A Reasonable Discussion Of Omegaverse And It's Future Evolution

HGohwell 2021-11-08 14:06:39 UTC #1

Disclaimer: Much like BL, GL and LGBT+ stories in general, omegaverse is often considered to be inherently sexual. That is not the case, but some tropes/plot elements related to sex may pop up. I'd really like to keep this discussion as non-graphic and sfw as possible please (euphuism away, the wackier the better to cheer up everyone's day).

Disclaimer 2: I understand omegaverse can be a controversial topic, and some people have some really strong opinions on it and that's cool, but I'd really like to think this forum is mature and civil enough we can have a discussion on it without devolving into controversy and drama please. I'm not saying no negative opinions, if you can explain your dislike of something please do, I'm just saying please do your best to be at least civil and non-personal about it.

For Reference: anyone who doesn't know what omegaverse is, it's explained in the most basic form in the 4th comment down.

Right, disclaimers done, now some actual discussion.

So, I really just want to talk about omegaverse with some people who either do or don't like and whys and whatnots.

It's an interesting and growing genre (sub-genre?) and I think there's a lot to talk about. I feel, a lot like BL previously, it's got a bit of a bad reputation stemming from stereotypical portrayals from it's early days. Now the reasons for this are obvious, it comes from BL fandom communities and so inherited a lot of those negative and even problematic tropes. However, I think much like BL, it's moving away from those and, much like BL, people in the wider world haven't caught up with that realization yet.

Cards on the table, I enjoy omegaverse. I'm fussy about it, but I enjoy it when I find one that meets my standards. I dabble in writing it, and I'm considering publishing my own. And what originally drew me to omegaverse was the nontypical world building and relationships (I'm also a big fan of sedoretu, which is criminally underrated tbh). I think there's something fascinating about throwing an entirely new dynamic into the world and relationships and how they handle it both in universe and as a writer.

That's not to say there aren't some problems with the genre, as with it's BL roots; there's a lot of issues with consent (if there even can be consent in worlds that have highly unbalanced power between them) that are never even dealt with, despite how interesting that could be if build into the world building, misogyny (while there are now hetrosexual omegaverses all over the place, most of these simply use omega as a stand in word for woman, and that's got all kinds of problematic connotations that are rarely considered in or out of universe) and that's when they do include women and the fact that there are so few GL omegaverses says a lot, whether the use of intersex male omegas and female alphas is more or less problematic than not using them, and often the reinforcement of lazy gender stereotyping and fetishization of abuse of power and gay men in general.

However, in case you haven't noticed the parallels already, a lot of these accusations have also been levelled at BL in the past. And, I think, much like BL, omegaverse is slowly coming away from those high negative roots. As it becomes less niche and more acceptable to write, people are starting to stray away from the strict stereotypical original tropes and start realising they can play with them. And as more people do that, more people from outside the niche genre come in and start portraying their own interruptions. We already see this in fanfiction where some of the most popular takes on it are less traditional.

So interesting genre expanding examples are things like omegas having more power, being rare and so treasures, being older and more dominant, small alphas constantly mistaken for omegas, large omegas who don't fit conventional omega beauty standards and their anxiety over it, where (in some worlds with this particular quirk) male omegas and female alphas being sterile makes them less as people.

As further examples, two of my favourite omegaverse pieces:

A take on the non-traditional omega, using the idea of pseudo-alphaism; a large, professional athlete of an omega who through some problems with his hormones, his body doesn't think he's an omega and as a youngster was so afraid of not being an alpha like his siblings, refused the medical aid and this is now coming back to bite him and he has to take the hormone treatment, at the same time, he's afraid he doesn't fit any omega standards and that it will negatively effect his career when the changes happen.

Secondly, a take on the trend to completely ignore betas in omegaverse works. Betas are considered useless and prevalence of alpha/omega couples have left them all but extinct and the public consensus is that they don't need them anymore because humans are more evolved and don't need a natural mediator. Naturally, the mc turns out to be a beta and has to navigate being what most people consider useless, the fact that his mild scent means his omega mother can't read him and so becomes hostile, no one can relate to his issues and even assume he doesn't have issues because what issues can a beta have compared to alphas and omegas and indeed in inferiority complex that is built up in his because of that.

