Experiences What made you walk away from fandoms to originals?

[kevintheradioguy]

I feel that this is a tendency among roleplayers I know to do this: start in some fandoms, but then slowly, but surely, drift away from roleplaying in them in favour of original worlds, plots, ideas, characters, and so on. And I find it fascinating.

On one hand, I can theorise that it is because of the borders of a fandom that makes it impossible to play an original character at times, which leaves people playing in a somewhat similar universe, inspired by that fandom, which in time opens ways for other original universes. But I am curious about your own experiences. What made you personally try non-fandom games, or even walk away from fandoms favouring something else?

 

[lexnoblade]

For me, when I did fandom RP's on some other sites, I realized there's only so many times I could interact with the same characters, or play them. It eventually got so boring, that I just started doing original stuff. As much I loved some fandoms, I didn't like most of the people who participated in these certain fandoms I was in, as well.

 

[Idea]

Back when I first started roleplaying I did so on an exclusively fandom site, specifically it was a whole site dedicated to digimon roleplaying. The structure there was quite different, you just made your character which was approved by staff and from there on out everything was one continuous story within the site's overall setting. It was only after some events caused me to leave that I came to experience other kinds of RP, particularly RP not within a specific fandom, but within specific scenarios, AKA original RPs. My first contact with these was on deviantArt, and it wasn't great. A lot of it was rather fetishistic (as one might expect) and but one in particular was good enough that I changed my mind from "I might quit" to "I need to find a better place for this". That roleplay was also the origin of my first multi-use OC, but I digress.

Long story short, to me what brought me to roleplay was my desire to display my ideas and creativity in writing that related to a fandom I loved, and what got me into original RPs more than anything was gaining awareness of them. The sheer possibilites, the stories that could be made unrestricted by the rules and walls of the fandom is a blessing for someone wishing to dump creativity, though I do believe even if such was not my goal at first, awareness would still have been a big if not the biggest aspect of the transition. Fandom is most often found in newer players because it's not the love for roleplaying that first attracts people, it's their love for those fandoms and wish to dive into and expand those stories they love, or as a different form of fanfiction. But as light is shone on the boundless possibilities of roleplay outside of just fandom, this naturally causes those that like roleplay to migrate outward.

 

[rae2nerdy]

See I am someone who enjoys essentially slice of life roleplays. I like to come up with an intricate world and then let my characters explore it in a leisurely fashion. I'm not especially plot driven, and while I enjoy character building it's not the central focus for me.

So that being the case the thing I love (now and when I started out) about fandom roleplays is the chance to explore the world outside of the main protagonist(s) POV. What does the world look like from another perspective? What is the day to day like when the plot isn't moving forward?

The problem is most fandom roleplayers aren't interested in exploring that. They want to focus on the characters or the plot or possibly both. So after awhile I had to just widen my net beyond purely fandoms or risk finding no partners to roleplay with.

Now I find that I run into much the same problem with original roleplays, most people don't like just doing world building slice of life stories. But if nothing else I enjoy coming up with worlds on my own so I find I am entertained enough that I don't mind if the roleplay drops.

I do also still do fandoms, Harry Potter being the main one. That's because due to that specific fandom having a issue with Author canon, a lot more people are interested in fleshing out the world than other canons.

 

[monsterspit]

The things that have made me walk away from RPing in fandoms--and this pertains to my RPing on tumblr, specifically-- is how some fandoms treat OCs. I get that not all OCs are well-written, but I don't necessarily think it's reasonable to let a few bad apples spoil the bushel. Especially considering I've had plenty of uncomfortable interactions with RPers of canons who were so OOC with the character it may as well have been an OC. So I guess I just found it hypocritical, so bounced. I also ran into issues within fandoms involving post-aesthetic elitism, where no matter how well you write, if you didn't make your posts look fancy, you may as well not exist. I'm sure that happens in any type of RP, though. And to each their own, it's just that that's not the sort of stress I want to be surrounded by, personally. Fandoms also can have a tendency to be really ship-focused, where some non-canon ships become so widely popular that anyone who doesn't ship it gets outcasted, which to me is like... really weird and not something I have the patience for.

 

[Onmyoji]

because of the borders of a fandom that makes it impossible to play an original character at times, which leaves people playing in a somewhat similar universe, inspired by that fandom, which in time opens ways for other original universes.

pretty much this. Not that it's impossible to rp an OC within a fandom, but fandoms do impose certain limitations unless you make it AU, and if you're already making it AU, why not the whole original story instead? It just gives more freedom.

I started as a fandom roleplayer, then moved onto originals exclusively. Now I have more or less balanced roleplay life with a bit of both.
I rp fandoms when I want to re-live the canon story and spend more time with favourite characters. This is the reason I usually rp canon characters in fandoms. For OCs I prefer original settings overall. Simply because you have the freedom of creating and tweaking your character as much as you like without worrying about being OOC, because the whole character is in your head and you assign qualities you want to rp at the moment, not whatever was predetermined by fandom. And I love worldbuilding as a process, so there is also that.

 

[Bone2pick]

I didn't, and I wouldn't. For one, I didn't start roleplaying in freeform fandoms, I started in dice roleplays - like Shadowrun, Dungeons & Dragons, Hero System, etc. I guess those are similar to fandoms though, because they have specific worlds, themes, and conflict types. But they differ in that there aren't canon characters to interact with or imitate.

