The next Escapade panel write-up
This was the idea that turned into a viewing paradigm for me. (Only for a little while, fortunately -- I don't like seeing everything through one prism; I lose too many necessary subtleties that way.) It's a long post/write-up, however, so have a cut tag:
"Satisfaction versus Addiction"
My starting point was very simple: fandom, and fanfiction, are insanely addictive.
Everyone's probably heard of positive reinforcement. If an activity results in praise and/or a treat, you're likely to want to do it again. The common conception of negative reinforcement (which Devo told me a while back is inaccurate, but hey) is that if you do something and get punished, you're less likely to do it again. Also fairly accurate. In rat-running terms, if a rat knows that pushing a button will get him food, he'll only push when he's hungry. If it takes five pushes, he'll push five times, when he's hungry; one time, same result. Three times, same result. Change the number of times and, as long as it's a consistent after the change, the rat's happy once he has time to learn the new pattern.
But if you make it variable -- two clicks, or eight, or eighty-two, or sometimes, oh, three -- the rat will keep pushing, hungry or not, because he never knows when it will work and he wants that prize. This is how slot machines make so much money for casinos: you don't know when you're going to get lights, whistles, and bells, but you know you do want them and the money that cascades down with them.... Intermittant reinforcement is the most powerful type of reinforcement.
Fandom is intermittent reinforcement, doubled, and then redoubled.
First layer: We check our email and our friends' pages on LJ frequently to see if anyone's posted. Almost compulsively in a lot of cases. (Refresh. Refresh. Refresh....)
Doubled: Even when someone has posted, have they posted something you're interested in? Or is it a fandom you're not watching/reading, or a rec for something you've read three times?
Redoubled: Even if you're interested, is it good? And is it satisfying in and of itself, or does it leave you wanting the next chapter, the next installment, or just one more push on that little button/kink you'd been trying to forget you have?
At this point, Devo discussed the nature of addiction versus satisfaction, comparing eating chocolate to eating the first ripe peach of the season. The chocolate's good, it hits the taste buds, it sets off endorphins, but unless it's exceptional chocolate, you may eat it and then want another piece, hoping that'll be the one that satisfies you. The first peach of the season, though, is juicy, and firm, and fragrant, and dripping on your hand, and takes up all your attention and concentration as you eat it. And when you're done, you don't need another peach; that one satisfied you.
So we started talking about things that satisfy people in stories, and we came up with the following lists.
Some of the things we found satisfying in fanfiction were:
Some things we considered possible signs of addiction in fanfiction:
At this point, some people started pointing out quite rightly that there are some good aspects to the addictive behavior. The energy of a new fandom was one example; the passion, and immersion, in a new subject was another.
Maygra took the discussion on labels and pointed out that as a reader she wants different things from a label than she does as a writer. As a reader, she wants to know (accurately) what she's getting, and who's in it, and some idea of what to expect, whether horror, humor, slash, het, or gen. But as a writer, she wants people to read it, and she may not want to give away the main plot points. This segued into the reality of blurbs for writing being a necessary thing, and that they're frequently more cryptic than the reader wants, or off-putting. Speaking for myself (then and now) I consider writing blurbs to be harder than writing the story. Doing the fourteen recs for Crack_Van drove me half-crazy trying to convey why I thought people should read the story without giving the plot twists all away.
About this point, we ran out of time.
Other points that I had written down to toss out if the discussion lagged (wow, did the discussion not lag!) were:
Many thanks to Devohoneybee who helped me run this (I panicked about 'EEP! I'm doing what, when?'), cheerfully gave psychological definitions as necessary, and took notes and sorted out whose turn it was to talk. Many more thanks, however,to everyone who commented and contended and hijacked the conversational ball. For ten o'clock on a Friday, an amazing number of people turned up and everyone seemed to want to stick in at least two cents, which was wonderful. It was great fun.
"Satisfaction versus Addiction"
My starting point was very simple: fandom, and fanfiction, are insanely addictive.
Everyone's probably heard of positive reinforcement. If an activity results in praise and/or a treat, you're likely to want to do it again. The common conception of negative reinforcement (which Devo told me a while back is inaccurate, but hey) is that if you do something and get punished, you're less likely to do it again. Also fairly accurate. In rat-running terms, if a rat knows that pushing a button will get him food, he'll only push when he's hungry. If it takes five pushes, he'll push five times, when he's hungry; one time, same result. Three times, same result. Change the number of times and, as long as it's a consistent after the change, the rat's happy once he has time to learn the new pattern.
