Viewpoint What do you guys think of oc x canon

[Silverthekitsune]

Tbh I don't mind it but I'd like to know what others think. (Have a feeling not a lot of people like it)










My spelling sucks sorry xd as I expected most people dislike it

 

[Kazami42]

A necessary evil.
It displays upon which the story standards of a particular individual.

For others, it is merely giving them a place of which to reside in peace, and not overrun with their rampancy the system. And ironically, when they grow too large or two canoners or OCer mains of certain archetype end up together instead, it resets. Resolving itself from the equation. There is never a need for one particular individual to decide, as their very fate has been pre-decided even before it had even started.

 

[Janey]

I love oc x canon - doubling. I'd feel bad, just making someone play canon for me. I also think playing a canon is a good experience to play a personality type you may not normally use as a go-to. I really like to get into that characters mindset.

I find oc x oc romance is very awkward and odd. I'm currently doing an amazing roleplay (offsite) my character is in love with a gang leader - but he's very... let's just say, my character would pair better with his Gang members more then him. She has way more cute moments with the side characters. Woops!

I also find people do a lot of 'self insert' which can be very weird. I personally roleplay to be someone and not myself. I make characters to pair with canon - I don't pair myself with canon.

 

[Idea]

First of all, I don’t like cannon characters in the RP, period. Well, ok, there is one exception, being as an NPC if a character is too essential (such as Kyubey from Madoka Magika, who is basically the whole catalyst and central mechanic of the story and setting), but other than that I don’t like them around, for reasons I won’t get into right now.

As for cannon x OC specifically, I don’t trust it. There is an inherent conflict of interest that puts the reasons why someone would want to RP that against the very basic rules or well-being of an RP:

A) If the person wants to RP an OC and have their partner play out a cannon character, 99 times out 100 they’re going to have an idea in mind for the status quo between the OC and the canon character. They may also have an idea of the canon character their partner may not agree with or be able to play out. This puts what the player wants- their idea of how things are going to be- against the roleplay’s ability to be organic, and their partner’s freedom.
That said, so long as the two are willing to do the RP by planning, I think this matter is relatively easy to solve. However, without doubling (and I’ll get to that in a bit), it can often be perceived as a pretty selfish pairing, in the sense that you are asking another to play something for you. Which is to not even mention the slew of just bad or self-insert OCs out there.

B) If the person wants themselves to play as a cannon while the other can play an OC, then they are doing it because they really care about that cannon characters. More often than not, it’s due to admiration or relatability, though other similar reasons may appear as well. However, this means the cannon character is being put on a pedestal to begin with. I’ve seen it time and time again, when a player puts a character on a pedestal like that, they start exhibiting some of the worst behaviors from a roleplayer short of OOC rudeness (though it too can appear if there is escalation when they get defensive). They end up trying to make the character live up to their idealimage of them in the roleplay, which twists the character into a Mary Sue, and they tend to prevent the character from losing face. If the character is actually in their eye for being a “hardened badass” type, instead they may just make the character hypcompetent, but permanently rude and uncooperative.
I could go on, but I think my point is essentially made.

C) If you are doubling, then inevitably neither player is fully invested in the other’s pair. After all, it’s a trade-off, it’s not the point for them, just the thing they have to put up with in order to get the thing they actually like. Even if the person has enough discipline to not display blatant favoritism to one of the pairs, they are not going to be enjoying it nearly as much.


So, yeah, I don’t really view cannon x OC favorably at all. To be fair, there’s no doubt in my mind there’ll be exceptions to what I just mentioned, but I believe that has to do with partners that connect well and can really dedicate themselves to each other and be passionate about the other’s interests. I think those kinds of roleplayers do well in spite of the issues of the pairing, never because of it.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I am totally fine with OC x Canon pairings.

unfortunately I have had very bad experience with role players who ask for those pairings.

Usually they want to control how I write my character to fit with the love story they want for their OC

They also pressure me to pick a romantic pairing of my own. When I tell them I don’t have a romantic interest in any canon they usually get really pushy and try to change my mind. Because they want to be “fair”.

So in theory I am fine with it, but usually I will only write it if I trust the other person.

 

[rae2nerdy]

candygore

In my experience it’s less a taste thing and more of an attitude thing.

It’s not - oh gross you like stupid pairings.

it’s - oh gross you act like an entitled asshole when I try to roleplay with you

 

[Crayons]

The vast majority of fandom interest checks seem to be for OCxCanon, so it looks like it's pretty popular.

My preference is OCs only in RP, and canons only in fanfiction. I could be persuaded to RP OCxCanon in some circumstances, but not usually. I have no problem with other people doing it, it's just not my particular bag.

It's very unlikely I will read an OCxCanon fanfic though - if I come for fanfic I would like to read about the characters I like, not some random characters shoehorned into the story as author stand-ins. Also it's much rarer in fanfic to find OCs who are well-written and interesting characters, I think people who roleplay put a lot more effort into making characters usually.

 

[Jannah]

Not a fan. I'll only play OCxOC, even while playing in fandom universes.

 

[Trickster Crayon]

As a frequent doubler, I enjoy OC x Canon but it is getting old. I’d love to OC x OC in a fandom world sometime.

 

[catharsis.]

I mean, write what you want. More power to you. I'm not the Writing Police™.

But personally? It's just kind of weird, dude.

 

[The Silent Z]

Personally I might be overly neutral on the subject to post on this matter. But I’m sure everyone has their own canon crushes and what not whether it was from childhood/teen years or what have you and may have even drawn up ideas for plots and rps. I know I’ve seen a lot of threads for it here and you can google any fandom and find all sorts of fanfics from canon x ocs to oc only and etc across the interweb.