And I think as omegaverse continues to grow, we're going to see more works like this. I think good omegaverses can be fascinating and there's a lot of world building to enjoy and play with.

So, I'd like to hear everyone else's thoughts. Whether you're positive, negative or indifferent on omegaverses. Interesting ideas and concepts you've seen or played with. The parts of it you don't like. It can be a controversial genre, especially and sadly with people who don't understand it or even try to, and I think the only way to change that is to have mature, reasonable and open discussions about it.

DokiDokiTsuna 2021-11-08 15:36:05 UTC #2

I don't know if this is considered derailing the topic, but I went into this not knowing what 'omegaverse' was (and wanting to finally get an explanation) and now I'm even more confused. o_O Is this like...some kind of eugenicised future alternate reality setting?? Is this just a style of fanfiction (like a 'coffeeshop AU') or is it more of a genre of its own...?

Like, I feel like I read all that and ended up with more questions than answers...

DNoble 2021-11-08 15:48:29 UTC #3

I'm not particularly a fan of the concept most of the time, but it's pretty hard to be even a casual browser of fanfiction without running into some representation of omegaverse stuff.

As you stated, in that context it's pretty much inherently sexual and often aggressively so, so that may color my opinions and experiences more than I realize since I don't exactly seek out this sort of content in an SFW setting.

That said, there are a lot of issues that crop up in the NSFW setting that have relevance as general-purpose discussions.

First and foremost: I cannot remember experiencing an omegaverse story where its nature as an omegaverse story wasn't the sole focus of everything that happened.

I have to disagree with the idea that it's not inherently sexual to some degree: it's not inherently adult or pornographic, but the idea of an ABO dynamic in your story does by design have connection to romantic/sexual relationships and how reproduction is handled.
I'd make the same argument for any romantic relationship included in a story, as well as, to some degree, gender idenity: discussing the topic in and of itself is inherently related to sex and sexuality.

Any two characters getting married or having a child means a sex scene definitely happened, we just weren't privy to it, and that's perfectly okay. Sexuality being present doesn't automatically make a story sexual in nature, nor does it make it pornographic.

The reason I think that distinction is important is because sexuality is an integral part of the human experience, but it's not the whole thing. Every ABO story I've run into makes the sexuality and the nature of Alphas/Omegas and dealing with heat the entire focus of everything that happens.
I cannot think of a single Omega character who has like... dreams or goals or aspirations that have nothing to do with being an Omega. Obviously you have plenty of characters whose entire personality is 'submissive and breedable', but even outside of that, you have Omegas who want something but are somehow held back by their status as an omega, or is in conflict with their primal, instinctual omega desires.
Literally everything in their life is about being an omega in some way shape or form, and that's really the issue I've found with the genre. (same goes for alphas, of course, but it's really noticeable to me with the submissive side)

I definitely think the genre could work, and I share a similar fascination with the idea of throwing in a completely different societal dynamic and watching what dominoes that knocks over when it comes to worldbuilding, but humans are built of more than what we're attracted to and what role we play in the reproductive cycle.
It's rare to see a fully fleshed out character in an Omegaverse situation (at least in my limited experience, so take that with a grain of salt), because the nature of the story as an omegaverse one is shiny and new and the whole point of the author writing it, as opposed to an aspect added in to make a world more interesting.

HGohwell 2021-11-08 15:54:54 UTC #4

So omegaverse has a lot of variations depending on the author but is it's a speculative fiction trope. Like what if all humans had psychic powers, or what if all humans had a mark that told them their soulmate ect. The one most relevant to omegaverse is what if humans had animal traits.

The main concept is that there are 3 "secondary genders" (not important but I hate that term, but it is the term used), alpha, beta and omega. In most cases, it's just a natural evolutionary trait of humans, although sometimes it's to do with werewolves or vampires or scifi human experimentation and animal hybrids. A lot of it is based on outdate studies on wolf packs, and most people knows it's outdated and don't care they like the world building and call it a fantasy element. A lot of the time there are scents involves, sort of like each person having their own perfume that tells you their mood, what their secondary gender is, pheromones ect. Often there is the concept of claiming bites/life time mates. Some involve things like heats and ruts. There's a lot of variation on how animal they are from author to author.

