Pet Characters

We have had "pet" characters all our lives, and D&D and many games encourage this. Part of me feels they damage the hobby and our gaming enjoyment.

A "pet character" is your favorite character, the ideal ranger, the best fighter, the best mage, the trickiest rogue, self-insert, a perfect character modeled after fiction, "you in the game," which you always play in MMOs, and basically who you simp for. If someone asks you to "play a bard," this is your default choice.

For me, 'pet characters' are more of a game-killer than a game-enhancer.

I want them to be perfect, but the rules always need to meet my expectations. They are the same old, and they always react the same way. They never change. They are stuck in the past. You seek out games that give them more powers to further reinforce why they are so great. They are "too close" to us, and "risking them" forces you to cheat or play games where characters never die.

I am beginning to resent the pet character.

They are destroying my enjoyment of gaming.

In a way, this "pet character" ideal is the entire superhero genre. Batman is the only vigilante in the DC Universe; if there is another, it is always "female Batman." There may be a few others, but they are just a collection of "not Batman" characters. In roleplaying, we have "our Batman," the only vigilante-style character we play.

No other vigilante character will ever be given any "air time" or a chance in anyone's mind as long as Batman is around. You see the same thing with the goofball character and Harley Quinn; time and time again, it is the same old her, and there can be no one else.

Why would you waste time developing any new ideas?

We have our old standby pet characters ready to go!

If you are new here, there is the door; that role is filled. Best of luck in your future endeavors.

And companies use this ideal of a pet character as identity marketing against us. Would you buy cosmetics for a randomly generated character? Probably not. Would you buy cosmetics for your pet character? Where do I put in my credit card, and what do you have? Would you buy a game that puts your pet character on a golden pedestal and throws rose petals at their feet?

Soon, Wall Street will begin tracking our "pet characters" and creating databases to market against us and exploit our weaknesses for these ideals. All it takes is AI-generated imagery appearing in advertisements resembling our pet characters. Would you be more likely to buy something if this happened? Let's say your pet and all your friends' characters were happily drinking the same soda. Would you be more receptive? Does Wizards really know what it has in that character database? I called this here first.

Part of me feels like retiring all my pets and only playing games with randomly generated characters is the best way forward. I will "embrace the rando" and begin living life again. With random characters, I get to see new things; I can invest in them or not, and I am free to take them on new adventures and "see what happens." With a pet, I know what they will do and what to expect. That story has been done a million times.

What is the fun of playing it again? I would rather see something new!

I love my pets, but it is time to put them away. I need to grow, discover new things to love, and enjoy characters who may surprise me. Banning the pets will give room for new characters to grow.

And I am tired of doing the same old thing.

I want to see things I have never seen and watch new characters amaze me.