Like... when I did blog RP as a canon, what it generally involved was me posting a thing and people coming out of The Abyss Of Tumblr to reply to my ask prompts/open starters/starter calls/etc. Everyone I interacted with chose me as the representative of the character that they wanted to do this scene with today. They chose to follow me, i.e. have my writing on their dashboard at all (it's easy to blacklist someone's URL if you don't like their content). They had access to my About page (giving basics about my interpretation of the character), my Headcanons page (giving information about the main places I diverged from canon), my Backstory page (giving my interpretation of his origins). They were able to make an informed choice, actively, to roleplay with my interpretation of the character. And tomorrow they could choose to interact with a different version of the same character, written by someone else, and it wouldn't be unusual because RP blogs often have more than 1 "verse" attached to them.
Same dynamic goes for the fics I post. ("Everything the light touches is Balmung's kingdom." "But what about that shadowy place?" "That's Kilieit's ao3. You must never go there.")
On the contrary, if I were to create a body-double of the same canon character, then approach a stranger's RP scene in-game and attempt to include myself without introducing myself first or checking it would be alright...
1) They didn't choose me. They didn't reach out to me and say "hey I like your interpretation, can we do this scene". I imposed myself, my headcanons, my interpretations, on them.
2) They didn't get a chance to say no. I just walked up and assumed they'd be okay with it. It'd be like me responding to someone else's thread and then getting surprised when they ignored my input because they were counting on a different interpretation of the same character participating instead.
3) They would then be expected to retain our meeting as canon to their storyline. Outside of exceptional circumstances that call for retcons, most people assume that all in-game public interactions a person has are part of the same "timeline", and can be referred to in future at-will. Introducing such an interaction as a canon character has some knock-on consequences, such as...
4) It assumes they will call me back, and not another canon (or their own writing), if they need an appearance from my character in the future. Because whatever they do, if my [noun] canon's interaction is considered [adjective] canon to their timeline, then future interactions with the same [noun] canon will need to fit in line with what I did. If I have some specific headcanon or something... it sort of monopolises the character, for that person, as being me.
Doing any of this without asking is rude. Doing most of this without asking is power-gaming. I wish I could say I hadn't seen it in person, but I have. Twice. I have canon RPers I know personally and adore, because they're thoughtful and considerate in how they conduct themselves... but I can't get these inconsiderate interactions from others out of my head.
Same dynamic goes for the fics I post. ("Everything the light touches is Balmung's kingdom." "But what about that shadowy place?" "That's Kilieit's ao3. You must never go there.")
On the contrary, if I were to create a body-double of the same canon character, then approach a stranger's RP scene in-game and attempt to include myself without introducing myself first or checking it would be alright...
1) They didn't choose me. They didn't reach out to me and say "hey I like your interpretation, can we do this scene". I imposed myself, my headcanons, my interpretations, on them.
2) They didn't get a chance to say no. I just walked up and assumed they'd be okay with it. It'd be like me responding to someone else's thread and then getting surprised when they ignored my input because they were counting on a different interpretation of the same character participating instead.
3) They would then be expected to retain our meeting as canon to their storyline. Outside of exceptional circumstances that call for retcons, most people assume that all in-game public interactions a person has are part of the same "timeline", and can be referred to in future at-will. Introducing such an interaction as a canon character has some knock-on consequences, such as...
4) It assumes they will call me back, and not another canon (or their own writing), if they need an appearance from my character in the future. Because whatever they do, if my [noun] canon's interaction is considered [adjective] canon to their timeline, then future interactions with the same [noun] canon will need to fit in line with what I did. If I have some specific headcanon or something... it sort of monopolises the character, for that person, as being me.
Doing any of this without asking is rude. Doing most of this without asking is power-gaming. I wish I could say I hadn't seen it in person, but I have. Twice. I have canon RPers I know personally and adore, because they're thoughtful and considerate in how they conduct themselves... but I can't get these inconsiderate interactions from others out of my head.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