Alphas are stereotypically dominant, leaders, masculine, tall, powerful athletic, in BL terms, the seme, in not BL terms the manly man.
Betas are the "normal guys" they're nothing special, some contexts have them as mediators, some just have them as total normal, some give them a more active role.
Omegas are the ukes, they're generally small and cute and fragile, need protective, very emotional, or the stereotypical weak emotional womanly woman.

Depending on the author, all omegas may be women and all alphas will be male and beta will be a mix of both, sometimes women don't exist at all (mpreg is a common theme) and some allow for all sex across all secondary genders and what equipment they have also varies greatly from author to author too.

HGohwell 2021-11-08 16:12:18 UTC #5

I can definitely see where you definition of inherently sexual and mine aren't quite in line, when I use the term I'm more relating it to the idea that an omegaverse fic is basically an excuse for porn or automatically nsfw just by being omegaverse.

This is how I found omegaverse originally. I was wary of it and had a few bad experiences but it is so dominant in some of the fandoms I'm in that I asked friends for recommendations and there are some great ones out there.

This is definitely interesting and yeah, I have to agree since a lot of omegaverse is generally considered to have romance as it's parent genre, it's usually a romance story. And this is definitely a shame, since I feel like it can have a lot boarder appeal if it was treated more like a fantasy race or just a sex that's part of the worldbuilding rather than the main focus. While the character pieces are interesting, yeah, I'd like to see it more just sort of there in the same way as your gender. I'm sort of trying with mine to take a fantasy overthrow the overlord plot and just throw the omegaverse in there so you can say someone's an omega with the same casualness you'd say someone's a girl. We'll see how it goes.

I often feel like the omega focus is a way for the women writing it, especially in fanfiction of largely male casts, to project the sexism they face onto these characters tbh, I think that's why it's more common to see stories focusing on omegas struggling with expectations of submissiveness and sexual harassment ect.

I do find it interesting how quickly lots of omegaverse stories throw back to more old fashioned sexism with their settings, even when everything else is modern. There's so much more to work with than "omegas would be treated how women used to be treated". One of the more fascinating concepts I saw once was that with 3 genders, a balanced relationship would be more expected to be between 3 people, one of each gender, or at least that it wasn't uncommon for a beta to be attached to an alpha/omega pair. That's the sort of world building I find fascinating.

DokiDokiTsuna 2021-11-08 16:38:51 UTC #6

Well...that's really oddly specific. ^^;

I can see why it'd get controversial; I mean, any setting whose core concept is 'there are people that are naturally dominant/superior, and people that are naturally submissive/inferior' is bound to attract a lot of nastiness, especially when that setting is commonly used as a mere backdrop for sexy adventures...

I think you raised some good points though, about it being able to evolve...when you diverge from basic romance tropes and start to examine how these weird rules affect people's lives and self-images in this fictional reality, the same way the weird rules we have in our own reality affect our lives and self-images. At the end of the day, these are still stories about people, and people will have complexity and nuance as long as you allow them to.

Based just on the little you explained, I feel like one possible evolution would be a sort of sub-genre of sci-fi where we explore what it would be like for humans to have certain animal traits and behaviors as part of society...like, in and of itself, without all the alpha/omega BS. ^^; Not that such things don't already exist, but that those stories would become more widespread and popular in their own right, like dystopian fiction.

Like, there are lots of different kinds of animal societies; it's not all about reproduction and 'usefulness'. And if extra-sensory things like pheromones are gonna be in play, why not go further out and use plant traits, too? A human society where everyone is chemically connected like a mycelium network...or where certain people can't function during the winter, while others can stay active and 'evergreen' year-round, if you want a more obvious metaphor. Like if seasonal affective disorder were a much bigger, more widespread problem.

...I guess my ideas aren't very 'sexy'. ^^; But if I were to read anything within 'omegaverse', it would have to be something like that...something that takes an inhuman trait, gives it to humans, and looks deeply at the problems it'd cause.

HGohwell 2021-11-08 17:13:38 UTC #7

Haha, it is a weirdly specific trope but also very broad at the same time.

