(no subject)

[zaliachimera]

I do think it's a shame that fanfiction is seen as 'for girls' and entirely romance/shipping focused (I love shipping do not get me wrong) because I think there's a lot of Lore Bros who would be much happier writing fanfiction than debating if the 'original' story of Destiny was better than what we got.

Like, they have obviously built up something amazing in their minds about what they wish could have happened, and I think they would have much more fun just writing it as a fic than they are than constantly picking at things they don't like, and valorising a story that was never made (and that would have changed massively over 11 years if it had been).

Also I would be less annoyed XD

Comments

[scribblemoose]

Yes. This.

[zaliachimera]

The old idea of Curative vs Transformative fandom has never felt as relevant as it has since I got into Destiny. It is very noticable.

[anneapocalypse]

I think the "story we could have had/were supposed to have" is a specter that haunts even transformative fandom at times! I've definitely seen fans get hung up on, say, one piece of concept art or a deleted scene or some scrapped dialogue that gets leaked--and of course all those things can be interesting glimpses into the creative process, but it's usually a distortion of that process to insist that those things represent "what we were supposed to get." I think "valorising a story that was never made" is a great way of putting it. It is of course without flaws, because it doesn't exist! But as you say, at least in transformative fandom people can channel some of that energy into, say, drawing their favorite character according to the concept art they prefer. (Though that often doesn't stop them from also insisting that everyone else in the fandom also adhere to their alternate canon!)

Creative energy is definitely one of the more productive outlets for it, though!

[zaliachimera]

Oh god yeah, you are very right. Transformative fandom is far from immune from this. I have just recently been dealing with my frustration at the Destiny lore community more than the fanworks community.

Destiny has a particular issue with this because there was a version of story that was scrapped 18 months to a year before the first game released, and things had to be patched together from what was already made so what we got then was kinda a mess.

But D1 came out in 2014. And the lore nerds still think that it would have been a perfect story and ignore that even if that had been the story we got, it would absolutely have changed and developed over 11 years and many many writers and developers and managers and limits of the kind of game it is. It is kinda exhausting.

But yeah, I do think some of them would be much happier writing fic than obsessing over what could have been compared to what we got!

[anneapocalypse]

The thing fans often don't want to acknowledge in these scenarios is that the thing that was scrapped... was often scrapped for a reason. Some reasons are better than others, sure, but the early version usually was also far from perfect! Reminds me of Dan Olson's video The Snyder Cut Does (Not) Exist. And yeah, especially with an MMO, that story wouldn't have remained static as the game evolved! That's just how these kinds of games work.

[zaliachimera]

Yup! We don't actually know what the original story was or if it was any good (and Dan Olsen does some great video essays! I do like that one!).

A lot of people do seem to believe that MMO stories work like novels too, rather than being created by so many different people even beyond the writing team. Gotta balance budgets for VAs and cinematics, got to work within the bounds of what the game is capable of doing...

[anneapocalypse]

MMOs, and even video games generally! It's wild sometimes the things people will say "should" have been in a game that completely fly in the face of the game's format and mechanics and what a studio can reasonably accomplish on a budget. All the things fic writers have the luxury of not considering! All the more reason to write a fic!

[breyzyyin]

I agree with this sentiment so, so much. ♥

[zaliachimera]

It's been frustrating me for a while. I had to delete my reddit account so I could not get into fights on the Destiny Lore subreddit - a lot of people who aare very very invested in the lore, but often seem to have no interest in the actual story/narrative, if that makes sense?