But if you make it variable -- two clicks, or eight, or eighty-two, or sometimes, oh, three -- the rat will keep pushing, hungry or not, because he never knows when it will work and he wants that prize. This is how slot machines make so much money for casinos: you don't know when you're going to get lights, whistles, and bells, but you know you do want them and the money that cascades down with them.... Intermittant reinforcement is the most powerful type of reinforcement.
Fandom is intermittent reinforcement, doubled, and then redoubled.
First layer: We check our email and our friends' pages on LJ frequently to see if anyone's posted. Almost compulsively in a lot of cases. (Refresh. Refresh. Refresh....)
Doubled: Even when someone has posted, have they posted something you're interested in? Or is it a fandom you're not watching/reading, or a rec for something you've read three times?
Redoubled: Even if you're interested, is it good? And is it satisfying in and of itself, or does it leave you wanting the next chapter, the next installment, or just one more push on that little button/kink you'd been trying to forget you have?
At this point, Devo discussed the nature of addiction versus satisfaction, comparing eating chocolate to eating the first ripe peach of the season. The chocolate's good, it hits the taste buds, it sets off endorphins, but unless it's exceptional chocolate, you may eat it and then want another piece, hoping that'll be the one that satisfies you. The first peach of the season, though, is juicy, and firm, and fragrant, and dripping on your hand, and takes up all your attention and concentration as you eat it. And when you're done, you don't need another peach; that one satisfied you.
So we started talking about things that satisfy people in stories, and we came up with the following lists.
Some of the things we found satisfying in fanfiction were:
- Emotional maturity
- The characters (and we readers with them) go through uncomfortable stuff, and at the end the reader, at the least, is in a different emotional space. The character probably is too.
- The story has an arc to it, or takes the canon arcs into account, or both.
- There are levels, and complexity, and balance.
- There's emotional complexity.
- There's plot.
- It's "nicely done."
- It's perceived as 'healthy.' (Mind, we're not saying that fanfiction, or PWPs, or kinkfic are unhealthy. Healthy was roughly described as 'not so addictive that you abandon your other responsibilities, such as, oh, work.')
Some things we considered possible signs of addiction in fanfiction:
- Feedback demands (the readers demanding sequels immediately, e.g., or that the story be something else)
- Incomplete stories
- Writers doling out the fic a bit at a time, even when it was already completed, to get more feedback.
- Kink buttons
- Writer payoff (the author demanding a certain amount of feedback before she'd post the next piece)
- Diving into the canon, and the archives, and reading/watching everything in sight, even the stuff you know is bad....
- It's perceived as 'unhealthy' in that 'abandoning work/sleep/food to get more' sort of way.
- A poorly labeled story raises expectations that aren't then fulfilled, which leads to both frustration and a sense of 'Well, maybe next time it'll be what I want.' (Fic incorrectly labeled as non-con instead of rape was the example I recall).
At this point, some people started pointing out quite rightly that there are some good aspects to the addictive behavior. The energy of a new fandom was one example; the passion, and immersion, in a new subject was another.
Maygra took the discussion on labels and pointed out that as a reader she wants different things from a label than she does as a writer. As a reader, she wants to know (accurately) what she's getting, and who's in it, and some idea of what to expect, whether horror, humor, slash, het, or gen. But as a writer, she wants people to read it, and she may not want to give away the main plot points. This segued into the reality of blurbs for writing being a necessary thing, and that they're frequently more cryptic than the reader wants, or off-putting. Speaking for myself (then and now) I consider writing blurbs to be harder than writing the story. Doing the fourteen recs for Crack_Van drove me half-crazy trying to convey why I thought people should read the story without giving the plot twists all away.
About this point, we ran out of time.
Other points that I had written down to toss out if the discussion lagged (wow, did the discussion not lag!) were:
- The link between hitting buttons and then getting demands for more fic that pushes buttons.
- Other interesting reader demands, such as "But it should be our canon," "Why aren't people writing what I want to read?" and "The lists are dead; it's all the fault of those people who've moved to Livejournal." (Never mind that in most of the lists where I've seen that last complaint, it was the first time I'd seen a post from the person complaining.) There seems to be an expectation from some readers that not only is it free fic, but it should be free-flowing and frequently replenished fic.
- Satisfaction and "thank you/I loved it" as feedback, and whether that satisfies the writer. (It satisfies me, but I also love detailed feedback notes, too.) But it also brings up the question of "Is feedback addictive to the writer?"
Many thanks to Devohoneybee who helped me run this (I panicked about 'EEP! I'm doing what, when?'), cheerfully gave psychological definitions as necessary, and took notes and sorted out whose turn it was to talk. Many more thanks, however,to everyone who commented and contended and hijacked the conversational ball. For ten o'clock on a Friday, an amazing number of people turned up and everyone seemed to want to stick in at least two cents, which was wonderful. It was great fun.