Thoughts on the "Death" of a Fandom
I saw a post in the arcana tag and subsequent comments that rubbed me the wrong way and I'm going to vent about it, lmao.
For a brief backstory, I started playing The Arcana in March of 2020, like a lot of other people did. We joined as the secondary routes (Portia, Muriel, Lucio) were in the middle of their updates, and the main 3 routes had been over for at least a year (?) and the fandom had gone through it's roller coaster of trials and tribulations already, as one does. (And continues to do as shown by the transphobia I see basically weekly at this point)
But the fandom then was by no means "dead" and I followed dozens of blogs and for the first time ever I was engaging with more posts and people than I could keep up with. I found my friend group and discord server(s) and while those had their own issues what didn't change over the two years I was super active was the concept of mutual support from other people in the fandom, friends or not.
I left the fandom and tumblr in 2022 for about two years because I was getting a grad degree, lol. And by now all of the routes are over and Dorian is still doing whatever the hell they're doing over there, so it would make sense for people to consider this fandom "dead" if you're defining it solely by the production of the game. But... in the literal sense, it's not.
In any fandom, it is kept "alive" by people engaging with the source material and then sharing new thoughts, conversations, ideas, art, and writing. The Arcana tag still gets new material just about daily, even if the rate is far lower than what it was 6 years ago. People who I knew and interacted with before my own hiatus are still kicking and creating their own material and sharing it, but of course, the numbers on posts overall aren't what they used to be.
Now we come to my soapbox as a writer.
Art is the most easily digestible form of material, so it is what circulates the fastest. Art is inherently valued much more than any other kind of material (fics, headcanon posts, etc.) due to the quick nature of consumption that it provides. Someone scrolling the tag for Asra can find hundreds of pieces of art in seconds and reblog those, but interspersed between the art will be fics, most of which that someone will never read because it takes more time and effort than they want to put in.
Important note: this is not a jab at any artist. I love and deeply value the work you put into your art, and I always try to leave something in the tags when I reblog art to show that!
As a writer, if I want a fic to get any sort of attention, it has to be short, maybe 1k or less words, and it has to center around a member of the M6 (and honestly, if it's not the "male/male-presenting" MCs even less people care). Or, in special cases, it has to be smut.
Now, we know as longtime adults in fandom spaces that smut exists everywhere and in every fandom and has since the dawn of time. And when you have a fandom for a ROMANCE game, it shouldn't be considered strange or inherently "perverted" for material to focus on that. Hence, it makes sense that the people who are looking for fic to read might be looking more for smut-focused fics than anything plot-driven and detailed. This isn't a jab at them, either.
I want to write long form fics. When I was writing about 1k words a day for 2 years straight, I came up with a novel's worth of words about my OCs and the M6. I literally put it all into one 250k word document. But that's not what anyone wants to read anymore (save for like three friends I have here who I send my writing to, you know who you are <3); if you throw a "read more" onto a fic peoples' eyes glaze over and they scroll past, lol. And after getting my graduate degree in, guess what, creative writing, I miss the drive and love I had for my OCs and writing/sharing their stories and I want to do that again. But the level of support I was getting when I wrote for them from 2020-2022 is basically nonexistent now.
As a creative person, you should always be creating for yourself and what you want to make. To be cringe is to be free, etc., etc., HOWEVER, humans need connection. Comments, likes, and mostly reblogs are the literal lifeblood of what keeps fandoms alive. At this point even just likes mean something to me because it tells me someone saw what I posted even if they didn't want to leave a comment or reblog it.
I plan on reviving old events I put together six years ago because it was a great way to make community and support other artists/writers around me, but if I am the only person who ends up posting for that event, where does that get me? Where does it get any of us?
If you're someone who thinks The Arcana fandom is "dead" or you just wish it was more active, I have one request. Whenever you see something you like and/or want more of, engage with it! You liked seeing someone's headcanons, or their art, or their fic, or their apprentice design? Leave a comment, or something in the tags, or even send them an anonymous message saying so! You can even create your own material and spark conversation that way. Plus, the more you interact with people posting in the tag, the faster you'll make a community. (I made my friends through sheer power of will and annoyance as I interacted with everything they ever posted LMAO.)
Anyway, be the change you want to see in the fandom or whatever the hell.
