This is ofc just my preference obviously, but tbh I think if you're writing omegaverse & there is no real difference between (cis) man/woman and alpha/omega, you are severely underutilizing the potential of the AU.
Part of this is obviously that I am just very uncomfy with mpreg and could not care less about smut. In fact, I actively avoid smut. That aspect doesn't appeal to me at all, but also there are just so many things that are part of omegaverse tropes that could contribute to fascinating explorations of alternate history or societal worldbuilding. How would the world be different if we all had psychic bonds to our loved ones? Would wearing scent blockers in public be considered polite as it makes your presence less overwhelming, or would it be considered distasteful because it seems untrustworthy to not be able to sense your emotions that way? Would it vary by culture? Historically, would male primogeniture remain a thing or would it have been replaced with a dynamic instead of a primary gender? What would the social hierarchy look like? What would pop culture be like? What changes about historical art and literature?
If not for mating, what is the evolutionary purpose of heats/ruts? With the strong emphasis on physical touch associated with the trope, would omegaverse society have stricter expectations about casual platonic touch or would it be more relaxed/encouraged? Is a lack of physical contact a major risk factor in any diseases or conditions that getting enough skin contact would abate?
And, gosh, our understanding of sexuality and gender would be completely different! Linguistically, would there be a difference in the terms used to refer to a female alpha and a female omega? In pronouns? Would romance languages give words secondary gender as well as primary? Would you have to know that "cheese" is omegan in French but alphan in Romanian the same as it being male and female in those respective languages? Or in terms of human sexuality, the only terms that could stay are basically just ace and pan, nothing and everything. We don't have language to encompass an alpha man who only likes omegas regardless of primary gender, or only likes women regardless of secondary gender, or only likes beta women. Those would probably be three separate terms. Could people be transdynamic the way they're transgender in the real world? And a/b/o itself, those probably have different terms in different languages! If they've been part of humanity from the beginning, why would we use Greek letters for them? What would they be called instead? How would the terms have evolved over time?
Idk. I just think we're underutilizing the world-building potential here.
