Hello all! Our name is Sprites and we're conducting a survey regarding the existence of, and the relationship between, fictives in fandom. We're a system primarily made up of fictives and were inspired after talks with @thesaltinstitute to make a survey to discuss this topic. We're curious how it'll turn out! Please feel free to reblog this and share this in other spaces off of Tumblr to anyone who may be interested in this!
Description: We are conducting a survey regarding the relationship between fictives and their thoughts/engagement with fandom at large (either for their source's fandom or different fandoms they are not related to.) Please try to fill it out once per body/system (as there's options for multiple choice answers and spaces to elaborate on inner system differences.)
Timeframe: We'll leave this open for a year (end collection in the beginning of April) and then it should (hopefully) take only a month or two to go over results and post them.
Take the survey here!
If you're curious about the other survey we posted results for recently regarding death and dormancy within systems, find that here!
Hello all! I made this post explaining about what this survey is, but I'll restate it again for anybody who may be new to this.
What I aimed to do was create a survey that focused on the phenomenon of in-system death and dormancy, and what that looks like in systems. I opened the survey in December 2024 and left it open for a whole year to allow as many systems as possible to contribute. This garnered 121 unique participants who shared their experiences! An amazing turnout. Below, I'm going to give a brief overview of what I learned from this study, and then I will include a link to the document with the full results, which is 26 pages long. (Link to the full document here.)
[Image Description: The title "System Death Experiences" with the subtitle "the results" over a photo with moody or gloomy composition featuring a bouquet of pale pink and light red flowers and green leaves/stems.]
Image credit.
Overview
After compiling all of the data and experiences shared within this survey, I have come away with a glimpse of what goes on in individual systems and how they function. Out of 121 participants, a quarter of those could experience in-system death, a quarter of those could not, and over half did not know whether they could or considered the idea more complicated than a yes/no dichotomy. For those who could experience death, it felt different than dormancy and was usually more “dramatic” or permanent. Concepts like fusion, shattering/fragmenting, and recycling came up when participants were asked to describe their experience with death.
However, over 75% of systems reported dormancy as a function of their system. When asked how dormancy worked in their systems, many people responded that it is akin to a deep sleep or hibernation; usually, these dormant members are expected to return, or at least have the capacity to do so. Most people did not equate death and dormancy as the same thing, but a good portion said it could be in some cases. Some systems reported that members can come back from death; each of their responses were recorded and explained in the full results.
There are a few different ways that people choose to honor headmates who are deceased. Some of them hold the same rites you would for a person who died in this world: spiritual practices, keeping a list/documentation of deceased members, or keeping them in their thoughts. More of these kinds of traditions can be read about in the full results.
Lastly, participants were asked to share anything else they felt was related in the last question. We will not provide a summary here, because that section is focused solely on the participant’s words and experiences they felt were important or necessary to share.
This is an extremely bare bones overview, I encourage you to read on for specific details and experiences shared by participants!
What We Can Learn From This
This project made a space where systems felt comfortable discussing in-system death, which is still treated as taboo or impossible. I hope that seeing these results allows readers to feel seen and/or to broaden their ideas of what is possible in a system. Every single system is unique in how it operates, but sometimes we can capture common experiences and feel a little less alone.
My main takeaway is that death, like all other system functions, is a highly unique and individualized phenomenon that can look different from system to system. This survey was not done to take away from systems who do not experience death or those who do not view losing headmates (for any reason, especially fusion/integration) to be a bad thing, but instead to highlight that in-system death is possible and systems are experiencing it whether you believe in it or not.
There needs to be more spaces that allow systems to speak on this topic without being shunned or mocked, and opportunities for systems to be allowed to grieve in-system deaths (or even dormancies! You are allowed to grieve people even if they are likely to come back.)
Thank You
Thank you. To every participant, to everyone who shared, to everyone who helped us or gave insight along the way. Thank you for reading this post or the full document! This also couldn't have been possible without proofreading and editing from our long-time friends and colleagues who we are in cahoots with @thesaltinstitute. I hope everyone enjoys reading the results and finds them as fascinating as we do!
Overview: This is a brief survey that wants to explore the topic of death and dormancy within systems and how that manifests within them. Obviously, this is a very sensitive topic and could be upsetting, so take breaks if needed and please don't upset yoursel(ves) to complete it.
Background and Intentions: I will be collecting this data out of curiosity on the subject matter, and wanting to bring awareness that death and dormancy can occur within systems. With the results, I hope to document these experiences and show how common a topic this is.
Timeframe: I will probably be collecting results until the end of the year, with hopes to get the results completed by January 2026.
Take the survey here (click here) and please consider sharing for a wider range of results!
Systems of any origin, diagnosis, or experience are encouraged to take this - all are welcome.
[Image Description: The title "System Death Experiences" with the subtitle "a survey for plural systems regarding death and dormancy" over a photo with moody or gloomy composition featuring a bouquet of pale pink and light red flowers and green leaves/stems.]
A friend of mine sent me the survey on fictives in fandom and I was wondering if you were planning on writing any of the results up. I was also wondering if you'd consider adding "different fictives engage with their fandom differently because of differences in the fandom/differences in personality" as an option for some of the earlier questions, but it entirely depends.
Hi there! Thanks for reaching out
Yes, I will be publishing the results probably a month or so after the survey closes (which should be March 2027.) I know it’s a long time but I wanted to get as many systems’ input as possible. If you’d like, I’ll make a note to send you the post with the results when it’s published
I’m a little worried adding an option now after over a hundred systems have answered will skew the results a bit, but I did try to make as many questions as possible a multiple choice selection for when there were those differences within the system, as well as give people room to expand on those answers in short paragraph form. If there ends up being a need or I redo this survey in a few years, I can take a look at what worked here and what didn’t, and modify the questions to include new options ^_^
