So, shipping... what's up with that? · 1:15am Sep 18th, 2013
I started writing this as a comment in response to xjuggernaughtx, who wrote in a comment on his blog:
I'm still honestly baffled by shipping. I mean, I can go onto almost any writer's page and their shipping stories will have triple the views of their other stuff. I just don't get that! I would think that the views would be similar because the reader likes the writer, has read all of their stuff, and finds it all to be of comparable quality (if it is). I'm still shocked that so many people come here solely for shipping and/or clop. I don't get the laser focus.
But I continue to try and get it.
I wanted to help him get it. But this became way longer than a comment, so he gets a whole blog post about why shippers are here, and why it becomes so important to them.
Shippers: Where did they all come from?
A lot of places. That's why there are so many, there are a lot of different reasons people like reading love stories, or love stories about ponies, or love stories about a specific pair of ponies. In fact, most shippers will fall into one or more of the following categories, along with other, less universal reasons they came to shipping:
The shipping-goggles shipper: These are shippers that started shipping because of, or pull information from, character interactions on the show. They (usually) know their pairing isn’t canon, but they saw something that made them think it could happen.
If you look at shows that involve romances, or movies, or books, you can see hundreds of ways that the writers hint that two characters like each other before they’ve admitted it. A shipping-goggles shipper looked at an episode or episodes of FiM and saw those signs between two characters who are not romantically involved on the show. They noticed something in the interaction between two characters that seemed, to them, to be setting up for or hinting at a romance. Since they knew this was unlikely to happen on the show, they turn to fanfic.
The gateway shipper: This person never intended to ship these ponies. Maybe the ponies have never met on the show, or maybe they just never saw the connection. But then they were looking at pony fics or art, and came across a shipping fanwork… and they got it. Something about how these two ponies fit together as a couple clicked for them. As a result, they read or wrote more stories recreating and exploring that idea.
The romance shipper: The romance shipper likes romance. Whether it’s because they think ponies kissing are cute, they noticed that it’s an area the show doesn’t explore, or because they enjoy romantic plots in other media, they came into fandom looking to read or write romance. From there they looked around and decided which ponies they wanted to the romance to be about.
At that point, they might have become shipping-goggles shippers if they looked at the show and tried to decide who to ship, or gateway shippers if they read a great fanfic and loved that ship. Or, they might have gone a third route and decided based on which character fit their idea of a good or interesting couple to read or write about.
The self-insert shipper: It’s totally normal to get a crush on a fictional character. They tend to be above average at things they do, they’re always saying interesting or funny things, you like being around them, and you can make them go away whenever you want. Some people like to take those daydreams and write about them, or see them enacted in a story.
Self-insert shippers are the primary second person, HiE, or OC shippers, it’s true, but there are plenty among canon character ships. When these people ship canon characters, they usually pick one closest to them (or what they wish they were) and ship them with the pony they have a crush on. Then they read or write fics about those two together, enjoying a love story that’s as much about them as the characters involved.
The assimilated shipper: The assimilated shipper likes being on a team. They don’t particularly like romance over other genres, or one ship over another, but they found themselves in a group of shippers and gravitated towards the community. People like forming tribes and giving themselves labels, and “shipper” is a label. So is “AppleDash shipper.”
Those give you all the benefits of any self-identification; people you automatically recognize and have something in common with, places where those people gather where you will be welcome, and set attitudes to embrace and use to judge your merits. It also gives you a smaller pond to aim to be a big fish in. Being the “top author” on the site is damn near impossible, being the “top AppleDash author” is almost attainable.
The casual shipper: Like the assimilated shipper, the casual shipper isn't particularly interested in romance or a ship, but the difference is that shipping didn't give them any more interest than they already had. However, they tend to hang out with shippers, and read ship fics, simply because they like the company. They might write the occasional fic, but they rarely see one pairing as being better than another. They mostly just like a particular author who happens to ship, or are interested in the discussion and atmosphere in a forum that's dedicated to shipping. They probably wouldn't call themselves a shipper, but they make up a part of the shipping community and are some of the readers of ship fics that are recommended or talked about in places they frequent.
