'Clicking' with Species Characters (RANT)

WARNING - THIS IS A RANT JOURNAL. I'LL LIKELY BE SPEAKING MY MIND ON SOME SENSITIVE SUBJECTS, SO READ ON AT YOUR OWN DIGRESSION. With that warning aside, I hope you all can bare with me, this is going to be another mini-essay sort of journal TTwTT I just see this happen a lot, and I feel like writing down my feelings on the subject will help to clear my mind a little. I'm sorry if I step on anyone's toes ;n; it is not my intention to spite anyone, or prevent anyone from doing what they feel they have to.

I tend to get ticked off quite easily to a lot of things in deviantArt species culture (if you couldn't already tell). That doesn't mean that there isn't anything good in these communities - as you can see I am trying to make use of those good benefits myself with my own species, reviving it and trying to create an interactive ARPG group... But that doesn't mean I'm numb to certain trends that tend to annoy me... ;;w;;

One of the things that I didn't really cover (enough) in my long essay journal was the subject of 'clicking' with species characters. I say species characters because I find this happens mostly with them, and very rarely with non-species characters (which makes sense, often species character's are hard to obtain and as soon as someone feels they might not be getting their money's worth, they're less likely to drop or work on it and more likely to scramble for a new character, in case that helps their situation).

So what exactly is my problem with this whole 'trend'? It's a combination of things, that often relates back to my personal experience of owning characters.

One thing I always noticed as I was growing up and creating characters was that I didn't really mind if their designs weren't perfect. My old characters had gross colour schemes, were clunky and sometimes too complicated for me, but I loved them anyway. I have gotten better at designing my own characters over the years, but that's not why I dropped the old ones. I dropped the old ones because their STORIES were obsolete, a sort of practice round. I'd grown to love them and it felt terrible to let them go, but I knew I would create better things that I would love more (and I do). Furthermore, those characters became a part of my life and history, and even though I don't use them anymore, I wouldn't ever even think to trade them away.

The thing I tend to have the most problem with, when it comes to people trying to get attached to their species characters, is that they don't really... simply put, 'try hard enough.' I have the strong belief that you can get attached to any character, any creature, no matter how ugly or stupid, as long as you give them enough of a chance. And yet, I constantly see people getting beautiful species character designs, drawing 1 or 2 things of them, and then going "nah it's not working" and immediately trying to swap them for something else (which they will inevitably do the same thing with).

"Isn't that hypocritical, Soup? You traded away your first Bagbean because you didn't 'click' with them." This is partially true, and helps me to understand the need for trading away species characters. I do feel like I at least gave my first Bagbean a chance, though. And the reason I traded them away wasn't because I didn't 'click,' but rather because I had already solidified their personality in my mind, and their personality was unfortunately way too close to that of another character I owned and loved more. I couldn't picture them with a different personality, especially since I'd gone to such lengths as ordering a custom design to match it, and working to get potions and etc to change it didn't seem worth it to me... Furthermore, I'd intended to own him as a secondary character to another Bagbean (that I never managed to get) so he could interact as a foil character. Though I didn't want to trade him away and see his personality I'd worked on messed with, I did anyway so that I'd get a better chance with a new character. It still weirds me out when I see them in my deviation feed, with a different personality, different appearance. It's out of my hands though, and part of the deal I made, so I can't complain.

But, at least from an outsider looking in, when I see someone trading a character because they didn't 'click,' it feels less like they TRIED and more like they couldn't be bothered. Like they expected their character to be something they'd get attached to the moment they saw and owned them.

That's not how characters work!!! Getting attached to a character through appearance alone is shallow and incredibly rare and tricky to accomplish! In fact, most characters I see who their owners got attached to from appearance alone were people who'd already planned out a character to fit a custom design, or had it associated with something important to them. They had already worked on that character and therefore had an easier time 'clicking'.