I think a lot of these sort of themes in the genre come from taking the old BL tropes and then having an excuse to project their internalised misogyny onto omegas but even more than with ukes because now they're born different and given a name, not just because they look/act a certain way.

There's a reason a lot of the struggles omegas face parallel a lot of issues with do or did face. A lot of the ways omegas are treated parallels the old fashioned treatment of women as property/home makers/mothers/generally submissive and inferior.

But, yes, also a lot of it is used to just pwp and non-con via "the pheromones made me lose control"/"the pheromones meant I couldn't say no" and even the ones that don't make it romantic and say the omega was raped rarely cover whether an alpha can give consent if he is equally pheromone bombed; if they're both in the same altered state then why is only one of them the one who matters? There are some really interesting moral areas that are almost never covered

I don't think they need to be sexy tbh. I think omegaverse much like BL will move away from just being sexy. There's a growing trend to just slap it on top of other stories (one of the most common is organized crime stories) but also just to focus on things other than pairing. In fanfiction, particularly of shows with highly male casts that focus on tight friendship groups, pack dynamic fics are a growing trend. The idea of a dominant alpha and often a dominant omega too (although whether that makes them above the alphas or just other omegas is author to author) and also family elements. If you're an alpha what does that mean in respect to the omega that birthed you, do you consider them inferior or not? I think wolf/canine traits are the most common because of werewolves and the cross over into that genre along with shifter romance (omegaverse is surprisingly common in dragon romance) but other animals are known, especially cats and I've even see bunnies, so I don't entirely see it being off limits to do plants, which I imagine then becomes similar to the stamen/pistil trope (which is mostly unrelated to Franxx using the terms and more like a soulmate world).

indagold 2021-11-08 22:32:16 UTC #8

This is a lot of pontification on sexy werewoofs. I have literally no clue how to redo an extremely niche fetish genre when i've not seen anyone casually discuss even reading this genre, which gives an idea how tiny it is. I think its just doomed to be what it is because no one really cares about outdated ideas on how wolves communicate except this bizarre side of erotic lit. It's always gonna be furry spank material.

You'd probably be more successful pulling a chuck tingle than trying to reinvent the genre. I'd be down for some chuck tingle omegaverse.

HGohwell 2021-11-09 01:11:05 UTC #9

Perhaps, and it's just a perhaps, we don't see it discussed casually because of opinions like this:

Ah yes, a genre where one of the most common plots is the single dad plot line where the main character has to win over the innocent child of the single parent and prove themselves worthy of their parent by buying them ice cream and filling the part of parenthood their parent isn't good at, so pornographic.

The fact that I gave two examples of deep, in depth character studies on how this particular worldbuilding could affect lives and that haven't featured a single sex scene and far out the popularity of more traditional omegaverse in their category (pulling numbers a lot of us here would kill for) and got the idea that it's just porn in return, maybe be why no one talks about it. Also the genre skews no not being anything to do with werewolves and in fact just being humans with extra scenes/instincts, just so you're aware.

And tbh it's not as niche as you make out. It's one of the top categories on all of ao3. It has a thriving gay and straight indie publishing scene (enough that authors can sue each other over it) and if you actually look at Tapas' free to read novels in the BL category, the top of the list of dominated by omegaverse. Those aren't insignificant numbers. (I think one of the major stumbling blocks between omegaverse and becoming huge huge however is that I've yet to see a good way to adapt it to a visual medium rather than prose.)

I'm not trying to reinvent the genre, it's already happening. I keep referring back to it's BL roots in the main post for a reason: because I remember when admitting to liking BL was met with "well it's just porn" rather than talking about how it can evolve and what it's actual strength and problems are (like the fact that most ukes were more realistic women than actual women in other series). And look, now we're allowed to talk about it, and it's allowed to have plot and doesn't have to conform to stereotypical roles and tropes of the start of the genre.

Also, I don't think you're using this is as specific argument for why omegaverse sucks just more part of your overall dislike for the genre so this isn't aimed at your specifically but it is a common argument for why omegaverse doesn't work so I'll address it: literally everyone knows it's outdated and no one cares. It's the weakest argument for why omegaverse sucks because oh no, fiction isn't realistic? Go tell the people using alchemy in their fiction how it's outdated and they're portraying it inaccurately to boot.

