Switchaholics Anonymous

[Omni]

A lot of people, especially newer folks, don't have as many friends to bounce ideas of off, to tell them when an idea is good or bad. This thread is for that. When you've got that new idea, and you're mulling it over ... and you need someone to talk sense into you. There is NO SHAME in this thread. But there may be brutal honesty!

To start: I've thought about switching out Samus AND Enel many times. Even had folks go "bah, let go of Enel, he's lame". Frankly I may have dropped him if not for third characters, and Meruem.

Anyone else?

[Kaylee]

Gardevoir is on the fence right now. I just started her and am working out some kinks with my writing style, but my urge to play Pyrrha is killing me. I was straying away from two RWBY sourced characters, but now I'm just starting to say 'Who gives a shit?'

[Alex]

I am always available as a representative through the Switch Prevention Hotline.

I have a 74% success rate.

[Handsome Jack]

Pretty much since the beginning I've had issues sticking with one character. Started Ganondorf. Grabbed Buggy the Clown as a Second. Swapped Buggy for Stalker. Stalker to Krieg the Psycho. Krieg to Agent Smith. Agent Smith to Cell. Ganondorf to Steven Universe. Steven Universe to Usopp.

For the maths, that is 6 switches. 2 for Ganondorf, 4 for Buggy. And I'm strongly considering swapping Usopp for Major Armstrong. I'll probably end up sitting on it though.

A big part of what had me stick with Ganondorf so long were all his relationships with other characters. And what made me set him aside is pretty much the same reason I've set literally every other character aside: I had no idea WHAT I wanted to do with the character. Oh, sure. I knew I wanted him to conquer shit and I was solid on his personality, but I didn't really have firm goals for the character. Which is a problem I often run across; I have cool ideas FOR characters, but never anything to make them last past a few posts on their own.

Cell has been different for me. He's had definitive goals from the beginning (absorb Seventeen and Eighteen). The former is a current player and the latter an inactive one. This prevents me from just doing the "well, I summon them and eat em" thing, or rather it makes that option less attractive. Because there are rivalries and adversities to overcome in dealing with other characters. A lot of my best writing with Ganondorf came out of his clashes with other people, like Gilgamesh, Link, Enel, and Eighteen. Cell is shaping up to be very similar in that regard.

Before I settle on switching again, or even if I do, I'll be certain to have long-term and short-term goals in mind for my characters. Reasons to write them beyond "they're kinda cool and fun". I don't wanna get into the "flavour of the month" habits of before, where I'll latch onto a neat idea then ditch it because I'm shallow.

Anywho, there's my long-ass two cents.

[Handsome Jack]

I am always available as a representative through the Switch Prevention Hotline.

I have a 74% success rate.

74% of the time, it works EVERY TIME.

[Alex]

I am always available as a representative through the Switch Prevention Hotline.

I have a 74% success rate.

74% of the time, it works EVERY TIME.

I would fist bump you if you were on the couch next to me.

[Handsome Jack]

I'd settle for letting me eatcha, but I feel ya, dawg.

[Alex]

Also Cell brings up the amazing point that most people have amazing ideas and concepts characters but zero long term ideas for what the flip to do with them. Plans are important. They keep you moving when the novelty wears off.

[The Rogue]

*gestures to my alt account* Ywah Im pretty bad at sticking to one character *tucks away my next character dor that account*

[Katrielle Layton]

Well, Madotsuki's been with me the entire time and I don't plan on switching her. She's the first character I've truly rped with anywhere, she holds a special place in my heart, and this version is here to stay.

Hunter, on the other hand... I'll be keeping him for the foreseeable future, but I tend to use the 2nd slot for testing ideas. Mei and Bendy weren't the best ideas because I couldn't figure out good long-term plans for them that weren't boring or repetitive. Hunter isn't a bad idea, but I have several other ideas I want to try (shaman/druid Luke Triton for instance) and I don't know how long I can go with him until I just have to try another idea. Hopefully I can get him and Maddy to level 5 so I have another slot to work with.

[PepsiYuuka]

My problem with keeping a character is that absolutely everything only holds my interest in phases.

Granted I've only switched once thus far and the first character never even got out of the gates of the Nexus. But it's a problem. Even whole forums only hold my interest for a couple months, maybe a year before I lose interest in them and have to take a break. And even my longest term fandoms and favorite OCs... There are gonna be times when I'm no longer interested in them. Just depression things amirite.

Anyway Yuuka is pretty much the only character that consistently holds my interest (and has for like 10 years) so I don't think she's going anywhere. Alt may change it up a bit when I tire of whatever fandom the character is from. It's Whis right now since I enjoy DBS and I love him but as I'm on a Touhou kick you can... obviously see i havent even started him yet lol.

[Spur]

One of my favorite pieces of advice I've seen around here is "play a character that you would be mad if you saw anyone else play"

Another bit of help to potential switchers: the Omniverse is a land of infinite potential for any character. Could your switch be prevented by a few posts and a new move or something like that? Because that's saved my character Matrix from switching more than once. Scratch the itch without redefining the character completely. It works, and you get a better PvP competitor and save a whole lot of OM in the process.

[Okor]

Hi, my name's Okor, and I've been a switchaholic for six years or so. It all started when I got into Skyrim. A hundred near-identical characters, never leaving the gates of Helgen, 'cause I always felt I was one step away from perfect. Once I got into the OV, I had solid plans: Sivo would be the scourge of weebery everywhere, and I would have no need for a second character. Then I found out that I actually really liked the OV, and made Okor as a more well-rounded and interesting character, rather than an avatar of wrath. Since then, I've struggled to keep my primary slot steady. I think I've hit my stride with Vulre though, so, hopefully, the dark days that have led to my log being the horrifying abominations that it is are behind us.