So, you have all of these people who ship. But, you could probably look at any genre and find people with different reasons for liking it. Why do shippers form communities that draw the assimilated shipper and the casual shipper? Why is there a term for shippers, and not "people who like dark fics"? And why do ship fics get more upvotes than non-shipping fics?
The Shipping Community: Why are they all here?
This is actually a fairly easy question to answer: Shippers form a community because they all share an interest in a specific aspect of pony fanfic.
Of all the genre tags on the site, Romance denotes a very specific plot point. There is no one tags that means "A character dies in this fic," that could be Dark or Sad or Tragedy. And there can't really be a tag for "show-style comedy" that would separate it from all of the internet meme fics and fics about Pinkie taking over the writers keyboard. Romance is the only tag that tells you that there will be a specific plot point, one or more characters are in love in this fic.
This makes shipping is one of the best organized forms of fanfic -- A search for Rainbow Dash + Applejack + Romance is going to bring up more that’s of interest to an AppleDash shipper than Pinkie Pie + Comedy will to someone looking for something to make them laugh. This means that it’s easy for people who like AppleDash to find what they're looking for. Similarly, if you started a group for Pinkie Pie comedies, you’d have a lot of very different kinds of stories, and most of them wouldn’t be the kind of Pinkie Pie comedy that any individual person is looking for. If you wanted a group for fics where a character dies, you'd have to look through all of the Sad, Dark, and Tragedy fics to collect them. But if you look in the AppleDash group, the variation is a lot more limited-- every single fic in the romance folder has the tags Romance, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, and in every one of them Applejack and Rainbow Dash are in love.
Even before the great Shipping Organization Shift that came with the current AppleDash group, which kind of kickstarted the idea of groups of shippers using forums to communicate on a friendly, casual level, shippers found each other. The same names showed up in comments on AppleDash fics, and people followed the same authors who were likely to be producing their ship of choice, and you recognized the names of people posting on the Shipping Group who defended the same ships as you. So, when you have a group of people who gather together in the same places to enjoy the same thing (whatever brought them there) you’re going to end up with a team or tribal dynamic. We all like this thing! We like hanging out together! Yay this thing!
This kind of mentality means that when a new fic is published for a specific ship, it’s not just a new story people might be interested in, it’s a chance to support your subculture; like a game day, or a political rally, or goth night at a club (because I’m a child of the 90’s.) It’s easy for the shippers to find because of the site organization, and they want it to succeed because it’s their team. Most shippers will still recognize when it’s really bad, but they’re still more likely to try to read it and support it than they would be a Pinkie Pie comedy.
Does all of this have it’s downsides? Of course. Shippers as a collected group are one of the largest subculture on this website. It’s easy for people who don’t ship to see them as a force that has to be reckoned with, pandered to, or fought against. It’s also easy for people who are involved in the shipping community to become isolated and forget that there is an “outside the shipping community” and that they like stories too. Then you have the subgroups in shipping, with rivalries between ships or philosophies within shipping.
On top of that, the same “limited plot point” that makes it easy for shippers to unite can make fics more and more similar, as the same authors are talking to each other, reading each other, riffing on the same concepts. People within the shipping community often become connoisseurs, seeing the subtle differences between this take on AJ and Dash kissing and this other one, but they’re also often so focused on that aspect that other important parts of writing fall by the wayside. That or the team mentality promotes fics that might not be worthy of the support. All of this can give ship fics a bad reputation outside of the shipping community, making them seem like poorly written, cookie cutter stories.
But all in all, shipping is just another subgroup. Animation fans > Bronies > MLP Fanfic community > Shippers > Individual ships. Like each of the groups above it, it’s easily defined and separated from the mainstream of its group; people come at it from all different angles, but unite under the same banner; and people up the chain who aren’t part of the subgroup can’t for the life of them understand what the big deal is over there.
wow, you wrote an entire THESIS on this
1356890
I... do that sometimes.
Whoa, I can't possibly make a blog post this long and in depth.
The gateway shipper: Razed Rainbow did that for me in my story Ethanol, Equines and Estrogen.