But I don’t really keep myself too informed on the matter in order to formulate a individual opinion of my own whether for or against. As long as common rules are followed, nothing is forced and it’s just plain chill and can be enjoyed by both parties then no issues from me.

I usually if not always do OC based work and rps. But that’s simply leaning more toward my own view on justifying the portrayal of said canon role then being pro or against it. And liking oc roles or versions in general.

 

[Hyde]

I don't personally like writing it and, as someone who wrote canonical character blogs in the past, I don't like how some Roleplayers feel entitled to shipping their OC with the character that I was writing at the time. That said, however, I know that not every Roleplayer is like this and I don't think that there's anything inherently wrong with writing OC x canon shippings. People should write whatever makes them happy without feeling ashamed or ostracized. . As long as "whatever makes them happy" is within guidelines and legal, that is.

 

[Idea]

Often, canon characters are regarded as superior to OCs, which creates unbalance when it comes to plot and character development, and the story often just focus on the canon characters, whilst the original ones are slightly ignored. Of course, I am sure this doesn't happen always, but I have tried some OC x canon group roleplays when I started roleplaying and, unfortunately, I had many negative experiences of this kind.

Funny, I've had the opposite experience. My experience with this sort of roleplay is that often the pairing is done almost for the specific purpose of the new character one-upping the original in some way, or otherwise being considered impressive by them.

 

[Delinquent]

I don't really like it, but then again I don't like any roleplay with canon character so I'm a bit biased.

That said, I don't think there's anything wrong with it in theory and tbh the hate it gets is a tad overblown. Sure, it's a bit wish fulfilment-y, but isn't every roleplay?

 

[Bumblebii]

I enjoy it when it's done right, which isn't often if I'm being honest. I really like playing canon x oc if I can either put my headcanons into the canon character or can smoothly integrate my oc into the story, however 9 times out of 10 if I play a canon character, just as I'm getting some ideas and getting kind of excited for the RP going forward, I start to get the feeling they just want to use the canon char to infodump and tell all about their oh so angst-ridden backstory or expect me to make the canon person completely enamoured and OOC for them for fantasy's sake. It's pretty disheartening, and I think usually I just prefer oc x oc, even if it's the same plot as canon x oc just so I can have a part in the story.

 

[Shashafury]

I'm biased on this topic as some who does this kind if roleplays the majority of the time. I've had tons of different experiences; good, bad, bland, ugly, etc.

At the end of the day, no matter the experience, I still do it. People work differently of course and they role-play things for their own reasoning and I'd be lying if I said, for me, it's me being selfish. A way to feed your little fantasy character crush but after that point, it's really up to you to keep it at just a self gratification level or actually become invested. I always double up, not just because I don't want the other person to not feel any kind of gratification out of it on their end but because I like oc on oc interaction. I like becoming invested in other people's characters.

This person is doubling up with me because they also like the same fandom I'm in, we have a common interest. Sure we're "scratching each others backs" but, atleast for me, it turns into more than that. I love seeing people's creativity, I fall in love with their character (and yes, I know, this isn't just a cc X oc thing) I become invested on both sides and I become invested in the friendship I just made with my partner because we're both losers who need a fix and I love them for embracing it with me.

Long story short, yeah, I dig 'em.

 

[ObliviousMelon]

This may be a bland answer, but for me I think it really depends on the person you're RPing with! I actually really like playing the canon character in those kinds of pairings, it's a chance to explore a dynamic that cannot be found in canon. As long as the person has actually put some thought into their OC and puts out a good reply, it can be really fun! I love to see what people create, seeing both our characters develop. I personally don't like doubling up which can make it difficult, you obviously don't want to leave your partner unsatisfied. Then again, it seems like most people want to play the OC anyway, so I think I have better luck in that matter.

And, as people have already mentioned, there is the matter of self-insert characters... Honestly, I don't care. As long as it is enjoyable for both parties, I don't care if I'm playing against a Mary/Gary Sue. Plenty of canon characters are 'unrealistic' already, why not have a little fun with your own?

 

[Marzopup]

I love canonxoc and it's pretty much all I do in RP. That being said, I don't think you have a right to ask for ocxcanon if you're not also willing to double for the other person.

(Obviously if you find a partner that really doesn't mind that's different, and this is just a matter of opinion you can take with a grain of salt.)

Gonna echo the sentiment of a few people here and I think it really does depend mostly on the person you're rping with. I think, ideally, ocxcanon works best when the chemistry you have with your partner makes you equally invested in each other's ocs enough that you both want to invest time in each pairing equally. I've got a couple of great partners right now and I love their ocs so much that I'll happily do full pages in our threads focused on their pairings without even touching my own oc, let alone my ship, and it goes the other way plenty of times.

Of course, I recognize this must be a rare thing, and there's nothing wrong with scratching each others' backs either.

For me personally, the reason I enjoy ocxcanon is because unless it's some kind of crack ship, I've seen all these canons interacting with each other in media. Roleplaying with ocs gives me the chance to create new stories and explore different kinds of dynamics in canon through them. It's a writing thing moreso than just a wish fulfillment thing.

 

[nerdy tangents]

So as a platonic role player I have a slightly different take than romance role players. My favorite thing to write is - Canon X meets long lost family member Y.

So I am fine with the family member being an canon from another series OR an OC.

For romance specifically, I don’t ship so I am usually content to let the romances in the original story stand alone or just write the characters without a romantic focus.

 

[CaptKiraXAlkeno]

It all depends on the rps or what you need them for. Me I make my name for fanfiction and cross covers and other related things with OC and canon. And its personal preference. I dont mind them at all I have a list of anime females that I love to have on books and rps.