A Lot More Hermitcraft Stuff

real talk/vent (regarding shipping)

listen it's late, i have finally turned 13, i've been scrolling through hermitblr, and i keep seeing this topic come up so i want to have some real talk with ya'll

(warning: controversial topic, im not putting things too lightly this is harsh, this is pretty long but i will put a tl;dr)

Why is there so much discourse surrounding shipping in the Hermitcraft fandom? Honestly this is the most discourse and hatred and fighting I have ever seen in a fandom. To be frank, it's really quite toxic. At least this is what I've gathered from Hermitblr (the Hermitcraft fandom on tumblr) which I've heard is a really toxic place.

To start, we have the non-shippers who I think I can safely put into 3 categories.

The ones who just see the Hermits as friends since that's what they call themselves. I am assuming these are probably younger fans who just watch Hermitcraft because it's fun.

Then there's there's the fans who don't ship because most of the Hermits have not addressed how they feel about shipping and don't want to cross boundaries. These could also be people who just prefer the Hermits as friends. I understand this since it's important to know what boundaries you shouldn't cross.

Finally, there's the fans who despise shipping because it crosses boundaries and that shippers should respect how the Hermits really see each other (I think, I don't exactly know their thought process so you may add to it if you want to). These are the ones I think I have the most problems with.

I often see people saying, "I only ship their personas, not the real people," and I abide by these words. It's very important to not ship real people if we do not know their opinion on shipping, which is the case for a lot of Hermits.

People who are in category 3 and despise shipping I think group all shippers in one category, which is quite inaccurate. I saw a user on Hermitblr (I'm not naming anyone) say that they didn't want people looking at their art through the "lens of a shipper". For a lack of better words, I think this statement is... ridiculous?

Not all shippers are boundary-pushing monsters who like to fetishize people. Most shippers I see, especially regarding the Hermitcraft fandom, are very respectful and nice people. This is the case for most fandoms, which is, to find NSFW stuff you have to really search for it. In fact, I've never even seen NSFW art for Hermits! I've seen lemons for Hermits, but that's because I search for them.

Listen, I respect if you believe shipping is wrong or you just prefer the Hermits as friends. But please don't go around trying to push your beliefs onto others or telling people that what they believe is horrible and wrong just because a few people from that community are doing bad things.

If someone is doing something bad, like pressuring Hermits to date each other in real life or trying to convince others that certain Hermits are really dating, then by all means go ahead and tell them to stop. But please be respectful and civil about it.

If a shipper can say, "I only ship the personas and I respect the real life Hermits and their lives and opinions," then they are someone who can be just as respected as everyone else.

The reason I wrote this is because I'm so sick of people fighting or telling each other off because of they believe in. We're all part of the same fandom and we're supposed to be friends, be able to safely share our work with each other without fear of being told that what we like is wrong and bad. We're supposed to be a family.

I might have missed some points here, but this is all I can think of at the moment.

TL;DR: Shippers are not gross monsters as long as they respect boundaries and the beliefs and opinions of the real people. The Hermitcraft fandom is supposed a family and it's ridiculous that everyone's fights so often over such a small thing.

*sighs* listen I'm really sorry for making this, but honestly I needed to vent. The next part will be something light and silly I swear

<3