[The Vision]

Thank you, Okor.

Hi, I'm Vision. I've only been a switchaholic for two years on the OV, but I think I must have started as a little boy. I signed up as Dr. McNinja, and that was pretty cool, until I ran out of ideas for Moves. Oh, and before that, I had trouble staying on an alt, from Optimus Prime to Luigi to Optimus Prime to the Vision. Been sticking with the Vision, though! So that's working out for me. I changed McNinja in the end, to Gaige, and then to my current one, Ogong, and I'm already starting to want to change even that character, AGAIN, so...

[Jade Harley]

To start: I've thought about switching out Samus AND Enel many times. Even had folks go "bah, let go of Enel, he's lame". Frankly I may have dropped him if not for third characters, and Meruem.

Okay, Greg. Greg, I saw that your avatar was that rooster dude and I just. I forgot about the donation Luci made to change your avatar. I thought you were Jacket and when I read this I was like, uhm, Jacket..........

ANYWAY. About switching! I am probably never going to switch Jade because I adore the character a crazy amount. It's never even crossed my mind to switch her, not once. I can't say why, really, either. As for my alt account, though, that was Peregrine Mendicant ==> Crowley ==> Ada. PM was mostly my fault but also failed due to bad timing-- she would work better as an NPC if I ever picked her up again, since she's from Jade's source material.

Crowley was a great character, like super awesome (!!!!), and I had a TON of writing ideas and probably could have done them all, but I had a serious inferiority complex, kind of, where I felt like all of my attempts at humor with him just... weren't good. I didn't want to make him a complete joke, either, so for several months I stopped writing because I felt I just couldn't do the character justice. My admiration for Gaiman and Pratchett knows no bounds; it just felt sacrilegious, y'all. And then, when I picked up writing semi-regularly with him again.... well, someone went and had to switch to Wesker. This person forced my hand!

Ada is a solid character. I'm not switching her anytime soon, or at least I haven't considered it yet. That's gotta count for something, right?

Here's my advice for new peeps: don't join big events right off the bat. Most of my success with Jade, I think, likely stems from me forcing myself to write solo with her for so long. I gave her a base, established goals, and made loose connections over the Dataverse-- connections that could be made stronger through follow-up storylines. I also grew to like the character more and more as I delved into her personality and history. Events, while fun and a great opportunity for OM gain, can kill your character (figuratively and literally) if you haven't developed a solid enough appreciation for them.

Also, what Spur said!

[Skeletor]

Although I have not switched either of my characters yet, I have been tempted to on multiple occasions for different reasons.

Skeletor is an absolute blast to write when the timing is correct, I can make all the bad puns I want, and taking the more cartoony approach to battles provides a nice contrast to the otherwise dark villain character. However, I have been lucky enough so far to keep Skeletor involved in the major events going on in the OV at large. Back before the Darkshire battle, I attempted to write a solo Skeletor thread, and was having an extremely difficult time getting the character to be at all introspective. furthermore, you really have to be in the right mood to get Skeletor's humor right, otherwise it can fall quite flat, and without that the character loses appeal fast. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback about this character, and I do like playing him, but I am aware that he is something of a parasitic character, and I don't know whether I can keep him going solo for any length of time.

The Sage has been something of the opposite, he was running around the vasty deeps solo for about a year before I even got a chance to do a real co-op storyline. The character, although built to be a defensive/support character, works quite well as a solo wanderer. However I do wonder sometimes about whether or not I want to have an OC in the omniverse. This is a topic I am sure there are a variety of opinions on, but I feel like OCs can make it harder for people to write with/against you, because the only thing they have to go off of is the roster and previous posts. This is probably just my hangup, but I also found it weird when my OC scholar ended up having a higher TEQ (and therefore technical fighting knowledge) than Batman. It made me question why I wanted to play the character, rather than a similar character with some source. Now the answer is that I enjoy filling the "sketchy mentor" role during interactions, and I think he provides some variety for the OV cast-wise. That said, there is still a part of me that wonders why I don't just play Gandalf or something.

tl;dr. Characters with big established personalities can be difficult, and OCs are not always the easier choice, especially if you want to make an impact.

[Katrielle Layton]

My problem with keeping a character is that absolutely everything only holds my interest in phases.

THIS. I RELATE TO THIS SO MUCH.

My favorite characters keep changing with my favorite fandoms, Madotsuki not withstanding. For Overwatch it was Mei, for Undertale it was Chara, for Ape Escape it was Spike, for GHOST it was Hunter Hayes, and now that I'm back in the Professor Layton and Ace Attorney fandoms, my favorite character is either Trucy Wright or Luke Triton. I intend to play as one of the two sometime in the future.

tl;dr. Characters with big established personalities can be difficult, and OCs are not always the easier choice, especially if you want to make an impact.

I've always found it easier to play canon characters that just have a base personality lined out (or even none) and just throw in all my headcanons. They're more personal that way.

[Handsome Jack]

My best advice is to take a character that is like yourself in many ways. The closer to yourself a character is, the easier it will be to get "in-character".

[Revan Noctis]

Never let me switch out my character.

[Kaylee]

The three things I look for in a character when I choose:

1) Plans: You need a nice story to jump yourself into the Omniverse. Why do you want to write this character in the Omniverse. What do you want to do with them?

2) Affinity: Everyone has a definitive writing style that makes them unique with every sentence, well, it's the same with Characters. Some cheracters appeal to us better than others. Don't choose someone simply because you like them - Choose them because they work with you and you work with them.

3) Interest: You want to pick a character who can keep you motivated to write. If you lose your stride in your writing, you'll lose interest in playing your character. Think about why this character is good for you - What makes them so special that you want to write as them.

That's how I decide my characters, I've kept Amber alive for 19 months now, and Dawn for 13. Hope that helps you guys.