Experiences What are the downsides of fandom roleplays?

[fcllenstars]

Hello!

I have been reading a lot of posts on here where people talked about negative parts of roleplaying. Doubling was a very popular topic and that made me think about it as well. Doubling often occurs in fandom roleplays and I do it too, but I was quite interested what you think are the downsides of a fandom roleplay?

It doesn’t have to be about doubling, but it’s also an interesting topic.
Your views on oc x canon would interest me a lot!

 

[rae2nerdy]

So I do predominately fandom based roleplay and I will say for me the biggest two downsides are :

1. When people only want to do a pairing roleplay. They don’t so much care about exploring the world, plot, themes, etc. of the fandom. All they care about is if they can pair two characters together. As someone who tends to view the romances as the least interesting part of any given fandom it just turns me off.

2. When people don’t like to expand their idea of the fandom. When people have super rigid ideas of how they want the source material portrayed and refuse to deviate from that.

As to canon x OC I’m fine with it as long as the OC is not the center of the roleplay. I don’t like any pairing that feels one sided but I especially don’t like it when it’s canon x OC. Usually because I’m playing the canon and I feel like I’m being forced to play a character for my partners enjoyment not my own.

 

[PopcornPie]

Well, it can be a little tough to master character portrayals, as well as keeping them in character when they're interacting with a universe, or someone from that universe, that isn't their own. If you have a very simple character in a very complex universe, guessing how they'll react takes getting used to.

 

[_Exodus_]

1. You’re limited by the rules of the world.
2. Less creativity.

But
If you have a need to do something, test those boundaries, you can.

 

[rae2nerdy]

1. You’re limited by the rules of the world.
2. Less creativity.

See I differ. I feel like the best part of fandom works is where you flesh out what the author started with your own ideas. Then again my fandoms murdered our author years ago OR are helmed my authors who encourage fans to make the world their own. Heck one of the fandoms literally stared with a book that was a love letter to fanfic writers and how reconstructing a fandom work can help people deal with their own insecurities.

 

[_Exodus_]

But that’s the thing. The fandom gets changed by you into something else. A new plot or idea, no longer being truly the fandom you originated with.

 

[rae2nerdy]

But that’s the thing. The fandom gets changed by you into something else. A new plot or idea, no longer being truly the fandom you originated with.

Not really. Let’s use a popular property.

1. Harry Potter
So the main book series are just about the heroes journey of the protagonist. And the setting is largely a boarding school. So if I made a roleplay about an adult shop keeper I would largely have to make up my own head canon for things like : how do people get hired, how do they get paid, what are normal business hours, etc. This isn’t me making up an entirely new world it’s just fleshing out parts of canon that weren’t relevant to the main story.

You can flesh out a world without altering the foundation the original author started. You are also not limited specifically to just redoing the canon storyline when it comes to fandoms. You can look at the world as a whole and expand it.

 

[Crayons]

Fandom RP is great! Gotta love them fandoms providing us with ready-made worlds that we all know and understand, so we can start playing in them immediately! No need to read through (or create) tons of lore! Just make the character and get stuck in. Everyone is on the same page, and you have info on hand to refer to whenever you need it through a wikia or similar. I honestly love this aspect of fandom RPs, they are so accessible.

Downsides

1x1:

When everyone wants to play OC x canon. I'm just not into this at all. Usually I want to play OCs, and I want my OCs to be interacting with other OCs. I have a perception (maybe true, maybe false) that OC x canon is purely for wish-fulfilment, and all the OCs are likely to be self-inserts.... and that's not what I enjoy. I don't usually play canon characters either, with a couple of exceptions, so this is out for me on both sides. Canons are fine as NPCs though.

Groups:

When there's one annoying player in the fandom that joins all the same groups as you.
When everyone in the fandom prefers a different play style to you.

