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[patapuf]

Surprise, shipping can become pretty toxic, and the people who start to primarily identify as shippers (instead of as fans of a work) can be absolutely terrible

I just wonder what creators could do to dissuade ships from becoming that extreme.

It doesn't seem like there's really a solution at all (and I feel like the stupid shit that extreme shippers do are just gonna get more extreme as time goes on)

I think this is something we can blame on modern social media like facebook or tumblr where it's easy to surround yourself in a self-reinforcing "bubble".

While that has certainly always existed on the internet, big aggregate sites usually diluted the more rabid fans down and the original creators generally rarely participated in them.

There's also much more people on the internet nowadays, so i'm sure that plays a part too.


Edit: Considering GAF is a gaming forum, videogames is probably the medium that felt positive effects of fandom the most. In some instances fans have literally improved/expanded the medium as a whole.

 

[UrbanRats]

Arrow was essentially ruined by Tumblr and cretinesque Facebook users.

Felicity Smoak was a quirky, beloved character that had no reason to become the black hole of creativity she turned out to be after writers took notice of the hordes of fangirls shipping her along Ollie, who should have much more pressing shit to do than worrying about her pouting and creating even more artificial drama.

Ugh.

Is it the fans' fault, if the creators let go of their authority to pander to their fandom without critical thinking? I find shipping as annoying as the next guy (especially since i like Sherlock, and there's a lot of that there) but i also think people should be free to fantasies about this stuff to their heart content.
It's in the creators' interest to maintain that level of control over their product.

If they want to nod, that's fine, but if they bend completely to the fans' whims, it's gonna be on them.
This also goes beyond shipping, of course.
You should follow your vision, because fans don't have the complete picture, you do.

Unless it's something specifically structured around fan feedback, like Kill 6 Billion Demons.

 

[Funky Papa]

Is it the fans' fault, if the creators let go of their authority to pander to their fandom without critical thinking? I find shipping as annoying as the next guy (especially since i like Sherlock, and there's a lot of that there) but i also think people should be free to fantasies about this stuff to their heart content.
It's in the creators' interest to maintain that level of control over their product.

If they want to nod, that's fine, but if they bend completely to the fans' whims, it's gonna be on them.
This also goes beyond shipping, of course.
You should follow your vision, because fans don't have the complete picture, you do.

Unless it's something specifically structured around fan feedback, like Kill 6 Billion Demons.

Of course it isn't. I mean, they are the ones in charge of writing after all, so the buck stops there.

 

[Kalentan]

Shipping is kind of fine when it just happens naturally. For example, I thought the whole Captain and Bucky interaction in CW was very.... tender. Especially the way they interacted with each other in that jet after escaping from Tony & Co. It's the kind of male interaction that we rarely see because it cuts down the macho jingoism and instead focuses on two men who truly cares about each other. It just warms my cold, cold heart.

To me they just seemed like good friends. Then again I think due to this, there was that "movement", if you can call it that, on twitter that was something like #giveSteveaboyfriend which I guess was trying, I suppose, to pressure Marvel into making Steve/Bucky canonical.

I guess that's one of many other examples in this threads of fans trying to presume some sort of... control over their favorite characters.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

It seems to me that there is a huge disconnect in fandom, mostly divided on the line of male fans and female fans.

Male fans tend to be curative: They make databases, lists, collect things, memorize triva and stats..etc
Female fans tend to be creative: They write fanfiction, make music videos, fantart, etc.

A lot men just don't get shipping, and I believe it's because of that divide. Romance is more important to a story for a lot of women, and with women being more creative fans, of course shipping is going to happen. I for instance would much rather write fanfiction than create a wiki for a fandom. Gathering details and stats seems more pointless to me, while shipping seems pointless to a lot of men.

As a guy, who ships Sasuke and Sakura, a fanbase that is 99% female this is my take: Shipping is simultaneously the best and at times worst of a fandom, which in this case is Naruto.

