>>33812040If a dude's gonna' be a condescending dickhead and call me a pretentious autist I'm gonna' go back at him. That's just how it be.
I actually don't-- okay, no, I do think there's a difference between a self-insert and an OC, but I think most OCs are self-inserts in some regard. Some are full on "what if I was in this universe," but a lot of characters are more like homunculi or something, where the authors will take aspects of themselves and channel them into a somewhat distinct personality. Similar, without being the same. It's a long-held guiding rule of writing: write what you know. And when it comes to making a person, the author knows the author best of all, so it's a pretty logical conclusion that they'd be putting at least part of them on the page. My OC is definitely derived from myself. He's got some elements of me in him, there's a definite similarity when it comes to appearance. But I also tried to flesh him out and make him different, make him his own guy. Gave him interests I don't have-- he likes fishing, for example, and I hate it-- gave him a different perspective or worldview or level of intellect, maybe a mix of some things I am and some things I want to be.
My problem with self-inserts isn't so much the idea that a person is living vicariously through a character. The problem comes when the self-insert is used to vicariously experience tremendous success. When they-- when any OC, really-- does really well for no real reason other than the person wants the character, and themselves, to do well. Legendaries, shinies, rare 'mon, Championship belts, beating evil teams on their own. Because those are things protags do, and the author played as the protag, so therefore the OC can too.
I don't think that OCs should be bogged down by NPC stuff-- like, type specialization doesn't need to be a thing, OCs can catch full teams and beyond, receive starters and 'dexes, that's all fine. I just don't think they should be Pokemon Masters.