Both:

When people use the MC and their specialness as the baseline power level for their OC, and they have to better it: E.g. Naruto had the ninetails, I will have the TENtails! Edward Elric became a State Alchemist at 16, my character became one at 12! Ichigo is a shinigami, a Quincy and a Fullbringer. My character will be his older twin sister who is all of those things but also a Bount and the vessel of the Soul King!
When people need their character to have ALL the powers from ALL the OP characters in the original property. (Sharingan, Byakugan, Tailed Beast, all the element and yin yang releases, etc. etc.)
When you can't find anyone who is into the same fandom as you.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Crayons I agree on the wish fulfillment aspect. I feel like even when it’s not a pairing specific thing people who play their OC against Canons tend to make the OC the center of the roleplay. To me it usually reads as lack of experience with writing.

Like the person doesn’t know how to make an interesting character organically so they make this shallow flashy character and force the narrative to center on them. Which doesn’t bother me in theory but is super annoying when I’m stuck stroking that characters ego.

 

[Crayons]

Crayons I agree on the wish fulfillment aspect. I feel like even when it’s not a pairing specific thing people who play their OC against Canons tend to make the OC the center of the roleplay. To me it usually reads as lack of experience with writing.

Like the person doesn’t know how to make an interesting character organically so they make this shallow flashy character and force the narrative to center on them. Which doesn’t bother me in theory but is super annoying when I’m stuck stroking that characters ego.

Yeah absolutely. I mean, whatever between two or more consenting RPers, but I don't want to be involved in it. XD

Edit: I don't think it's always lack of experience, I think it's wanting something different from the act of RPing.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Yeah absolutely. I mean, whatever between two or more consenting RPers, but I don't want to be involved in it. XD

Edit: I don't think it's always lack of experience, I think it's wanting something different from the act of RPing.

I think we meant too different things with wishfullfillment

I meant more in the sense that people write a character that basically replaces the protagonist as being center stage. So to use a silly example it becomes : OC and the Goblet of Fire not Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

And in that case it does usually read as a lack of experience just by the means in which the character is made “important”. As you mentioned it’s usually by giving them some Uber special ability or backstory that makes them stand out from everyone else. And their usually played as this perfect person who has all the answers in any given situation.

To an extent this can be deliberate but it’s usually more subtle if the person is an experienced writer. And backed up with more of a story arc. Not just blatant in your face my character has god like abilities and is basically Batman.

 

[FoolsErin]

Well, it can be a little tough to master character portrayals, as well as keeping them in character when they're interacting with a universe, or someone from that universe, that isn't their own. If you have a very simple character in a very complex universe, guessing how they'll react takes getting used to.

Ditto. I intensely reread everything I write fandom related because I’m so damn nervous that it doesn’t sound like something they’d say or I’m worried they wouldn’t react like this.

When you can't find anyone who is into the same fandom as you.

On a semi-related note that’s probably a multifandom problem and only a multifandom problem, when most of the group have characters from fandoms you know zilch about. I am not the goddess of good memory, and it is significantly easier to remember the names of characters I actually know than a bunch of anime dudes I have literally never seen before in my entire life. It’s probably more a me problem than an actual issue across the niche genre though.

 

[Crayons]

I think we meant too different things with wishfullfillment

I meant more in the sense that people write a character that basically replaces the protagonist as being center stage. So to use a silly example it becomes : OC and the Goblet of Fire not Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

And in that case it does usually read as a lack of experience just by the means in which the character is made “important”. As you mentioned it’s usually by giving them some Uber special ability or backstory that makes them stand out from everyone else. And their usually played as this perfect person who has all the answers in any given situation.

To an extent this can be deliberate but it’s usually more subtle if the person is an experienced writer. And backed up with more of a story arc. Not just blatant in your face my character has god like abilities and is basically Batman.

I knew what you meant XD

I've played with people who have rped for years who still do that kind of thing though. Admittedly a bit more subtle, but subtle or not it's the same deal.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Crayons so I think it all boils down to player intention. There is a big difference between :

“My chosen one is cool and I think playing them will be fun.”

and

“My OC is the most special thing ever written and they’re going to solve the entire conflict of the roleplay through sheer awesomeness”

And I was talking about the second example. Where your either dealing with lack of experience or deliberate assholery.