HGohwell 2021-11-09 01:18:55 UTC #10

And for anyone who's never actually read an omegaverse story Dominic Noble did a video on a layman reading them for the first time to give you a better idea who modern commercial omegaverse looks like. It's relatively short, relatively sfw and covers most of the basics.

indagold 2021-11-09 02:33:53 UTC #11

Why are you making this a personal attack like i'm here for vengence, I don't even hate the genre or are invested in it or even devote any of my time to it, i'm just stating the facts. It's a nsfw genre that has very little chance of escaping anything but its nsfw outlook. Researching it brings up nsfw content immediately. And It is niche. I have friends into monsterboys who don't even know what it is. Just cause it got popular within a certain medium doesn't mean it's well known. You're taking this like I singled you out, I didn't. This is the reality of nsfw genres. Like good on you for wanting to produce different content for it but it is what it is.

HGohwell 2021-11-09 03:03:49 UTC #12

I didn't feel like I was making it a personal attack, the only part I can imagine you might have taken like that is me simply pointing out that if people talk about something with passion, and go out of their way to point out it isn't all nsfw, as I did in my example, and then the reason is "it's just porn" that's probably a contribution to it not being discussed. In the same way talking about anything with passion to be responded to with dismissal discourages people talking about. Why would people talk about it casually if that's the reaction they get? How do we change perspectives if no one wants to talk about it for fear of being judged? It's a cycle.

The rest, from my point of view, was simply addressing the points you made, and as I've said, BL used to be considered the same, a solely nsfw genre. There is room for development, it's growing as a genre, and it is developing and changing with that growth, and while I certainly don't expect it to turn into it's own massive force like BL, the idea that a nsfw genre can never change or move on from that, especially with such interesting world building ideas that can be tackled, because it's just because it has roots in nsfw fiction feels reductive to me.

NickRowler 2021-11-09 04:47:46 UTC #13

I tend to avoid the tag due to it seeming to be just an evolved version of the toxic tropes I disliked from Seme/Uke type stories.

HGohwell 2021-11-09 04:59:50 UTC #14

I get that. It's why I was really wary of it early on too, it seemed even more exaggerated than the uke/seme trope (side not this is why I actually prefer the pistil/stamen or sedoretu when it comes to fanfic verses, there's still the differences on top of genders that can be interesting for world building and relationships but there's less of the unbalanced power dynamic, although they're very very rare as a setting) but finding the good ones totally changed how I viewed it. It's not a bad trope/genre, just badly written a lot of the time. And I'm not going to deny, there's lot of them that are still like that, but much like all genres it's going through the evolution of people rebelling against the tropes they dislike and actively trying to look at them from a more serious, realistic view like deconstructions or actual breaking the tropes like subversions. Particularly in fanfiction, they're moving on from those things and I think it's a newer trope/genre it's not quite there yet. The ratio of well done ones to cringe awful ones is slowly growing.

Breezy 2021-12-07 04:12:54 UTC #15

So... I write an omegaverse werewolf novel on Tapas called Nonconforming. I personally came to appreciate the genre when I read Heart to Heart, which has been number one in BL for a while now on Tapas. I think it takes all the non-problematic, stereotypical omegaverse tropes and does them well. It’s always consensual and the relationship feels earned and real. My own novel turns the tropes of the small, helpless omega on its head by centering on an athletic masculine omega.

I think there are lots of amazing omegaverse stories out there, but the problem is that the genre is oversaturated with cringe-worthy material. I see way too much possessive behaviors played off as romantic and tons of novels (particularly werewolf omegaverse novels on Wattpad) with zero character development.

Because the omegaverse did find its roots in heterosexual women fetishizing gay men, I think there is a huge rape fantasy component to the way these novels are written. Getting real here, I don’t actually think non-con is a problematic fantasy. No one actually wants to be raped and saying that women who fantasize about that want it is just dumb. Nothing non-consensual can happen in your own mind and for a lot of women, non-con fantasies are a way to give yourself permission to feel good and feel wanted. As men are generally viewed as naturally more sexual than women (not actually true, just a society thing), women may see themselves in these gay men, wanting something “forbidden”. Anyways, this is all to say that, I don’t actually think using the omegaverse to play out rape fantasies are as problematic as people make them out to be. Would I like to see some higher quality, not-just-smut novels set in the omegaverse, absolutely. Do I think authors who write omegaverse non-con or dub-con are terrible people? No, not really. It’s just a kink.

