Comment on Policy For Ambiguous Tags

  1. Freyfall Sun 07 Jun 2026 02:10AM UTC

    Hello, I was wondering what formatting would be best for Minecraft Youtuber (MCYT) SMP fandoms, where it is common for one youtuber/streamer to represent multiple characters across different series, often under the same name (their screenname). In MCYT fandom events and gift exchanges it is common practice to use disambiguation following the names in order to distinguish characters, such as "Technoblade (Dream SMP)" versus "Technoblade (SMP Earth)". This distinction is important to many fans in the space (and so the formatting mentioned is what I've been using so far.)

    Additionally, would an RPF warning be mandatory for works about the characters from these series? Many fans do not consider this work to be RPF (at least not wholly), as in most SMP series of this nature, there is a heavy roleplay aspect that differentiates the character from the streamer/youtuber's IRL self - the closest comparison I can think of is the concept of "kayfabe" present in wrestling fandom. (MCYT RPF is also often a separate category specifically focusing on the youtubers'/streamers' IRL selves).

    Apologies for the long question (this is a nuanced thing as you can imagine haha), and I'd love to know your thoughts/opinions.

    Comment Actions

    1. dyke Sun 07 Jun 2026 01:39PM UTC

      Thanks for asking! That's really good info since I. had no idea lol. That sounds like proper formatting to me, based on what you've described! I'd probably make a Technoblade umbrella category, for the grey area, but I'll make sure to remember that when formatting MCYT stuff.

      RPF warnings would not be mandatory. The way I see it, it's essentially the same as a D&D character, right? The MCYT fandoms themselves are under both Other Media and RPF, solely because there's a bit of a grey area, but individual works only need an RPF warning if the author thinks their work blends into RPF. It's a nuanced thing, and I trust the judgement of authors for their own works wrt this one.

      No need to apologize! Thank you for asking, this is actually really helpful for tag wrangling <3

      Comment Actions

      1. Freyfall Mon 08 Jun 2026 12:40AM UTC

        With the D&D character comparison - pretty much, yeah! From what I've seen common consensus is that all of our little subfandoms do sit in a really weird RPF gray area, all sorts of "what's in-character and what's out-of-character" wrt joke bits and "semi-lore" and stuff that doesn't start as roleplay but then *becomes* roleplay et cetera, so it really is a case by case thing - and thank you! The clarity on that is much appreciated :)

        Comment Actions