Why Genshin Impact inspired so much gay fanfiction
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| News Media Commentary | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Why Genshin Impact inspired so much gay fanfiction |
| Commentator: | Jessica Reyes |
| Date(s): | March 19, 2021 |
| Venue: | online |
| Fandom: | |
| External Links: | Why Genshin Impact inspired so much gay fanfiction |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Why Genshin Impact inspired so much gay fanfiction has the subtitle: "A tribute to r/GenshinGays"
The author is Jessica Reyes, and it was posted March 19, 2021 to the site "Overlode".
The article begins with:
‘Genshin Impact, miHoYo’s popular gacha RPG hybrid, boasts a thoughtfully crafted world, attractive sceneries and characters — and a big gay fanfiction community. When they’re not whaling on limited-edition banners or charting extensive team-building spreadsheets, some players take to prominent fan fiction sites like Archive of Our Own to post fan works, many of which happen to be gay.”
Genshin has one of the fastest-growing video game fandom communities. Since its worldwide release, the game amassed over 11K stories on AO3 alone. AO3 primarily hosts slash, or male-on-male, stories. Labelled as M/M, these works feature same-sex relationships between male characters. Femslash, or F/F, and heterosexual fanfics are a minority. Genshin’s AO3 numbers rival those of long-standing fandoms like Final Fantasy VII, Super Danganronpa 2, and Assassin’s Creed. Even then, fandoms within its range don’t necessarily have as much gay fanfiction. Most of Genshin’s top pairings are M/M, though it also has a reasonable F/F archive.
Some Topics Discussed
- Top gay pairings
- ship analysis
- perceived incest
From the Essay
Kaeya and Diluc, or Kaeluc, is the second most popular pairing on AO3. Their character profiles detail their complicated history. Diluc’s father adopted Kaeya when they were younger, so they grew up as brothers. Or, at least, the English translation calls them “brothers.” Chinese fans have been quick to call out that the word in the original version actually means “sworn brothers,” which is more similar to best friends. Even though they’re not related by blood, some fans are squicked out that the English translation canonises them as siblings.