 

[Crayons]

Crayons so I think it all boils down to player intention. There is a big difference between :

“My chosen one is cool and I think playing them will be fun.”

and

“My OC is the most special thing ever written and they’re going to solve the entire conflict of the roleplay through sheer awesomeness”

And I was talking about the second example. Where your either dealing with lack of experience or deliberate assholery.

Hmm...I see what you're saying, but I really don't think the difference is that big. Both of those involve the other person showboating their OP character, regardless of their intentions.

BUT

Having said that, the first one can sometimes be fun. It takes a special kind of person to make it fun, though.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Hmm...I see what you're saying, but I really don't think the difference is that big. Both of those involve the other person showboating their OP character, regardless of their intentions.

But it’s not showboating just to make a powerful/tragic character though. If your just making something because you enjoy it than that’s a preference.

A good example of this is a character I made for an X-Men roleplay once. She was OP as hell (had luck manipulation which made her functionally consequence free)

She was egotistical, obnoxious, truly believed she was the greatest person to ever live. She would regularly leap into situations with a long monologue about her own awesomeness.

And she was a total blast to play. Because I made her to be fun. Other players would make jokes about her in the OOC and their characters rolled their eyes and ignored my character.

That's the big difference. She wasn’t designed to be taken seriously. I wasn’t showing off I was laughing at myself. And to this day she’s probably one of my favorite characters.

Because she was unpredictable enough to be entertaining but self aware enough that my partners didn’t feel like I was attempting to be the queen of the roleplay.

That’s the difference between making something to be fun and making it to one up everyone else

 

[Delinquent]

People who don't get that certain things that works in traditional media doesn't work in roleplays.

I've more or less have had to stop roleplaying certain fandoms because of this.

 

[Crenando]

People who don't get that certain things that works in traditional media doesn't work in roleplays.

I've more or less have had to stop roleplaying certain fandoms because of this.

Could you give an example of a fandom you've stopped roleplaying in because of this? I'm curious.

 

[Becker]

Heyo folks!

I think one down-side to Fandoms is when you have a -very- in depth lore that goes on for pages after pages about worlds, items, characters, events, creatures, locations, beliefs, traditions and so on. I've often come across people who are generally interested in taking part of something within that fandom but a hard-core fan can utterly put off alot of folk by being too eager or stict with this enormous amount of information to take in.

An example: I really want to host a Warhammer 40k themed roleplay, I can imagine it'll stir up a few heads as a fair number of people on this site are fellow nerds. My main point of hesitation is knowing that a few core people that may join in are hard-core fans and would consistently lash out at most if any deviation from the original lore or alternatively use this lore to their advantage. I feel this would very quickly alienate those that know everything and those that do not. It's not a question of asking people to do their research.. because WK:40K lore is.. well.. galaxy-sized to say the least. I have trailed with a dumbed-down version of it for those that aren't comprehensively in the know about -this and that-. For the most part it holds up, until someone that does know their lore, adds in a weapon or character that completely upsets the meta ~ Now I have people asking if they could change -this for that- so they're on par with -him- but -he- says there's only a limited number of -these- so it would be against the lore for -them- to have -these- but -he- goes to have -that- because -he- is a -that- and so they get -them- as default.

etc.. etc.. etc..

Alot of work if the fandom is complex and caters to a wide variety of interests.

 

[Jet]

From group RPing only.

Negatives - Self inserts, lots of power fiends, some very weird people and generally the most toxic community. Every Fandom RP I've been in has several toxic players. People who want to quibble with the GM over everything and start arguments left and right. Two fandom RPs I GMd went to shit because of toxic people, killed my vibe both times and I axed both because it wasn't fun or satisfying. And no it wasn't me, I've seen this as a player in Fandom RPs and thimgs went fine when I GMd non-fandom RPs. So it really is that community, just lots of people who think they should run the RP as a player, special snowflake members, all that good stuff. Plenty of good people but I swear the worst come in Fandoms.

