“The Fandom Food Chain” or “Why I’m Can’t Be Bothered To Make This Rant A Comics, Though I Am Fully Capable If I Please”
Ok, so, this has been brewing for a long time, for a year at least for myself and even longer for a few content creators (writers, artists, photographers) I know and talked with over several different sites with different ways of viewing and feedback. But, basically, nearly everywhere the situation is the same.
It seems, that the fandom culture faces 2 serious problems, that, actually, are connected:
feedback has all but died out even on the basic “like’ and “kudos” level. Not to mention actual comments and reblogs.
fandom lifespan drastically shortening and people constantly searching for a new hypetrain to jump on.
This are serious issues that affect content creators and, in the long run, content consumers.
Here are some thoughts on what led to this and how it will be a rather grim future if something won’t change.
Imagine an ecosystem - without any interference it functions properly, predators and prey have enough food, the greenery renews itself in a steady rate. Now, let’s introduce a new specie or hunt down one of the existing ones. What do we get? Less predators - the prey consumes more plants, they can’t regrow in the same rate. More territory suffers from herbivores, which leads to soil erosion, less bugs=>less birds, less pollination. The soil is withered by wind and rain, less plants can grow on poorer soil, the area can feed even less animals, they move to greener pastures. The area can either stabilize over time, or not - think how badly rabbits affected Australia (multiple species extinct, great erosion damage).
So, a fandom is also an ecosystem (food chain) of sorts. Sure, we can’t measure it in terms of predators and prey, but we can in terms of creators and “consumers” (aka viewers/readers) with the resources being content (art, photography, music, writing AND feedback).
So, what is the “food” for creators?
That’s right - the Canon, side inspiration (non-fandom and fandom content) and feedback (i.e. “content” “created” in response to their work). The first two are something the creators need to consume and then add extra resources (time, work, motivation) to actually make into the “food” for the Fandom (both other creators and simply viewers/readers).
And what is the food for the “consumers”?
That’s right - the Canon and the creator generated content they receive though the fandom network. It’s easy to consume, they don’t need any extra resources to enjoy it.
And here lies the problem. With modern technology and the fast pace of consuming information, the viewers attention span grew smaller as well their patience and time they spend on 1 piece of content. Thus they rush though their feeds and dashboards, leaving no feedback (since it requires resources from them (time, work and motivation), and they feel that they don’t need to apply them - there will always be a hot new fandom to get a quick high for favorite archetypes, kinks and AUs.
But what the creators see is that their “food resource” is getting smaller - the Canon doesn’t usually grow as fast as the creator process it, and with little feedback content on their works they have less motivation to produce similar content. They turn their attention to other venues - be it another Fandom where they still can get enough “nutrition” from the source material alone, or something that doesn’t require them producing all together (playing games, watching movies, simply browsing, i.e. they become “consumers” themselves).
And here is when the “consumer” doesn’t get enough new content (or the quality of content drops, because who’d wanna make a three course meal if it get’s the same quality of feedback as a sandwich) and is either forced to move to “greener pastures” of other fandoms or try to get by with what husks are left. And this usually leads to wails of “there’s nothing good to read anymore”, “the fandom is dying” and etc.
What can I say - we reap what we sow.
And if things will continue this way - no, fandom creative contents won’t go extinct, not really. Creators will still get bursts of nutrition from new stuff, they still will create - and in place of those, who’ll stop all together will come new ones. But all in all, the quantity and quality will suffer, because, like I said - once the brain figures out it doesn’t have to put as much resources to get a result, it will not motivate a person to spend 10 hours on a drawing. Because, why bother if it’ll get the same feedback as a 1 hour sketch session - you then can spend 9 hours doing instant and guaranteed gratification stuff, like gaming and watching tv!
People tend to think that creators have an unlimited source of creativity, that they create because they can’t not do it. Sure, it s a case for some. But for most, this is a really slowly renewable resource they have to choose wisely how to spend. And without feedback they, most likely, will choose to spend it on more personal passion projects and ideas. But with re-fills from outside sources they can create more and. more often than not, in the venue this fill came from.
What I also heard about a lot - people finding excuses to why they don’t give feedback.
“The author doesn’t want feedback” - BULLSHIT. The author may not want criticism, but if he put it on a public platform, tagged and did not forbid comments (like some platforms allow) - you better believe, he want attention for it. A reblog, a like, even better - a comment. You don’t need to write an essay or a hymn of praise, but even the simplest reaction of “Love this pair”, “wow!”, “cute art”, “can’t wait for the next chapter” gives a creator a HUGE boost. Even if the piece left you with mixed feelings - it’s better that with no feelings at all. “Not my pair, but interesting idea”, “never considered this before” - is a lot better for the creativity, than silence.
“I don’t reblog because it doesn’t fit my blog/ I don’t want people knowing I’m into this” - that’s when you can use a side blog or sent a private message most of the time giving kudos to the author. Even if a reblog is to a blog with no followers - the creator doesn’t know that and it still might expose the piece to your future followers.
“I don’t want to interact/I’m shy/I’m an introvert/I have anxiety”- but you want to consume the content? You really can’t eat an omelette without breaking some eggs. The creator too might have issues and be self-conscience about their art and actually put a lot of self-worth on how it’s received by others. As I said - you don’t have to get all buddy-pals with the author, but a lil comment or like or note doesn’t need to spark a big conversation. A tip of the hat while passing by.
“I don’t want to/It’s not my job to contribute to the fandom” - well, neither is the creator’s and you’re a butt that doesn’t deserve all the free content other people put out for the fandom to enjoy. Go chew some glass.
So, what can we do? Well, it’s in the word itself -
You “feed” the creators back for the “food” they give you. This goes both to those who just view/read content, and to the creators - support your fellow starving for attention authors. You don’t need to go like and comment every single of their work, but if a piece made you pause for a few seconds while scrolling - let the author know that. Otherwise, there won’t be much to stop by in the future.