go so far nowadays. Just going super speed makes you think of Flash, gadget-y super genius as BatMan, high-tech suit as IronMan, magical stuff into Doctor Strange, etc.
As well as different points of comparison. Though this opens the door to discussion of copyright and plagiarism, we have to ask ourselves; is our priority to create a
diverse lineup of characters that do, quite often, bear enormous similarities to characters established in other mediums, or are we looking for the increasingly hard-to-create
"never-before-seen" characters, with "never-before-seen" abilities that are much smaller, potentially less diverse, and filled with bland, filtered, or even chilled dialogue?
Yes, of course, we should strive for both. But until someone shows me how to force every character ever created across all of time into my mind every time I create a character, we're going to have to deal with the possibility that I'm not up on my pop culture, or that I'm copying someone's cave drawings from the prehistoric age. And on that last point, if your unwittingly copied cave drawing is fighting my unwittingly copied cave drawing, and no one is around to show us said cave drawings, are we still copying the cave drawings?
To avoid further migraines, let's stick with what Error was saying:
Its how you make use of that power that makes it your own.
Even if that one bird that one caveman drew was flying first.
The rest, though- is a matter of taste. Some might stray one way, in the case of flight-
If your character is an earth user who can fly, you better have good logic to back it up.
While many others to this day enjoy pitting characters with and against Superman who, Post-Crisis at least, can fly- because... sunlight? Now we've come full circle, and we're back to the original question this thread raised; what exactly are we
supposed to write?
And funnily enough, it's been answered already, twice- or one answer apiece from two different people.
A character that isn't downright awful.
What you want to write, not (what) you think everyone will like.
(Which is to say it's subjective.)
But if we're still looking to guide the actions of others, there's still a whole lot we can do.
1) Guess at what people want in a wRHG opponent or clanmate. Presumptuously, no less.
2) Encourage people to guess at what people want in a wRHG opponent or clanmate, and show them how to make better guesses and/or take the guessing out of it altogether.
3) Encourage people to be more up-front about what they're looking to do with their character so that people can come to them on their terms, and show them ways in which they could do so; perhaps by expanding on the idea of hitlists.
4) Encourage people to be more vocal in stating what they
aren't looking for in a wRHG opponent or clanmate, and show them ways in which they can do so without angering anyone or scaring them off.
5) Encourage people to be more vocal in stating what they aren't looking to do with
their own character, and show them ways in which they can do so without angering anyone or scaring them off.
Then:
6) Guide or no guide, do those first 5 things ourselves.
7) If we're having trouble doing the first 5 things, call ourselves out and try to set things right.
8) If someone is trying to set things right, let them- or help them without angering them or scaring them off.
9) Expand on these ideas and put them in a visible and easy-to-reference place. Make a guide, ask a mod to sticky it once you're done.
10) Be good people even if I messed up this list somehow.
Cheers.