Positives - Tends to have good longevity compared to stuff like "futuristic" RPs which usually last a page. Shared universe means mechanics are understood by most people, so it's very easy to both GM and play in these RPs. Fan club aspect makes people interested in the world by default. Canon characters can be used as well as locations.

Ex. Using the Admirals in One Piece as antagonists, along with locations like Impel Down.

I don't believe in using Canon characters as main characters but you can use them to fill the world. Even main characters from the original series can exist alongside the OCs as a side cast. All comes together as an easy RP to run, play and populate with NPCs, locations and rules.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Group fandom RPs can quickly become clusterfucks if the GM doesn't set standards. Every RP I've joined in certain fandoms has had a ton of characters that were special exceptions to the rules of the setting or ignored the rules entirely.

I'm super nit-picky about this kind of stuff, so take my words with a grain of salt, but you can only stretch a setting so much before you end up with something else entirely.

 

[Delinquent]

Could you give an example of a fandom you've stopped roleplaying in because of this?

Jojo's Bizzare Adventure.

 

[still watching fma]

Hello!

I have been reading a lot of posts on here where people talked about negative parts of roleplaying. Doubling was a very popular topic and that made me think about it as well. Doubling often occurs in fandom roleplays and I do it too, but I was quite interested what you think are the downsides of a fandom roleplay?

It doesn’t have to be about doubling, but it’s also an interesting topic.
Your views on oc x canon would interest me a lot!

I don't do romance in rp, so I can't answer that. The big downside to fandoms really is just rigidity. See I'm a massive fan of one piece and have always dreamed of rping with a group of friends through a journey from humble beginnings to challenging the world for the title of pirate king. The issue though, is people either can't divorce themselves from the fandom and won't ever get the same high they got watching luffy break into enies lobby. Or they'll be so rigid and say things like, " You're not mihawk, so you're not doing x feat".

I'm just left here sad, because I love the world and would love to come up with original ideas to expand certain parts or just relive glory moments from the anime and manga. But along with all the other struggles we have to face in rp. You also have the rigidity to deal with. That just sucks the life out of these fandoms.

 

[Onmyoji]

I don't usually rp fandom groups. But I can imagine the downside of fandom group rp would be imbalance of OCs and lack of Canon Characters when more people want to play them than there are characters.

I do a lot of 1x1 fandom rp and I actually prefer Canon x Canon. Yeah, it limits you and it's wish fulfilment in a way as well. But if it makes everyone happy, why not. And I enjoy doing canon-divergent AUs with Canon Characters. It's like canon but with a twist. And I want to see if I can stick to original Canon Character personality. This is actually fun for me.

I also don't mind Canon x OC. If I rp that, I usually rp Canon, because see above. But it very much depends on the OC. If I like the OC, it fits into the caon well enough and can imagine them interacting with my Canon character, and if the Canon character they want for the rp is one of those I'd like to rp, then I'd do it. It also removes the need of doubling, because I can fulfil someone's wishes (their OC x Canon Character) while fulfilling mine (playing the Canon Character I like) XD

When I rp OC I prefer it to be OC x OC. Even in a fandom RP. Let's say it's a quirk of mine that if I do a fandom rp, I enjoy playing Canon Character but not OC. Somehow I think that if I already go this far as to make an OC I'd rather it be in original setting too, or at least to write it against another OC.

Honestly, in fandom 1x1 roleplays I don't see many downsides, unless you have a rp partner who doesn't match you well in ideas or writing style. But that applies to any rp.
Maybe if your mind is set on the canon and it diverges too much, that could be a downsite because you'll feel unsatisfied lol But that also is kinda linked to the statement above.

 

[still watching fma]

I never touch canon characters. I may think that I can write a naruto plot that doesn't fairy tail revive everyone back into existence except jiraiya(that still grinds my gears lol), but I can't copy old naruto. You can never copy a real person, which means characters that are an extension of them, are impossible as well.