what do people have against fandoms?

[Chris Lang]

I've been doing fandom RPs for a while now. Some canon characters I have little problem with, and their actions and dialogue practically write themselves. Others I struggle with, as I try to figure out just what they'd say or do in that situation.

My fandom RPs these days are mainly the crossover RPs where characters from several different worlds are taken into a new situation and forced to figure out what's going on and/or accomplish a mission.

I keep the setting and the storyline in mind when picking characters for these sorts of things: Would the character work in that setting? A character from a police procedural probably wouldn't do very well in a scenario where the goal is to stop Thanos from obtaining all the Infinity Gems, for example. But in a slightly less cosmic scenario, they can probably do better.

Of course, I've found that anime characters from series that are focused on action and fighting work very well in superhero-inspired crossover scenarios.

As far as 'ships' go, I've had my characters make friends with characters from other worlds, but further than that (romantic and so forth) is stuff I mostly restrict to my OCs. And I've never had an OC in a 'ship' with a canon character, as that might be a little TOO 'Mary Sue' for my liking - my OCs have only been 'shipped' with other OCs.

Anyway, fandom roleplays are tricky things. And some RPs, and some characters, are harder to play than others. I can see why some stick to OCs, because yes, there is quite a pressure to make sure your character is as in-character as possible. As someone who prefers to be true to the characters' established history and personality, some characters are more difficult than others.

When I played in an all-OC scenario after two years of fandom RPs, I found it very liberating as I didn't have the pressure of worrying about whether or not certain things were in character or not. All I needed to do was to make sure my OC behaved in a way that was consistent with her established personailty.

So yes, fandom RPs can be very enjoyable. But for those who wish to be true to the established character's personality, they're also a lot of hard work. You just have to decide for yourself if they're something you think you can do.

 

[kixinorbit]

I infrequently engage in fandom RPs, but I greatly dislike OC additions to the universe. I feel that adding an original character simply to RP with a canon character (and usually as a love interest) takes something away from the uniqueness of the standing canon. I'm not particularly sure why, but using an OC in a canon universe with canon characters has always seemed to cheapen things for me. If you want to use a universe, fine-- but use an AU with all original characters, or use the canon universe with all canon characters. There are a few very rare exceptions I could see, like perhaps using a new generation and having mostly OCs but a few NPC canon characters of past generations-- but I'm a generally a firm believer in that the two shouldn't mix.

I think, mostly, it's about preserving the integrity of that particular universe.

I dislike crossovers for the same reason.

That said, finding a partner that plays a canon character well is something else entirely and is largely why I do not engage in fandom RP very often. (I also prefer to play my own characters.)

What irritates me the most is when it feels like fandom RPs outweigh the original RPs...

 

[Random]

Personally, I'm more into original RPs, for the fairly simple reason that new things excite me, whereas things I'm familiar with are within my "comfort zone", so they're not as fun. That's all there is to it for me.

 

[napstablook]

I infrequently engage in fandom RPs, but I greatly dislike OC additions to the universe. I feel that adding an original character simply to RP with a canon character (and usually as a love interest) takes something away from the uniqueness of the standing canon. I'm not particularly sure why, but using an OC in a canon universe with canon characters has always seemed to cheapen things for me. If you want to use a universe, fine-- but use an AU with all original characters, or use the canon universe with all canon characters. There are a few very rare exceptions I could see, like perhaps using a new generation and having mostly OCs but a few NPC canon characters of past generations-- but I'm a generally a firm believer in that the two shouldn't mix.

I think, mostly, it's about preserving the integrity of that particular universe.

I dislike crossovers for the same reason.

That said, finding a partner that plays a canon character well is something else entirely and is largely why I do not engage in fandom RP very often. (I also prefer to play my own characters.)

What irritates me the most is when it feels like fandom RPs outweigh the original RPs...

