People value "shipping" way too much, why is that?

[MrOwl]

There are very few fandoms/shippers so bad that they actively want to hate and harass people

Yeah, death threats ain't fun, that minority ruins the whole thing, but yeah, most shippers are adorable, and harmless, thank you~

[allenT]

In any possible ways. When they think those characters are cute together, they are shipping it. (what I think the 'shipping' culture meant, i don't know the the general consensus about it)

Maybe it's a east-west culture thing. For Japaneses they're more relaxed about things like this, it's only a fantasy/fictional and people don't condemn about it much compared to US. Also i'm Asian so~

[allenT]

Now that i saw the Wikipedia definition of 'shipping(fandom)'... I'm a bit let down that it has to be not more than love-related... Maybe I was wrong about it all along Why

[MrOwl]

Maybe I was wrong about it all along

It's okay, have a nice day

[Jenny-Toons]

Nah, you had it right! Shipping can definitely explore platonic relationships, friendships, enemies, and even family AUs. Doesn't have to just be romantic.

It's just that the romantic shipping takes the frontlines in a lot of fandoms.

[allenT]

Thanks. But for not misleading others, isn't 'pairing' a better word instead of 'shipping'? Something for brother/sister like Tanjiro & Nezuko, that would be better right?

[Jenny-Toons]

I guess it depends on how specific a person can get with making it clear?

I do see some peeps use pairing, but I also see people use ship as in "relationship" or just completely say "hey, this isn't going to be a romance between the two characters".

[MrOwl]

He's historically correct, but the modern usage is only for pairings I guess, at least it looks like it lol, you'd be lying to him, if you said that most people know about other usages. xD

[Jenny-Toons]

Hmm, I wouldn't say it's completely lying. I'm mostly coming from a fanfic standpoint. It's kinda a different vibe than what you get with, say, webcomics. Romantic is still dominant though.

[MrOwl]

Romantic is still dominant though

That's my point xD I guess most people don't even consider something other than pairing when they say shipping, altough like you said, the historical meaning is broader.

[MrOwl]

isn't 'pairing' a better word instead of 'shipping'?

Yes, it's the better word, but the modern meaning of "shipping" is the same of "pairing" for a lot of people, languages are weird~

[allenT]

I was thinking the same too. Right, now i'll be wary using the words for my characters. I'm off the topic now (bye)

[arpeggiomax87]

It's just some fantasy bullcrap. People think it's cute but it's worthless ridiculous pandering to someone out there that's sad enough to get off from it.

I remember reading this one article ages ago about some sad individual who was apart of some tour and in this one place was an animation studio for some dumb kids show. The asshole took pictures of the animators' work when they weren't suppose to, and BLACKMAILED them online to make two specific characters kiss or get together or something or else they would leak the images, which was a HUGE no-no for a studio like this.

I don't remember anything about it but the fact that they blackmailed them. I think it was either Disney or Universal Studios.

But yeah, shit like that goes waaaaay too far to the point where you have no more respect whatsoever.

[HGohwell]

People think it's cute but it's worthless ridiculous pandering to someone out there that's sad enough to get off from it.

I think you're confusing shipping and baiting there (and being quite rude). Shipping is the people interested in the characters, pandering in the creators purposefully doing it to draw in these crowds and then complaining or laughing when they get annoyed they were lied to. (Yes, there are times it's gets out of hand, no one condones things like blackmail or death threats but don't act like that's just shippers, there are sports fans and music fans and literature fans makes vague gestures at the entire point of Misery that go too far too and you don't see people saying all of them are an issue).

And shipping is a thing most people do without realising anyway. Did you want the princess and prince to get together in that Disney movie as a kid? Shipping. Did you ever watch a romcom and think "why's she going out with the jerk when her best friend loves her"? That's shipping. Anyone else think Robin deserved a happy life with Barney and not Ted? Shipping. Ever think to yourself "why are these two characters getting together when they have no chemistry"? Congratulations you've got yourself and NOTP.

It happens without people noticing, it is literally the act of being invested in a character's relationship (romantic, sexual or otherwise but as discussed the term has mostly become about romance/sex and this is way ao3 now has two seperate categories in the relationship tag) but you wouldn't tell people that were invested in the romantic leads of a romance that it was fantasy bs and worthless pandering would you? And yet, by being invested in the two romantic leads, you're shipping them.

[azzy-m]

I remember reading this one article ages ago about some sad individual who was apart of some tour and in this one place was an animation studio for some dumb kids show. The asshole took pictures of the animators' work when they weren't suppose to, and BLACKMAILED them online to make two specific characters kiss or get together or something or else they would leak the images, which was a HUGE no-no for a studio like this.

I kind of hate how I was able to read this exact paragraph and could tell almost instantly that the show being talked about is probably Voltron.

sighs

[arpeggiomax87]

Like I said I have no idea what it is but I will take your word on whatever cartoon I've never heard of it is.

[arpeggiomax87]

OK, whatever you feel "shipping" is it's all up to your standards, I still say it's dumb and just all around needlessly complex.

[beta1042]

You can work on your writing, or drawing skills all you want, but your audience only care about shipping, stuff like worldbuilding, character development, theme, etc is undervalued in comparison to "OTPs" lol, why is that?

Wait hold up now. Are you trying to say there's more to all this than my OTPs?

[MK_Wizard]

It's because of two reasons in my experience and my observation;

The fanservice factor in which the two characters could be completely mismatched to the point of being toxic for each other and not even have the orientation necessary to be romantically involved yet fans pair them together because they look hot in which case the pairing works more like a Playboy video than a deep meaningful romance. The couples in this scenario are usually only physically attractive or cool, and have many other fetish factors behind them being together. I've even seen fans go down roads I dare not speak of here.

The wish fulfilment factor (I'm guilty of this one). Sometimes, we see two characters who have such great chemistry or a character who we know will make someone happy, we just want it to happen because we love these characters so much, we want to see them be happy. These couples usually have better chemistry and are a lot healthier. Plus they tend to feel more natural. Yes, sometimes, you'll get some that just don't work or are debatable, but the basis of these couples is usually either the fan is a romantic (like me) or we love our characters and want them to be happy.

Usually, shipping is harmless though some fans can get a little aggressive about what they believe should happen. My advice is to just leave it alone, ignore the people who bother you or make problem content, and just do your thing while being kind yourself.

[HGohwell]

Ok then let me make it simple because I would never be so careless with my readers or creations as to suggest people caring about my characters and being invested in them is dumb or needlessly complex.

Shipping = fans caring about character's relationships
Pandering = creators going out of their way to please an audience when it doesn't fit with their story