fandom engagement

[elanya]

So, tonight, I am going to be watching a video of my BiL, wererogue play through the first part of Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag, while three of us (I, my sister, and he) talk about it. We're making a Let's Play! And I'm super excited!

Video Game Let's Play's are a big part of online videogame culture, which is a very heavily male-weighted (but certainly not exclusive) thing. I've never been comfortable with the idea that men don't do fanworks, or not transformative ones, or that if they do they're a minority. My general observation tends to be, as we discussed in the last ficthropology episode, that this production is still gendered, in that men and women who do fanworks on the whole are approaching them very differently. Of course you get crossover, and I would definitely not go as far to say that men have a monopoly on more technological expressions, because vidding is a largely female section of fandom and it involves a lot of technological skills, and of course podficcing is a largely female enterprise as well. I don't think the pattern translates to a huge divide, but I do think it is there and it is something I am curious about, in the general way I am curious about fandom from an anthropological perspective. Fandom is so just broad, and fascinating!

So, I'm really curious to see... a number of things as regards this project. Both me and my sister will be commenting, but as neither of us have played the game - how will our comments be received? I'm mostly on board because of the pirates. I've never been much of a video game *player*, but I have a long history of watching people play them that goes back to the days of my youth when my dad and sister would fight over the Nintendo (Dragon Warrior 1!). I'm curious to see how we get on with this project overall, really - what will we have to say, do any of us really have the time required to pull this together technically? My podcasting experience, such as it is, has shown me how tricky it can be to get a good audio track, let along tossing video in the mix there. I'm certainly very hopeful that we do, and as state, I'm super excited to give it a shot :D

Comments

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Have you looked at Sherlock Holmes fandom expression? The 221B Baker dioramas and room recreations are notable. There seems to be some overlap with the model train and the miniature wargamers (historical).

[elanya]

I have not! That's really cool though! Do you have any impressions about who is doing them? Mostly men, a mix of genders? I'd guess male based on train and wagrgame minis overlap (again, on the whole - I know women who are involved with those hobbies as well, but I think they are still pretty male-dominated).

ETA - though now wonder if there are people doing similar things in the Doll house community. I wouldn't be surprised - I've seen some really cool LOTR stuff.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

They were being done by guys, the known ones, the scions generally keep up on these. The Baker Street Irregulars keep track of their chapters (scions). There was a husband and wife duo that create tree ornaments based on objects in the Canon (persian slipper, dispatch box) and I've heard of dressed dinners.

The LOTR in peeps was being done by guys along with their girlfriends (people were commenting about so geeky, you can't get a girl).