Before that story, I simply could not even picture Rarity and Rainbow Dash working as a couple. To the point I argued an hour against it months ago. Thanks to him, and an ex, I... got it. And now it's my second favorite ship. I also have to thank Ardensfax Bluebird's Song for confirming the glory of Twi/Dash.
I have just a pinch of self-insert. Okay, maybe more than just a bit, because I relate so much with Rainbow Dash, but then again... I didn't have a crush on Rarity until recently, and it's more of fanon crush than an in show. Twilight I got a crush for. Cause she's so adorbs.
Before this fandom, I hated romance in fiction, movies, whatever you name it as. It took falling in love with the show, writing, and characters for me to want to be emotionally invested in whatever author takes them. That's what makes it so powerful to me to both read and write. Because I've had such a connection with the characters as the show goes on, feeling them fall in love is like feeling not only myself fall in love, but watching someone who I consider a friend fall in love, and watching them feel so much better about themselves and life. It's wonderful. I'm not sure I could ever get into romance in another median ever again. Outside of reality of course.
Really, most of the stories I have read I have read for the plot first. The romance and the unique take on it pulled me into that emotional roller-coaster. With few exceptions, I read it to see what the story was about, not why they fell in love.
However, saying that, once the romance kicks in it only adds to the excellence to the story, and drives the characters to grow and become something more. The show did that for me, its done it for the characters in the show, and beautiful, well done shippin exceeds the mold, and does that for our favorite little ponies. It allows them to reach new heights, and when that happens, its art that has no equal.
This... Is very good.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I enjoy reading shipping stories because I enjoy reading about happy ponies. Ponies in love or ponies falling in love generally denote that they will be happy. And in love ponies means a happier me.
I do believe you've nailed it.
What about those of us who just want a good story and it seems like most people write shipping?
This might actually be why I find Applejack so far down on my list of ponies. It isn't that I dislike Applejack herself. It is that whenever someone writes a shipping story I am really hoping for adventure or some kind of shenanigans. As one of the most
stable family orientedboring ponies Applejack may actually be the least likely to fulfill my secret hope.1356949
You are 100% a "casual shipper," it would seem to me.
I started as a gateway shipper... I didn't get it AT ALL until I saw a comic of a scene from Lycan_01's A Dash of Apple, and after reading that, I found I wanted more... and more... and more and more and more... No, I'm not satisfied, the hunger keeps on growing...
Now I've got the shipping goggles and I just can't get them off >__<
1356952
Super casual.
Ah! I think what I've been missing all this time is the search aspect of this! Since I don't really read a lot of pony fiction, I don't actively search for it. Therefore, when I see stories, it's because I go to user pages and see them all there. I'm not going to the search field and looking for, say, Discord+Sad.
Now it clicks into place for me. These writers have a shipping story with 800 likes right next to a comedy with 75 likes because they weren't seeing them all together. Still, it seems odd to me that the people don't think, "Wow, that was a really great story! I wonder what else that author has written..." but I suppose that is what you get with a wealth of material. The reader can just move right on to the next ship fic that they are interested it.
I swear, one day I will understand the twists and folds of the human mind. I'll be happy to just understand comedy, though. I'm constantly left wondering why something like The Evolution of Dance is considered to be comic gold! I mean, two hundred million views and I don't even get a ghost of a smile when watching it. Are we really just saying, "Yeah, I find this funny because I've seen those dances before"? As a comedy writer, you'd think I'd have a better grasp on these things. Humor is a reaction against the absurd, and I suppose that video is absurd, but a very low grade of it, in my opinion.
Anyway, thanks! Yes, I do believe I have a better understanding of what shippers are thinking after reading this. I still feel like it's odd that shipping seems to have this strong gravitational pull compared to the other genres, but that's probably just me. Romance stories just don't really interest me that much, so I naturally ratchet down their importance to everyone else. That's my own thing to work on.
Awesome... :)
You know... one of the things I love about the brony community is how bronies can get me to think in depth about simple stuff. From the analysis community on YouTube to articles and blog posts like this one. Its neat to see stuff in a new light.