The real issue for me is that there is this “soulmate” component, where the non-con acts are presented as romantic and loving. As soon as the domineering alpha who is stalking the omega says he loves them, I cringe big time. Maybe it is an arbitrary distinction, but I just don’t like this idea of calling lust love. I don’t like how lots of omegaverse stories (particularly with the soulmate trope in play) jump straight to “I already know I love you,” when they meet for the first time. I enjoy soulmate stories that take a more nuanced approach, where the couple has to work for their feelings to catch up to their sexual attraction. But, I recognize this isn’t a key component of non-werewolf, “traditional”, omegaverse novels.

I also find it slightly annoying (but again it’s not really a deal-breaker for me) when omega is used as another word for women. I enjoy stories where being an omega male actually means something beyond “I’m actually coded female”. In my novel, Nonconforming, I actually have trans female omegas, because, yeah, being born a male omega can still cause gender dysphoria if you’re a woman. I also present the idea of trans male alphas, although I don’t have any in my main cast of characters. It’s a fun world to play in and I hope I do it in a respectful way, so if your interested, here’s the link:

Breezy 2021-12-07 04:15:58 UTC #16

All of the above. It’s just a setting. Like if you play D&D you might play in the “Forgotten Realms” setting or if your write fanfic, you might write a novel in the wizarding world. The big difference is that no one owns the omegaverse, so authors can write in the omegaverse “universe” and actually earn money for it.

HGohwell 2021-12-09 00:09:31 UTC #17

This was one of my major problems getting into omegaverse, every time I'd tried, a lot of the content was very cringey but when you find the ones that actually put in work to not just make it paint by numbers, they can be really amazing, and I'm really glad I get to find the good ones.

Yeah, I think people over stress this too much sometimes. I actually touch on this in one of my omegaverse pieces where you have an omega who is generally not what the traditional omega personality is and sorta makes a point of it and has a lot of trouble admitting he actually kind of does want to experiment with consent play because isn't that just playing into stereotypes? The answer from another omega is along to the lines of "you're doing the don't like pink because it's girly thing and isn't telling you what to like in bed more oppressive than you having a kink?"

Yeah, this I really dislike. If you want to write rape and write a loving relationship, write kink negation scenes and just make it a sex thing, which is much more a sign of a health relationship.

I gotta agree here, I love a soulmate story, even when not omegaverse, but they get a bit too paint by numbers sometimes. The whole, instant connect and certainty can be great, but it can also feel so bland. In a not omegaverse just soulmates I've written, they've known they're soulmates since they were 14 and 15 and attempted a relationship but had no idea what they were doing and just assumed it would work and had a major falling out within a week because things didn't just click. It's a long complicated twisty tale of them being drawn to each other so much they can barely keep their eyes and hands off each other, but the emotional maturity isn't there at all and just makes things worse and they don't get a stable relationship going until they're both in their 20s with some actual world experience.

Yeah I don't like when they're basically just a stand in for women, especially when women are written out entirely. I tend to write intersex male omegas and female alphas (which can have unfortunately be read as fetishizing trans people) but it always made more sense for me for males to have a vagina rather than that whole self-lubricating ass and not even to get started on things like the pregnancy practicality of that (not that I particularly enjoy writing the pregnancy aspect and tend to lean towards male omegas and female alphas having lower fertility rates which is why they're rarer). Dysphoria isn't something I've seen addressed every often beyond throw away lines but it's definitely something I'd like to see more of, so I'll definitely be sure to check it out.

candywrites02 2025-09-29 17:55:34 UTC #18

Hi I'm a new author, check out my work based on Omegaverse, a story between enigma and omega, My Omegaverse novel has it's own world with evolved and deeply explored, I like to invite you to explore my world, if you are super into Omegaverse check it out , I think it's an interesting story of course it's you who can decide if you like my story or not but check out my novel name is Beneath the scent of Silence https://tapas.io/series/Beneath-the-Scent-of-Silence-when-instinct-failswhats-left-is-truth/info