You make a very good point.... o_o

I don't like playing most fandoms for that reason. I will however play a handful like Harry Potter, but only if the canon characters are left as NPCs. I don't feel comfortable taking over another person's brainchild like that. I know that if I had spent so long developing a character I would be absolutely livid to see a bunch of people portraying that character in ways that I think are absolutely unfitting. I feel like there's no way at all to portray canon characters as they were intended no matter how much anyone studies them and their dialogue in the original story. That is something only the creator can do successfully.

In response to the OP, fandoms are what almost everybody requests on this website lately and that's what I find the most frustrating XD I don't hate the fandoms. I just dislike the lack of variety. Lol.

 

[QuietlyStalkingShadows]

I've noticed that on most role play sites people are pretty much never interested in fandom role plays. Especially if it's canon x oc. (Yes, even with doubling). I just wanted to know (from those of you who don't like fandom role plays) why that is?

Oh boy. Ooooohhhhh boy, this is gonna be a long post. Bear with me.

From my point of view, there is nothing inherently wrong with fandom RPs. I've done them in the past and had great fun with them. I still like fandom roleplays, however my fandoms REQUIRE OCs by their nature. My top fandoms are Cthulhu Mythos, King in Yellow Mythos, Slenderman Mythos, but I also am partial to Silent Hill's canon and a few other oddball horror titles. Those all pretty much need OCs because they are universes where people die or go insane, QUICKLY and BRUTALLY. If a story is set in the Slenderman Mythos, I know for a fact that my character will likely be a normal person who is dealing with something far beyond them, something that sex or romance isn't going to be feasible for. You cannot have relationships that stay constant in these worlds because your beloved can, and will, be cruelly ripped from you forever or will be dragged down with you. If one person goes mad from seeing Cthulhu, it's all over and the romance becomes a tragedy, game over, end of story. Your character is insane in an asylum somewhere and will be there for life, that is how the cookie crumbles. Or, your character is dead, in the ground, rotting. The end. Then again, I'm biased - I mostly run horror RPs as you can probably tell by my fandoms, so of course all the characters end up dead, insane, physically/mentally/emotionally scarred, or all three.

As for fandoms in the more typical sense - I am not that fond of seeing canon characters twisted outside of their canon roles. If I'm doing a Batman RP and I'm playing the Joker, the Joker is NOT going to have sex with your OC and they are not gonna be best villain buddies either - he is going to dick them over and kill them probably, because that's how he is in the comics. In my experience, many if not nearly all fandom RPs tend to be romance stories between OCs, the characters, or a character and an OC, and none of those are what I came to the roleplay for. I think it is very hard to justify some characters being in a relationship, ever. I'm sorry, but no, the Doctor and the Master are not going to fall in love with each other just because they were friends as kids, and the Doctor is not going to date his companion, either, because he just doesn't think of that person that way no matter WHAT incarnation of the Doctor it is. Violet and Klaus Baudelaire are SIBLINGS for god's sake, they don't think of each other that way in the books and never fucking will. Some characters just do not go with smut or romance. They really don't, and trying to force them there doesn't work no matter how much you want your OC to be their lover.

I also think it's hard to focus on the plot when someone else is playing a character you like or know a lot about in a way that makes no sense for you, or is jarring, or outright shatters your verisimilitude. I'm not talking about "lump of clay" characters you can play however you want here - I'm talking about canonical characters. If your Batman uses a gun, it's distracting. If your Sebastian McCalis starts acting like anything other than an impeccable, cool-headed demon in human's clothing, I'm going to be distracted. If you humanize an Eldritch abomination too much or your Harry Potter does not act like Harry Potter, it's a problem and it really, really bothers me, to the point I cannot focus on the RP anymore. Sorry, but Moriarty and Sherlock (or Watson and Sherlock for that matter) are not going to get together and fuck no matter how much you want them to and no matter what iteration of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories you use, THEY ARE NOT COMPATIBLE. Fuck off with that noise right now.

