Note: This is based on my opinion, so do not take it too personal if it rubs you the wrong way.
Happy Tuesday everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin here!
Everybody is or has been a part of fandom. From Star Wars to Star Trek and so forth and so on. People have been enjoying the communities created. Though what I’ve experienced and heard of are some people who think of themselves as the bastion of fandom purity and protection. These folks are known as “gatekeepers”.
What’s a gatekeeper or gate-keeping you ask? Gate-keeping, as oxford defines it, is the activity of controlling, and usually limiting, general access to something. In the case of fandom, it usually involves controlling who is considered a true fan or not. Ranging from things like what things they watch or knowledge of their series. It’s an annoying thing that makes people not bastions but more come off as just outright jerks.
One example of gate-keeping i’ve seen is the old “you’re not playing this right” or “True players do this” form of gate-keeping. They’re the kind of person who will claim some really dumb stuff like “You’re not playing Pokemon right if you’re not breeding them” or “Fire Emblem players don’t play with Casual Mode on”. It’s a common form of gate-keeping that gets me annoyed over certain things. So what if someone wants to play Fire Emblem on an easier difficulty or whether or not a person doesn’t competitively breed or uses cheating devices for non-tournament play by berating them for not playing the way they view as “the true way of playing.” If one plays that way, that’s them. There’s no need to berate a player for playing how they want to be. Though I’ve seen other forms where one berates others because they play mobile games and not PC or console games, or my personal annoyance the whole “X is better” gatekeepers. There’s billions of gatekeepers that I could talk about but we’d be here till next week. All I have to say so far is that the first gatekeepers are the kind who dictate what is considered “fun” or “normal”. However, there are other gatekeepers too.
A more newer one I’ve encountered (and experienced) are the old “you’re the problem” gate-keeping. I’ve seen this from reactions due to certain issues with some media. One such example is Star Wars. I’m a fan of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, but some people seem to get upset about this by arguing about how those who like those series and the direction the franchise is going as “part of the problem.” that somehow they view those who like this changing direction or something the gatekeeper hates as the fault of people being complacent to them. Is it? In ya boy’s opinion, no no..nobody’s at fault for these changes. Other types that annoy me are the ones that think that if you don’t know the lore of a franchise, you can’t be a true fan.
So does that mean if I can’t know the stats of a Mobile Suit from Gundam means I’m not a true fan of Gundam? Does not knowing about a Stand’s power level mean that I’m not Jojo fan? I’d say no. Just because one is a loremaster of a fandom doesn’t mean that they are the bastion on who is considered a true fan or not.
The only good news with gatekeepers is that they seem to be very small. Very small, but very loud to boot. So the odds of running into gatekeepers can be non-existent for some people and luckily some of the communities themselves do not want these people to gatekeep future fans. Gatekeeping is viewed as some to keep things pure, but the result leads to simply making the fanbase of certain things become a bit stagnant and their people viewed as elitists. However, that’s my opinion and nothing much.
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