I can write a novelette of a character sheet when the mood takes me, but I tend to chafe some when it's required. It's similar to how I feel about length minimums in IC posts. Make length beyond a single paragraph mandatory, and I just may pass on your game. See, there's the possibility that I could end up distracted by meeting the minimum rather than generating quality, and if it feels too obvious other players are doing the same, I quickly lose interest sifting through lots of filler for the good bits that won't be contradicted in the name of length later.
Tell me to just communicate clearly and have fun within reason, and I may give you multiple pages on the regular!
And sometimes if a character sheet template is too much work, I might take forever to finish, fall hopelessly behind, and then add it to my "rework into something original to publish" pile instead of actually joining the RP.
I actually like "No set template, just tell me the basics (name, age, appearance) and what you feel is relevant" too. I understand it can seem lazy, but for me it can be a sign of trust. It helps keep things focused
if the GM communicates the role of PCs well enough beforehand. Still, I do acknowledge there
is potential for sandbox paralysis if they don't.
I generally prefer character sheets to actually relate somewhat to the style of game and the GM's intentions. I don't believe most minimalist RPs should have hair-splitting copy-pasta. Now if the idea is we're complex people in a simple premise, that's fine. Requiring players to come up with an extended, detailed family of NPCs that we will never see because you want the game to focus narrowly on just the PCs as a tight-knit party is silly. Do things on purpose, not just because they're the norm.
More likes!
I like when GMs accept both images and written description. Sometimes I just.can't.find. a picture that evokes how I imagine the character... not until long after the game is dead, at least. But when I can, it's a nice time-saver.
I like pre-game character relationships--at least in theory. In practice, I tend to overthink it and worry too much if my ideas will clash with the other players' even though that rarely happens.
I like just-for-fun
optional details like imagined English and Japanese voice actors and theme songs too, though my present situation means I don't find much time to ponder that. I smile when I see these.
If a character sheet template is really detailed, then I want to get the feeling that there's a multi-directional flow of ideas and expectations between what the GM communicates in the character sheet template and what players communicate back and to each other with how they fill them.
Unless the game has a really strong psychological focus, I prefer leaving it up to the player if they'd like to pre-define their characters' personality. My reasoning is that, while sometimes my character concepts come with a strong, pre-defined personality, sometimes they don't and I'm wondering which of multiple "versions" of my character should I settle on. To tip the scale, I tend to try and anticipate potential dynamics between PCs: Who can my character gel with? clash with? learn from? mentor? be a humorous foil to? be a tragic mirror to? Basically, whatever's interesting both to me as a writer and hopefully to anyone reading.
Writing out personalities can help with that, but sometimes players drop out(I'm so guilty of this), or they can't quite pull off what they described(I've been guilty of this too), or they just up and decide to change the character's personality altogether to fit some need of the plot. We see it all the time in serial/longform media. Characters' personalities and the backstories that shaped them get retconned on the fly, resulting in
Early Installment Weirdness as
Characterization Marches On!
Not having to write out my character's personality in excessive detail before the story starts makes me feel better about just rolling with the game as it is instead of feeling obligated to trudge along with what's on the sheet even if it doesn't seem to work when the rubber hits the road.
Maybe I just don't ryt gud enuff yet, but that's how I feel at the moment.