I've been thinking about Adoptables a lot recently, y'know, adoptable characters, that you can buy or trade from other people, and I find it a little disturbing how very little it takes for someone to call something a character.
I have a character, a Star Wars OC who I adopted from someone else - this person posted in the forums a little contest, and the winner would get the character. I figured, 'sure, why not?' so I won the contest, and I discovered that the character consisted entirely of. . . a name.
No picture, no story, no bio, or description. A name. And that was an adoptable character.
This seems to be an extreme case, but I have other adoptables who, before I got them, consisted of a picture. Again, no name, no description, no bio, a plain, black-and-white lineart picture. I'm sure I am not typical of people who get adoptables, and it could very well be that my experience is nothing like that of most people, but it is a valid experience.