In other words you rock! Keep it up. :)
Nice treatise, but I really ought to thank you for pointing out jug's comment. I just love a good non-confrontational opportunity to soapbox a bit ;)
I'd say I sit somewhere between assimilated and casual. I've always liked shipping (though personally I'm more of an adventure fic guy), but for me it's never been about anything more than fun. I don't go around looking for evidence in the show that my ship may work; I don't pay attention to what pairings are "realistic" and what aren't. For me, I just enjoy it. I'll read any pairing. Shipping—both writing it and reading it—makes me happy. At the end of the day, that's why I keep reading it and writing it.
Honestly, it's more about A focus than anything else. If you take 10 shipfics and 10 non-ship fics, at least the ship fics guarantee something interesting will happen and it will be easier to gauge whether the story is worth reading.
If you start reading an adventure fic it could be 3 or 4 chapters before they get into the thick of it and you know whether the author has chosen an interesting story, has good pacing, etc etc. With a shipfic, obviously you don't know whether the plot and pacing are going to be good, but you do know if the characters and dialouge are written competently then there's a good chance the main plot will be compelling.
I came to this conclusion consciously but I think it holds true for many others. It's a lot easier to hook someone with charater interactions than with "equestria goes to war", which can make for a fantastic fic, but requires a lot more investment before you can remotely tell if it's actually good or not. At least something is guaranteed to happen in a ship fic. I'm still baffled at how so many authors can make fics that are so so boring. Please, err in on the side of too interesting.
I'll self-diagnose as an assimiliated shipper: I read shipping forums more than actual shipping stories.
But that's because you're all such friendly folks!
The ship I'm best known for supporting I only really came to support when I played Devil's Advocate to someone arguing for another ship. I still support it, though.
1357020 You still made what I considered an impossible shippin not only possible but moderately decently probable. You found a chemistry that I didn't even think was possible, if you admit it or not! You have no idea how much
I was walking into Third Time's. Well you proved me wrong!
But I'm exactly like you. I read the dark/adventure stories and if it contains good shippin, hey, kudos, it makes the story better. You were the first raw romance I read.
You will accept my praise. You magnificent bastard.1357045
Cough cough ;)
1357053 Nah. I read What Would Daring Do before you, and I'm still not a huge AJ/Dash fan. Can't see myself reading a AJ/Dash fic other than your own.
1357054
Then you clearly need to look at http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/167473/the-appledash-primer ~
I suppose I'm a gateway shipper, at least for pony shipping. I read Teen Titans and Avatar: TLA shipfics for years before MLP, but I initially had no interest at all in pony shipping. I wanted nothing to do with it, actually, and was hesitant to look into any pony fanfiction, largely because I didn't want to deal with the inevitable shipfics. I didn't want to read about horses making out, y'know? Found the idea somewhat disgusting. It's kind of hilarious, in hindsight.
But then I came across an EqD Drawfriend picture of Fluttershy asking some unseen entity "Will you go out with me?" And for whatever reason, that stuck with me and got me wondering who she might've been talking to. And that line of thought mutated into 'who would I like her to be talking to?' So after reluctantly considering inter-Mane Six compatibility, I came to the conclusion that she'd fit well with Twilight, both being socially awkward and all. So I decided to read the first FlutterTwi fic I found, called Once Bitten, Twice Shy, and that ended up being exactly what I'd wanted. Had a lot of nostalgic appeal, too, being a similar premise to some of the Titans fics I'd read before. I hadn't intended to get into shipping beyond that, but then I stumbled across Cloudy Skies' stupidly great take on PinkieDash, and... yeah. Probably a third to half of what I read is shipping, these days.
I know I started with Twishy after I saw this: images.wikia.com/mlp/images/6/64/Fluttershy_has_her_head_in_the_ground_S1E07.png
and the face Flutters makes immediately afterward. It just clicked. Plus, I always loved this scene:
After rewatching the series again, I looked for all the small moments between
and 
, and found quite a bit. There's this:
showing that Flutters seems to be able to stand up to Twi more than any other pony or, going back to the first video, she says "No visitors!" but opens the door when she finds out it's just Twilight. I always interpreted this scene as such: Fluttershy trusts Twilight more than the others. And, to be honest, I found this site while looking for AppleDash fics. So really, I'm only here because of shipping.
