Talk:Shared Universe

Should the Mensaverse and the Wishverse be in there? In my understanding they're not shared universes if they merely jump off from the same canonical point. Which is to say, in my understanding a shared universe is one where the fic/stories have connections between each other, jumping off from each other or taking place in AUs of each other - they're not just related to the same piece of canon. Opinions? --Dora 17:24, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with the Buffy example, but I think the Mensaverse is not a shared universe. The stories on that Mensaverse community stand on their own. --Ratcreature 17:31, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Exactly. I'm not 100% sure about Wishverse - what I remember is it working pretty much the same way as the Mensaverse, but there might have been people using one form of it as a shared universe? I hope someone has a better memory. (Also corrected a typo in my comment above, sorry about that.) --Dora 17:36, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

I think that as both the Mensaverse and Wishverse universes are based in canon, they are excluded them from my definition of share universe. For it to be a shared universe, I feel that there has to be an originating work by a fan author, that then other authors are encouraged to write in. But it may not work that way for other people. --rache 18:03, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

I agree. A shared universe, the way I understand it, starts with fanfic. If the connection between the stories is just the same point in canon, it's not a shared universe.--Doro 18:32, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I really can't see how a bunch of stories writing from the same point in canon makes a shared universe, even if they're collected into a special comm. Are post-Trinity stories a shared universe? --Kyuuketsukirui 18:41, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

So ... here's where I run into trouble with PPOV. My instinct would be to take the paragraph out, but is that the correct thing to do under the circumstances? --Dora 19:36, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, my thought is that there are plenty of examples of legitimate shared universes without putting in questionable ones like Mensaverse. And none of the people discussing this here do think that Mensaverse is an example of a shared universe. So I would take it out, and then if later on someone comes along and says "my definition of a shared universe includes stuff like this", then it can be edited to say "some people also use the term shared universe for things like Mensaverse that set stories in a canonical AU". No problem. But right now we have no proof that anyone does, so let's just go with what we've got. --Kyuuketsukirui 09:07, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

I think the story you added is a good example. Although I think it should be mentioned that "Take Clothes Off As Directed" itself plays in Xanthe's universe and Helen is not the only one who does that (Elayna and lavvyan have used Xanthe's universe as a starting point too), so crediting just Helen's story is not uncontroversial because there would be no "Take Clothes Off As Directed" without "Coming Home".--Doro 09:35, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

True. Will add that in. --Kyuuketsukirui 10:46, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Betty, I saw that you changed something about the "potential controversy" part and I must say that I liked the original version much better. Expressing it as misunderstandings and hurt feelings is more inclusive because it can go both ways but now it sounds like the author playing unauthorized in another author's universe is automatically free of blame and it's just a case of the original author being selfish. I don't think that's what you were going for but that's what it now looks like to me.--Doro 19:29, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Agreed, although I'm having the opposite problem as well with the first sentence, which presents the idea of having control over who writes in your universe as a given. --Dora 19:36, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

I was trying to phrase it a bit more neutrally, and I guess I overshot. Revert it if you like. --Betty 20:51, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Done. :) I made another attempt at phrasing it more neutrally. Who would have guessed that would be so difficult? Oh, and I added another bit that I thought was missing in the controversy.--Doro 08:57, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Shared universes that could be hooked up on this page: (Harry/Johnny) (MUNCLE's Crispin Day universe) all the ones for Professionals out of Nut Hatch (Operation Assegai, the Hunting, Fancy Dancers, and I swear, about a dozen others...) Mrs. Potato Head 21:13, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

lists

Several examples are already included in the page, but it might be nice to have a complete list, possibly in a subpage, of all shared universes that have (or should have) a Fanlore page. Y/N?--æthel 00:24, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I like list. So I'd say a list of shared universes would be nice to have.--Ratcreature 08:59, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I started the list. I didn't include canon AUs that get treated in fanfiction (Wishverse, Mensaverse, etc.). And I was likewise doubtful about Horatio Hornblower/Live Kennedy Universe and other named denialfic types.--æthel 22:21, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

merging the Stargate example subcategories?

Right now in the "List of Named Shared Universes" section there's three SG-related subsections: SG-1/SGA crossovers (6 listed), SGA (4 listed), and SG-1 (1 listed). As far as I know almost all (or maybe even all?) of those in fact include characters from SGA and SG-1 or settings from both, not just one. How about merging those three subsections into one called "Stargate" and then after each specific named AU say if it's a crossover or a fusion or primarily focuses on only one of the SG franchise's settings/characters? --Sk 03:23, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

I tried to sort them by the fandom they started out in, if that makes sense. E.g. John Farr started out in SGA and later expanded to include some SG-1 characters, Clan Mitchell the other way around, and the ones currently listed as crossover started out already including both. (Maybe Pegasus-B should be listed as crossover, actually.) I think that is the clearest way (since even the shows shared characters, it is common to find them appearing in fics mostly concentrating on the other show), but if it's confusing, feel free to change it! --Tiyire 09:06, 25 November 2011 (UTC)