With so many people and so many personal headcanons, it's just too problematic for me to ever do something that is fandom-based anymore unless it's in an expanded or open universe where everyone has the same chance. Plus, OCs in a canonical setting such as Marvel or DC, especially if they're new superheros or something, smacks of Mary Sue/Garry Stu, no matter how well you write it. It especially does so if you pair an OC with a canon character - OC/Sherlock, OC/Harry Potter, OC/Cthulhu, whatever. It's WAY too easy and too tempting for most people, I think, to self-insert or to try and alter the canon plot/character traits to suit them, or it at least smacks of that.

Basically... that is why I NEVER RP fandom smut or fandom romance. I rarely RP plots with fandom characters unless they catch my interest and I'm sure the other player(s) can play them correctly. I'm just that picky.

 

[napstablook]

Sorry, but Moriarty and Sherlock (or Watson and Sherlock for that matter) are not going to get together and fuck no matter how much you want them to and no matter what iteration of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories you use, THEY ARE NOT COMPATIBLE. Fuck off with that noise right now.

OMG. exactly how I feel about canon pairings. I absolutely hate it when people try to ship Snape with anyone other than Lily. Or when they try to make Harry and Draco lovers. That just brings me back to my explanation in my last comment of this thread. Maybe I'm just too much of a realist and a buzzkill. Lol.

 

[Crow]

If people do wish to play characters a little... or rather very out of character, they could go for an 'Elseworlds' route, such as giving a reason for an established character to act different, or reimagine the character and state that it is a completely new incarnation, but remember to keep ground rules.

For instance, Flashpoint Batman is more trigger-happy than 52 Batman, but he's still a bat-dressed guy, has the classic tools and still has a reason to hestitate killing Joker.

Then again, this is OC territory, reimagining of a character, so let's leave this topic for another time.

But yeah, speaking of which, all those... uh... JokerXHarley Roleplays I've been seeing on Facebook should be more than enough to rustle your jimmies.

 

[QuietlyStalkingShadows]

all those... uh... JokerXHarley Roleplays I've been seeing on Facebook should be more than enough to rustle your jimmies.

Oh, to no. Fucking. END. Do not get this Joker fan the fuck started.

Like... he's abusive as fuck to her and she even acts like a typical abused person? WHY is that sexy to you? WHY WOULD YOU WANT THAT I JUST *flips table*

 

[Kagayours]

I'm sorry, but no, the Doctor and the Master are not going to fall in love with each other just because they were friends as kids,

I mean

and the Doctor is not going to date his companion, either, because he just doesn't think of that person that way no matter WHAT incarnation of the Doctor it is.

But I thought

*cough* ANYWAY, I'm really not sure what any of these things have to do with pairing OC characters with a canon character...? Like, it's one thing if you don't like certain pairings. That's fine. And... I can understand why people wouldn't be fond of canonxOC pairings for other reasons. But, I mean... if your argument is "romance RP's with the Doctor are dumb because the Doctor doesn't do romance" then that's just silly. :P Like, ok, I'll admit that the Doctor/Master one is a one-sided relationship at best and is mostly just Moffat toying with us, so it's not a great example -- but he definitely had a thing for Rose, and Eleven was in fact referred to as Clara's "boyfriend" on at least one occasion.

Oh, and there's River. He... literally married River. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And then there was the thing with Eight and Grace...

*coughs louder* In any case, I for one don't typically associate fandom RP's with just pure romance/smut. I guess it's just a 1x1 thing? In groups, I feel like fandom RP's have a lot more potential -- even with canon characters.

 

[Dervish]

I have only ever roleplayed as a canon character in a fandom once because one of my major writing partners asked me to and I decided to go against my usual preference and comfort zone. I am happy to say it worked out just fine, but there was an air that it wasn't my character, as much as I tried to flesh them out in a canonically believable manner and had a lot of wiggle room.

My huge issue with canon x OC arrangements is it really feels like a one sided fantasy of the player who wants to play the OC. There's not nearly as much creative input for a player who has to play a canon character, and from person experience, there's this added stress of playing this character accurately and true to who they are, and what your partner expects from that character. It is incredibly confining and it's hard not to feel that you're being used at times by a partner that doesn't care about your preferences and wants.

