I'm still trying to wrap my head around No Characters. Various of the concepts put forth seem sensible, but they also seem to contain subtle variations and overlaps. I hope I have this straight...
"No Characters" is envisaged as an alternative to a more common tag set/ sign-up design choice whereby people 'select' 0/Any characters. In the common scenario, 0/Any is frequently interpreted by moderators as "writer can write any character [in the tag set][but can also write others if they're happy to and the recipient asks nicely]". It is frequently misunderstood, with requesters selecting 0 because they don't like the tag set options and specifying different characters, or selecting 0 and then specifying a subset of nominated and non-nominated characters such as "any women please". "No Characters" is intended partly as a solution to that problem.
"No Characters" can also literally mean "no characters", probably depending on the worldbuilding tag it is matched with. Meta is the most obvious scenario - e.g., "Worldbuilding: Ethuveraz Fashion (The Goblin Emperor)" (meta / art) could easily have no characters in it. (And possibly fic could do, depending on one's definition of characters being present - e.g., a story of a piece of jewellery passing through different owners might/might not fit everyone's definition of characters being present, depending how foregrounded the owners were.
The label seems fraught to me in that it simultaneously can have its literal meaning and an unconventional connotative one that is new to this exchange. A perfect alternative is not obvious, however.
Currently, No Characters is functionally in parallel with "other" nominated characters, but also encapsulates them. I wonder if one way to increase its utility would be to define it as "no characters, OR characters who are not otherwise present in the tag set". That may be too complex, but given that it's OR matching, it could be a way to say "I don't want to read or write about the named canon characters that are in the tag set". In many exchanges, if Bill and Bob and Jane are in the tag set, and you loathe Bob, your best strategy is to pick Bill or Jane, even if you're not wild about either of them. Being able to say "Don't want Bill, Bob, or Jane, but literally anyone else is fine" would be a new and interesting feature.
However, the above would also give people a disadvantage in a fandom where more characters are nominated than the request maximum, and they like everyone.
I personally prefer "No characters" to mean "go wild, follow the worldbuilding tag and use whatever characters or lack of character presence you like".
Ways in which I'm considering using it in my requests: I think I might ask for Worldbuilding: Cassandra's court (Black Jewels), fic, and No Characters; I'd be happy for Saetan and Cassandra, the canon characters most associated with this era, to be present, but original characters would be fine too.
I also think I might ask for Worldbuilding: Educational Materials (Hunger Games), both fic and meta, and No Characters - I can see that working for both original characters and, with some meta formats, none at all. I don't see how canon characters could easily be worked in, but would be happy to be surprised.
(The above might be an argument for the duplicated requests, since if I request meta under current rules I have to include No Characters, but there might be a canon where I definitely want meta for one prompt and I definitely want canon characters to appear, in a fic, for another prompt. But I won't be sad if you decide on Fandoms Must Be Unique in the options.)
also, I would like to be able to request canon characters with meta but mostly on principle - I don't have a combination in mind that I will request if it is allowable, and for most that I can think of, I'd be happy to request "no characters" as well.
This got long! I hope some of it's useful.
please ignore what of the below is not useful.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around No Characters. Various of the concepts put forth seem sensible, but they also seem to contain subtle variations and overlaps. I hope I have this straight...
Ways in which I'm considering using it in my requests:
I think I might ask for Worldbuilding: Cassandra's court (Black Jewels), fic, and No Characters; I'd be happy for Saetan and Cassandra, the canon characters most associated with this era, to be present, but original characters would be fine too.
I also think I might ask for Worldbuilding: Educational Materials (Hunger Games), both fic and meta, and No Characters - I can see that working for both original characters and, with some meta formats, none at all. I don't see how canon characters could easily be worked in, but would be happy to be surprised.
(The above might be an argument for the duplicated requests, since if I request meta under current rules I have to include No Characters, but there might be a canon where I definitely want meta for one prompt and I definitely want canon characters to appear, in a fic, for another prompt. But I won't be sad if you decide on Fandoms Must Be Unique in the options.)
also, I would like to be able to request canon characters with meta but mostly on principle - I don't have a combination in mind that I will request if it is allowable, and for most that I can think of, I'd be happy to request "no characters" as well.