And apparently, according to some, Shipping is one huge fight. You have the ships that can get along well (ex: TwiShy and AppleDash) and the ones that don't (AppleDash and FlutterDash). I think this might put some people off; those who don't want to see people at each other's throats because they like a different pair of magical talking horses. Why can't we all just get along? (Except for FlutterMac, that septic tank of awfulness (I kid the FlutterMac members)
Romance shipper, Shipping Goggles shipper and Gateway shipper represent! Its the trifecta.
I still don't get how you take things that I feel like I should know, and then make them even clearer. Like you make common sense (which isn't all that common, sometimes) seem even common-sensier.
That's totally a compliment, in case it didn't come out that way. Making sense isn't really my forte.
Shipping? Meh. I prefer airmail. More Pegasi for one.
The organization part is something I've never thought of. :O That's very clever.
How about the writers like me who enjoy crackshipping as a challenge? :D Take random pony A and B and make them work!
1357023 Honestly, I think this is one of the biggest keys to understanding this, and I think it's been explained to me before, but I'd forgotten. Shipping is a guarantee that at least something in the story will be going the way that you want it to go. That's a really interesting window into the reader psyche to me!
1357680 I think that would totally be my approach. Some little place in the back of my mind is always telling me to make a FlutterDash story, just because Bookplayer doesn't like them. It would be a real challenge if I could come up with one that she enjoyed, because she's not a fan and because I have no idea if I could make a romance story that worked. It's something I've never tried.
This was a fantastic examination of the idea of shipping in pony fanfic. I found myself firmly in the gateway shipper grouping. When I first started reading fanfiction in the MLP universe, I was doing it in the interest of research for an MLP roleplaying game I could play with my seven-year-old son. The first story I read was a story by kits that's famous now called Twilight's List. I was utterly caught up in it and have been an unabashed shipping fan since then. My normal genres are the science fiction and fantasy genres; I've never been into the whole romance thing. But the pony romances spoke to me for some reason.
Excellent work, bookplayer. Excellent work.
Once again I am impressed by your insight and your clear presentation of ideas, bookplayer. This is all exactly what I would have said if I had taken the time to organize my thoughts about it and write it down. Fortunately, thanks to you, I don't have to!
I, for one, have at least a little in me of all of the categories you describe, though the biggest one is Romance Shipper. It almost doesn't matter who it is so long as the romance tugs my heart strings through pain, hope, fear, joy, and all the myriad trials people (whether pony or other sentient being) go through while trying to find, court, prove, or save their true love. I like other story types, too, but given nearly equal writing quality, for me a story that has at least a touch of romance
will always win out over one that doesn't.
Thanks for an insightful and thought-provoking post!
Light and laughter,
SongCoyote
Is there a "A character dies in this fic" fan subculture? I wanna be a part of that fan subculture.
1358358
There might be if there was a tag for it. That's my point. People who want to read about ponies dying have no easy way to find each other! (You can't see black eyeliner online.)
1357765
Writing stuff you've never written before with the express purpose of making people who like (or don't like) it like it? That's a worthy challenge. :D
For me, shipping is a game, so stuff like that is what I love.
1358915 I'm a really goal oriented person, so that target really fires me up. I sort of lose interest in things when I don't have a bar to reach for, so creating challenges is really important for me when I'm writing. It used to be to get stuff on EQD, but I'm pretty successful at that now, and it takes months, so I need some new goals.
If I do try some shipping, I'll probably need to make some little one-shots first, though. I don't want to get 35,000 words into some complicated FlutterDash fic just to find out that I'm pretty terrible at shipping.
1358974
If you want someone to look over a quick oneshot, gimme a ring. I've got all kinds of opinions on what constitutes good shipping. :V Oh yes I do.
1359113 I will certainly keep that in mind! Even if it's a rough read for you, it will probably be extremely instructive for me. Writing makes me feel dense in a way, but it's really a deconstruction of the human psyche. Each new story teaches me something new about how people perceive media.
I have a short and very blunt answer to this.
Most of us are merely sad piles of flesh who will probably never experience a "true" romance, something exciting and fulfilling in its entirety.
I am not exception to this rule.