One on ones aside, about 90% of the roleplays I have been a part of have been fandoms set in universes I like; the operative difference being I do not allow canon characters or character relationships with canon characters for PCs. If a canon character is in the story, it's usually a reference that they exist in the world and did something that effects the world around them, or as pretty minor NPC appearances.

What I am interested in is the universes themselves and the lives of average people living in this world, people who aren't getting caught up in big world changing events but rather more personal moments more representitive of what thousands of others likely experienced. I do like to be doing big epic hero adventures from time to time, but it's definitely more along the lines of normal people caught up in extraordinary circumstances more so than a whole "you are a chosen one!" route.

My big problem with so many fandoms is most players don't give a flying fuck about the RP itself and are just interested in the name on the lunch box. As soon as they find out they have expectations they have to follow or the game slows down from the initial posting frenzy, they flake. Or they submit hilariously overpowered or Sueish characters. Or they name drop like 5 canon characters their OC knows. There's a lot of issues I find from fandom players that you don't see quite as often as in originals, namely because you need to hammer it in so many people's heads they're collaboratively writing a story, not playing a video game.

 

[Silvir]

I suspect that a lot of people like me personally started out in the fanbase Rping. or began the journey of RPing in the crawling pits of Forums on manga, Fandom, Gaming, Chats and other areas. Where a hoard of hormone pumped lore fanatical people (many of them young and horny as well) looked for their ultimate fantasy about their favorite character.

And thus begins the frankenstein version of RP creation as these people throw togheter what ever parts and pieces they can find and blast it with lightning fast one liners and what not. And as they grow and get connections they form into groups and expand beyond that first basic Fandom rping that to some if not many just leaves a weird taste in the mouth and you can never really look back at that stuff. And can then never really return because that is the image they have in their minds.

At least i do. I just never had a good experience with fandoms. the quality of the writing, the attitude of the people in it. The fanatical love for those characters and their world. , , , It's no longer rping it's cultism.

Well anyway deviating from my personal trauma yeah. Something like that. I rarely see a Fandom RP survive the horrors of the Ego of the Fans.

 

[Kagayours]

I rarely see a Fandom RP survive the horrors of the Ego of the Fans.

Then maybe you just have to do a bit more looking around. I've seen a number of fandom RP's do just fine when run by sane people. I think it really depends on the community that you're RPing with. If the RPing is just a side-attraction in a much larger community that's dedicated to the fandoms, then, yeah, I guess it makes sense that things could get just a tad... cultist, as you put it. But if it's a site that's dedicated to RPing to begin with (like Iwaku), then I don't think it's difficult to run some decent RP's that just so happen to be fandom-based.

 

[Silvir]

Then maybe you just have to do a bit more looking around. I've seen a number of fandom RP's do just fine when run by sane people. I think it really depends on the community that you're RPing with. If the RPing is just a side-attraction in a much larger community that's dedicated to the fandoms, then, yeah, I guess it makes sense that things could get just a tad... cultist, as you put it. But if it's a site that's dedicated to RPing to begin with (like Iwaku), then I don't think it's difficult to run some decent RP's.

Hehe see it as a bit of a rambling of a traumatised RPer when it comes to Fandom Rp's. I think Mangafox has had some of the worst Fandom sections ever created online. And i saw som bad stuff on Gaia and other big RPing places as well.
But yeah i have indeed seen a bit more of the better side of Fandom but it will likely be a long time till i can look in that direction of writing without shuddering again. :/

 

[Kagayours]

Hehe see it as a bit of a rambling of a traumatised RPer when it comes to Fandom Rp's. I think Mangafox has had some of the worst Fandom sections ever created online. And i saw som bad stuff on Gaia and other big RPing places as well.
But yeah i have indeed seen a bit more of the better side of Fandom but it will likely be a long time till i can look in that direction of writing without shuddering again. :/

Oh. I'm sorry to hear that, then. :/