The best because of how much they contribute to the fanbase, and like you said the vast majority are female and as a fan of a series, I have much gratitude to them. Hundreds of thousands art pieces, fanfics, doujins really brings the fandom to life, not just a shipping fandom. On the other hand you have the toxic behaviour. Bitterness, jealously when something one does not like happens and actively attacking others is a truly sad state to be in. However, the former outdoes the latter by magnitudes and so overall I would say shipping is a very positive aspect of the fandom, especially when the author supports/intends it.

 

[Mael]

I think people are correct in that Arrow has a fuckton of issues, but the show would have been tolerable during the past couple of seasons if the writers just had the restrain not to put Felicity front and center during every single episode.

They fucked up so bad that in their quest to make a main character out of an excellent supporting one they reduced her actual value to eye candy.

I don't even think the issue is that she is front & center.
The whole problem I have right now is that they're giving her a whole arc and it's incredibly badly written.
Why do you finally give her a codename only for her to disappear a few episodes later? even if she comes back in the next episode it makes the whole thing worthless.
That's the issue for me, they make her arc worthless because for the sake of cheap drama they go an undo the character in a matter of literal minutes.
Doesn't help that the whole show is more depressing than a box of Xanax on Priebus's desk last week.
If the show wasn't trying to be Batman it would certainly help too.

and I hope to all that is holy that the showrunners didn't feel like some obligation to the fans who demanded the ship to be canon.
It's infecting the rest of Arrowverse too.

 

[Maebe]

It seems to me that there is a huge disconnect in fandom, mostly divided on the line of male fans and female fans.

Male fans tend to be curative: They make databases, lists, collect things, memorize triva and stats..etc
Female fans tend to be creative: They write fanfiction, make music videos, fantart, etc.

A lot men just don't get shipping, and I believe it's because of that divide. Romance is more important to a story for a lot of women, and with women being more creative fans, of course shipping is going to happen. I for instance would much rather write fanfiction than create a wiki for a fandom. Gathering details and stats seems more pointless to me, while shipping seems pointless to a lot of men.

I think males get pretty invested in shipping(see series like Nisekoi/other harems anime/manga series, and many non-harem) but just create less content for it.

 

[Kinyou]

To me they just seemed like good friends. Then again I think due to this, there was that "movement", if you can call it that, on twitter that was something like #giveSteveaboyfriend which I guess was trying, I suppose, to pressure Marvel into making Steve/Bucky canonical.

It can get a bit annoying that every more tender moment between two same sex characters instantly turns to "They must be gay", then again I also realise that this likely comes from the lack of gay relationships in media, so people just imagine their own.

 

[radios shipping overview]

go back to tumblr

go back to /b/

 

[Media]

As a guy, who ships Sasuke and Sakura, a fanbase that is 99% female this is my take: Shipping is simultaneously the best and at times worst of a fandom, which in this case is Naruto.

The best because of how much they contribute to the fanbase, and like you said the vast majority are female and as a fan of a series, I have much gratitude to them. Hundreds of thousands art pieces, fanfics, doujins really brings the fandom to life, not just a shipping fandom. On the other hand you have the toxic behaviour. Bitterness, jealously when something one does not like happens and actively attacking others is a truly sad state to be in. However, the former outdoes the latter by magnitudes and so overall I would say shipping is a very positive aspect of the fandom, especially when the author supports/intends it.

I feel the exact same way about fandom and shipping. The good by far outweighs the bad, and I tend to be very critical of fandom.

What baffles me is the people who are so very anti-fandom on this board when there is a huge version of it here all the time: instead of shipping wars we have console wars, instead of clicks we have fanboys, and people attack each other over sales numbers and get bitter when their 'ship' (a console or game or what have you) doesn't do well.

It's damn near the same exact thing as traditionally 'female' fandoms, yet that is repulsive to a lot of the same people that engage in console wars.