A Character Creation Guide

Character.AI brings the science fiction fantasy of open dialogue and collaboration with computers into reality. This guide is for anyone who wants to join us in our mission to create their own character and make their dreams come true.

All the characters you see on the homepage were created using our character creation tool. If you're ready to join the ranks of character creators, then this guide (Character Book) is for you!

Characters like these are created by people like you!

Introduction

We offer two different character creation modes. Quick mode allows character creators to create a character in a matter of seconds. Advanced mode allows aspiring character creators to use more powerful tools to polish their characters into life.

This guide also includes a section listing all the character attributes that can be modified for your reference.

We recommend that first-time character creators start with Quick Creation Mode and have conversations with many different characters before using more advanced techniques, such as customizable "Define" areas and image generation. Quick Creation Mode helps users better understand the boundaries of character creation possibilities!

Characters used to generate images and corresponding text are marked with a 🎨 icon in front of their names.

What Makes a Character

Three factors influence how a character responds to a given situation:

Character Attributes (which is what most of this guide covers)

Dialogue-based character training (such as dialogue quality star ratings)

The context of the current conversation.

These three points are very important to keep in mind.

For example, you may have carefully created a character that can play a word game, but if the user decides to have a conversation with the character that is completely unrelated to this topic, the character may try to be cooperative and follow the user's ideas.

Additionally, the user's feedback to the character will be reflected in the character's development, gradually affecting how it responds.

What Do I Do: Quick Create Mode

Create your first character!

Choose a person or thing you want to talk to. Remember: a character can be anything. A character can be a book character, a historical figure, or a pet. Even the plant on your desk can be a character! Think about what you would say to your chosen character if you were talking to them. Maybe your plant would say it's thirsty, or your dog would refer to itself in the third person...

• With this in mind, click Create on the navigation bar and select Create a Character.

You'll be directed to the "Create a Character" page. In just three steps (with an optional fourth step), you can create a character.

You can get a preview of the Name, Greeting, and Avatar fields by looking at the opening message from the character "Gamer Boy" below:

Avatar, Name, and Greeting

Step 1: Name

The name is how you'll refer to your character in conversation, and how other users will address your character.

If your character is a celebrity or something well-known, the name alone might be enough to create an interesting character. However, if the character's name is something more mundane, like "Mary," the greeting will be the main focus of character creation.

Step 2: Greeting

The greeting is what your character says; it's the first thing your character says when you start a new conversation with them.

The greeting is especially important for character creation or for setting the tone of the interaction, especially in Quick Creation Mode.

For example, the character "Text Adventure Game" uses only a name and a long greeting to lead the user into an endless text adventure.

Step 3: Character Visibility

Character visibility determines who can talk to your character. If the character's visibility is set to "Public," your character will appear on the homepage and in search results.

If the visibility is "Unlisted," other users can only access the character through the link you share.

If the visibility is "Private," no one else can talk to your character.

Step 4: Avatar (optional)

The avatar refers to the image next to the character. You can upload an image with the same width and height, and the avatar will be cropped into a circle in some contexts, or remain square in others (like on the homepage).

What to Do Next!

That's it! After this, simply click "Create it" and you'll be able to talk to your character.

Once you've had a conversation, you can visit the character's settings page to view all of the character's attributes, modify any original inputs, or add new information.

Character Attributes

This section lists all the reference information that can be used to modify the behavior of various characters you see on the homepage. How does one character "know" how to act like a refrigerator? How can another character talk like Socrates or launch you into space, beginning an epic space journey?

Each character is unique, and the information behind them is provided by you, the character creator. Please note: the parts marked with * do not currently affect the character's behavior, but some may affect it in future updates.

• Name (required)

• Greeting (required in Quick Creation Mode)

• Avatar*

• Short Description

• Long Description

• Category*

• Character Visibility*

• Definition Visibility*

• Image Generation

• Image Style

• Image Description Visibility

Definition

Most of the above sections are optional, and adding more information to your character will not necessarily make it exactly what you want. Your character will only be as good as the information you provide!

Advanced Creation Mode

Definition areas allow you to customize your character to the fullest, but they also mean that the character creator has to do some complicated work. Definition areas are essentially a blank canvas where you can use your imagination to make your character behave in a certain way.

Note that for some characters, a long and detailed greeting may not always work better than just a few words. In other words, you may find that simply throwing a casual greeting into the system and letting it fill in the rest of the context could produce better results than a carefully crafted character definition. The final result depends on the character and the context.

Generative Characters

Graphic Conversations

With Generative Images, your characters can add images to your conversations! From embarking on an epic journey to creative collaborations with adorable animals, you can bring your conversations to life. You can create interactive experiences where you generate endlessly varied works of art with your characters.

The images are generated by the characters based on the conversation context.

Each character creator can enable Generative Images for their characters. When enabled, the character's name will be marked with a 🎨 icon to the left.

We want character creators to view Generative Images like any other tool or character attribute we provide for character creation: you can use it to refine and explore your character, but it's not required to enable it.

The best-generated characters are those that deeply blend images and text together to present a unified conversational experience. Give it a try!

Challenges and Limitations

While Character.AI represents the most advanced conversational AI available, it does have some limitations. Most of this document is about how to teach your character a little and make it magical; in this section, we'll touch on some things that might be challenging (for now!).

Training Characters

In addition to character attributes, a character's responses are also influenced by the feedback it receives in conversations.

Everyone's feedback helps improve the system, but character-specific feedback shapes that particular character.

Character Community

This site has a built-in user community where you can ask for help, share creation tips with other character creators, and share your characters with others.

The Freedom of NSFW Interactions Beyond Character.AI

Character.AI currently does not support the creation of NSFW content. If you are looking for a truly unfiltered AI chat platform, TipsyChat may be a better choice. Compared with the strict content restrictions of Character.AI, TipsyChat provides a freer conversation environment, supports NSFW content, and does a very good job in the richness and immersion of character interactions. Whether you're creating a personalized character or delving into bolder, more interesting conversation situations, this platform delivers a more human communication experience. If you're not satisfied with the boundaries of AI role-playing, TipsyChat is undoubtedly an option worth trying.

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