And I say 'clicking' in quotation marks because 'clicking,' in my eyes, is really more of an illusion than anything. You're more likely to slowly and gradually find attachment to a character over time, than to immediately fall in love with them with little to no work done on them. You could give me a character and I'll either do nothing or draw one thing of them and then forget about them... Or I'll keep drawing, write for them, explore their emotions and try to figure out what makes them tick, what they enjoy and what scares them, what they want in life, where their flaws lie. And then I'll gain attachment, slowly, over time. The thing is that people seem to think that with species characters, you either have to 'click' with them immediately or they are worth nothing to you. No, you need to WORK on them like any other character. Like buying a pet, you are buying a small commitment. The work isn't over once you hand the cash over because you still have to take care of them, learn about them, figure out their personality and their relations to you.

So when I see someone trading away a ridiculously pretty design that they are so lucky to own after only a week or two of owning them... It makes it seem like they didn't even care! Like they were too blind to realise how lucky they were to own a design like that, to own a chance to get attached to a character that a lot of other people would love to get attached to. It's seen as an object, a pretty ornament, rather than an EXPERIENCE. It's like buying a puppy, and then when it grows up and isn't cute anymore, giving it to the pound where it will likely never find a loving owner again. It just gets passed around, battered, bruised, an object.

And it feels almost betraying, on top of the fact. As if this was a character they were going to actually stick with, someone they were going to get attached to, and you might have gotten enthused for them and excited to see how they develop and get attached to them as well. And then a week later, they go up for trade. Off to a new owner, someone you likely don't know, someone who might just trade them on again, or leave them to rot. I feel myself committing to loose ends, over and over. And I understand when you feel it's for the best, that you really did try... But when there was no attempt at all? It stings a little. Then again, I probably shouldn't get myself involved in other people's decisions with their characters...

I'd like to make an example of my current Bagbean, Tobias. As it stands right now, I have not 'clicked' with him. When I first got him, his design was not the most appealing to me. I could very easily decide to trade him away right now. But I'm not. I'm working on him. I understand that I haven't found a proper attachment to him yet, but I know that if I work hard enough on him then I will. I know that I likely will need more characters for him to interact him with because that is the best way for me to form attachment to characters. I also got a potion so that I could change his design to something I liked more. His personality isn't fully realised in my head yet, but that does not automatically mean that I should give up on him. That means that I am getting there, and I need to keep going. I love character development, too, and I know that even though I am having a rocky time getting attached to him right now, I am always receiving the benefits of the ARPG peapoints system as I go. Furthermore, this character was once a pass-me-on character, switching between a fair few people's hands, and I didn't want that for him anymore. I wanted this character to be loved instead of seen as an object, and I knew how to do that. So that is what I am doing.

That point aside, I understand when trading happens for a real, good reason. I understand when someone has tried but it didn't work because of a good reason. I understand when characters need to be traded because someone needs a design that better fits the personality/role they had in mind. I understand when people trade because they find trading more fun than getting attached to the characters and working on them. But I don't understand when people do enjoy getting attached to characters, but trade them away immediately because they're under the impression that a different design will give them a better chance at all. I've seen people getting their dream design and then trading them away because they didn't " " click " " with them. The design isn't going to make a difference, guys, it's the work you put into the character.

So that's about all I had to say. PLEASE NOTE, THIS JOURNAL ISN'T DIRECTED AT ANYONE SPECIFIC!!! I simply see this happen all the time, and it gets on my nerves a lot haha TTwTT I wanted to perhaps show a different piece of mind that might explain why exactly this happens, and why characters don't immediately 'click'. If you want to keep trading for 'click' related reasons, I have no place to stop you. I just hope you can take something from this, at least 8^8 And maybe reconsider being so hasty with future trades.

That said, if you made it to the end of this journal, thanks for sitting through all that TTvTT haha... I hope you have a swell day ;;A;; And continue to do the things you love <3 Sorry for making you sit through this smelly heap of a rant TTwTT And if you are wondering, yeah, I feel a bit better after getting that all out.