I've been roleplaying for a long time, but I still jump at the chance to join a quality fandom RP. In fact, I'm working on my own right now. My standards for what constitutes "quality" (I think) are pretty high, but they're equally high for original RPs, so that's not a factor.

I understand some people might get bored writing in the same world. But I can honestly say I don't - I'm not wired that way. I think of myself as a genre writer, and I can dream up hundreds of Star Trek, or DC Comic, or Warhammer 40k stories. And more importantly, I can (and will) get excited about each and every one of them.

 

[Jannah]

I was never into RPing fandoms really so I guess I'm an exception. I will do RP's based in fandom universes, but I utterly refuse to play canon characters. I think for me I like RPing in certain fandom universes simply because I think it's a genuinely interesting setting to explore further. In some there's parts of said established universes explored so little through the "official" media, thus I take RP as an opportunity to explore those things more in-depth. For example, I came here from a RP site set in the Harry Potter universe. It's a strictly 18+ site, thus a lot of dark themes not originally explored in the books are brought up. We've had wizard serial killers, wizard assassins, wizard drug dealers, and even more conventional dark themes like mental illness and sexual assault/rape. We've even had a few muggleborn characters persecuted, tortured, and experimented on by their own families, usually religious fundies, simply for being wizards.

 

[CrowOuttaHell]

I used to RP way, way back in my elementary or so days. Started in fandom, where me and my old group of friends just created a Facebook group, assigned each other roles from Hetalia of all things, and RPed as those characters. Even then I was one of those who was barely into the series, got into it because my two other friends were massive fangirls of it. I was all but rushed into it since I was the only one "serious enough" to play their Germany. Eugh.

But hey, I enjoy writing and playing characters. Germany seemed easy enough to play. And so I got into the wonderful world of RP.

Although our world of RP wasn't the most wonderful. We were just kind of playing characters pretty OOC. Eventually, I guess we got sick of being restricted by the "don't be OOC" rule so we moved on to 2p Hetalia, found out they have "don't be OOC" rules too and just decided "fuck it, let's do OCs".

And my OCs were not that great, let's be honest here. Edgelords, mostly. Thank god I fell out of Hetalia, not that I was ever in.

Anyway, I mostly prefer playing originals since...how to put this- I prefer playing in an "open world" where the players can make up stuff about the world as they go, either by building on the concept presented in the canon or by creating their own world. It's the main reason the only group fandom RPs I've ever entered are Pokemon. (I mean, I'm in a fandom 1x1 RP for DDLC in Discord right now, but that's with a good friend and we're set in the universe of a fanfiction I'm working on, don't judge.)

Overall, I just think RPs that present an open world has a lot more immersion and interactivity than a set fandom restriction.

 

[Jannah]

I used to RP way, way back in my elementary or so days. Started in fandom, where me and my old group of friends just created a Facebook group, assigned each other roles from Hetalia of all things, and RPed as those characters. Even then I was one of those who was barely into the series, got into it because my two other friends were massive fangirls of it. I was all but rushed into it since I was the only one "serious enough" to play their Germany. Eugh.

But hey, I enjoy writing and playing characters. Germany seemed easy enough to play. And so I got into the wonderful world of RP.

Although our world of RP wasn't the most wonderful. We were just kind of playing characters pretty OOC. Eventually, I guess we got sick of being restricted by the "don't be OOC" rule so we moved on to 2p Hetalia, found out they have "don't be OOC" rules too and just decided "fuck it, let's do OCs".

And my OCs were not that great, let's be honest here. Edgelords, mostly. Thank god I fell out of Hetalia, not that I was ever in.

Anyway, I mostly prefer playing originals since...how to put this- I prefer playing in an "open world" where the players can make up stuff about the world as they go, either by building on the concept presented in the canon or by creating their own world. It's the main reason the only group fandom RPs I've ever entered are Pokemon. (I mean, I'm in a fandom 1x1 RP for DDLC in Discord right now, but that's with a good friend and we're set in the universe of a fanfiction I'm working on, don't judge.)

Overall, I just think RPs that present an open world has a lot more immersion and interactivity than a set fandom restriction.

Honestly, both styles have pros and cons. Original universes allow for more creative liberty, but on the flipside fandom universes are usually easier to RP in simply because most people engaging in the RP are already familiar with the lore.

 

[CrowOuttaHell]

Honestly, both styles have pros and cons. Original universes allow for more creative liberty, but on the flipside fandom universes are usually easier to RP in simply because most people engaging in the RP are already familiar with the lore.

Agreed on that- it's just my preference. I suppose fandom is at least a little easier for RPers starting out since it provides a more familiar setting. My view on fandom RP might have been tainted just because my very first experience in fandom RP was that terrible Hetalia Facebook group, but I have enjoyed most of my Pokemon RPs.

 

[Jannah]

Agreed on that- it's just my preference. I suppose fandom is at least a little easier for RPers starting out since it provides a more familiar setting. My view on fandom RP might have been tainted just because my very first experience in fandom RP was that terrible Hetalia Facebook group, but I have enjoyed most of my Pokemon RPs.

My most memorable RP experiences were technically fandoms. OC's, but still within established fandom universes.