FanFiction and WoW: Different Issues, Same Resolution
In Braithwaite’s article, “’Seriously, get out’: Feminists on the forums and the War(craft) on women,” Braithwaite examines the gender struggle among players that play and critique World of Warcraft, in particular. In the article, she specifically calls attention to the reception of one character to female players and that the character comes off as being sexist, in both comments and actions. The most interesting part is that the struggle arose due to online forums and chats between players, something similar to the case among fans when Fifty Shades of Gray arose from FanFiction.net. The situation regarding gender struggle policing of World of Warcraft and the situation of policing fan fiction by fans are very similar, despite the somewhat different forms media, because in both situations, the people playing the game or reading the work are determining what is acceptable for future forms of media.
One example of the fans essentially remaking the media into something they are willing to accept is the reformation of Firepaw. At first, his comments could be read as sexist, referring to the female character as gorgeous rather than some other, non-female adjective. After the players argued that he was being sexist and complained about the dialogue, the programmers were quick to remake the dialogue into something that would be seen as less objectionable, such as “confident” rather than “gorgeous.” It is only because the players brought the issue up and enough people agreed with the complaint that the programmers settled the issue and made the dialogue more agreeable. The same can be said for fan fiction authors and their fans. When Fifty Shades of Gray was being published on FanFiction.net, the reviewers had a say in what they wanted to see in the next chapter and so almost helped write the story, in a way. Once E. L. James took it from FanFiction.net and published it as a book series, the fans no longer had a say in what was being published, although the story was either entirely written or mostly written by that point. However, when it became common knowledge to the users on FanFiction.net that James was obscuring the books’ origins on the site and refusing to give credit to the reviewers, conflict arose and people on the site began to settle the issue on their own. Now on FanFiction.net, authors have begun to credit anyone that helped them write their story, including reviewers that helped ideas move along. The fans themselves determine what is seen as “real fanfiction,” which is typically stories that have origins from some published fandom (i.e. Twilight, Harry Potter, Naruto, etc.) and have been extended into some realm that the fanfiction author decides to explore. “Real” fanfiction is not published for financial gain but rather as a creative outlet for the author and a new adventure for the reader. James violated that understanding by publishing her work for money and not crediting the fans that helped her with her work.
The two situations are different in that the programmers of WoW listened to their players and worked to try to resolve the issue and James essentially ignored her fans after she received what she wanted from them. However, in both situations, it is the fans or gamers of said media that resolved their own issues. The players of WoW wanted different dialogue because they had an issue with the way the characters were perceived. The fanfiction fans were upset with James and led to creating standards for “real” fanfiction that has further led to more stringent practices on FanFiction.net. The problems in both scenarios were resolved due to the actions of the individuals interested in the media rather than the publisher of said media even realizing there was a problem in the first place.
Braithwaite, Andrea. 2014. “‘Seriously, Get Out’: Feminists on the Forums and the War(craft) on Women.” New Media & Society 16 (5): 703–18. doi:10.1177/1461444813489503.
