Authors Note: This was originally written in May of 2009, but I never posted it. So, here it is in all its glory.
Funny thing happened yesterday. I thought it'd be amusing to join a Newb Duel Tourney on RPFF, since it was open to everyone. I submitted a character that I've had for a while through a sign up, spent all of fifteen minutes writing up the backstory I hadn't bothered to put down on a page -- and then was summarily told it was a good character, but the weapons had to go. I asked why, and it was called over-powering. I thought about this, started an asinine argument on my own part. Thought the whole of the world had become more retarded than it already is, but came to a realization.
I can understand where the judges are coming from, in their rejection. They believe that simply by having a weapon it will be used no matter what. A stupid assumption if you ask me, but an assumption somewhat valid by their own train of thought. The character I had created was designed for a futuristic world where the weapons he was equiped with were commonplace things, and having them was the line between surviving and dying. The argument raged, and I finally decided it wasn't worthwhile, even though I was still angry. So I re-thought parts of the argument, turned it over again and again in my mind. I found problems with the reasoning of both myself and the judges. I could poke holes forever in either part, but it wouldn't change the outcome.
But a new thought hit me. Throughout the whole of the argument I was told my character was over-powered. Over-powered by the standards of the tourney they were creating. But yet, it was an under-powered character in a different climate of duel. So, it struck me: there is no such thing as an over-powered character, and there never will be. There is only the over-powering actions of the duelist or RPer in the match itself, since you can easily supe up a character in a match to give it that extra edge, and that's what a lot of over-powering duelists do.
I can understand where the judges are coming from, but I realized that there are no such things as over-powered characters, since a character is designed with that power in mind to take on a specific challenge. The challenge is created by the author of the character to make the power necessary. The problem of "over-powering" arises not from the character, but the duelist or RPer boosting the power already there DURING the match, not before it. That's what the judges don't see. They see that because a character has missiles on him, that he'll use them instantly and begin firing them off at the opponent. They don't see that a missile against a person is a massive waste of munitions, since a missile isn't designed for solitary humanoid targets.
Now, back to the sign up method, I have believed for a long time, and still believe, that it is a poor method for gauging a persons writing ability, and an even poorer method still for gauging a characters power level, since those levels, and abilities, can sometimes change while in a duel itself. Asking for as much detail as possible calls on the honor system, and while many will list numerous abilities, there are many more that aren't listed, and yet even more that just randomly show up in the match itself that were never accounted for at the beginning of the match.
Which brings me back to my original point that it is not the characters that are over-powered, it is simply the fact that in the match itself the circumstances change. People don't want to see their characters hurt, harmed or otherwise touched. They want to see the character come through the match looking just as pristine and wonderful as it did at the beginning. That's where the problem comes in. The duelist increases the power as they see necessary to make certain that said character isn't harmed.
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