How to make a character

1. First off, you want to get the right age for your character. The combine invasion was somewhere between 2000 and 2009, the year on the server is 2017, so the invasion could be 8 to 17 years ago. Your character have to have turned 18 somewhere between 2000-2009. If it was let's say 2003, your character must have been born in 1985 and the current age of your character would be 32 years old. Following this math, your character have to be between 26 - 35 years of age. That's the youngest, the oldest would be around 45 - 50 years old. Either way, the most realistic age would be 30 and up. The reason behind all this is because during the combine invasion the combine killed everyone beneath 18 and anyone above a certain age, so basically no teens and no grandpa characters. (For those you gotta go to the character authorization part of the forum.)

2. The second part, which is equally important, is how you roleplay. If you want to be taken seriously you should give detailed description of your actions and not short, bland and bad /me's that your cat could've typed. You gotta think of the consequences of what you are doing and how it works with other players. "/me walks around the wall opening the door and kills the two people inside instantly." This is a bad example of how a action should be played out, it's OP, it's unfair and it shows lack of roleplaying skills. "/me walks over the hard cold floor, careful not to make any sound to give away his/hers position. As he sneaks closer to the wooden door, he/she stops and listens for voices inside the room. Hearing only two individuals inside, he/she quickly rips open the door with his/hers left arm while aiming his/her gun inside with his/hers right arm. Pulling the trigger twice, firing two bullets in the voices direction." This opens up much more ways for the two inside to react accordingly and play the scene out. The more you explain and detail how you do your actions makes for a much more interesting and fun scenario.

3. This is about your description of how your character looks, this is also important. When you're making a completely new character, don't add allot of backstory, details or made up events. All of that happens through roleplay and actual events. You can have a small backstory that's about BEFORE the combine invasion, everything after that should actually happen with other players in character. "DarkHair|BlueEyes|CivilianSuit|Beard" This is a good start for a fresh character, it's not too much and not too little. It has room for improvements and character development. "LongDarkHair|LeftEyeScarred|DarkGreenCivilianShirt|Mustache|RightHandChoppedOff" This is a much more detailed version, it's more personal, events that have happened has changed the appearance of the character and perhaps the roleplay style of the player aswell.