What is canon and what isn't?

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keenmaster486
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What is canon and what isn't?

Post by keenmaster486 »

Have we, the Keen community, become the de facto successors to the original ID team? In other words, should our unofficial creations be considered canon now?

The only reason I say this is because the development that goes on here is likely to be the only continuing Keen development for the rest of time.
I flermmed the plootash just like you asked.
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MoffD
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Post by MoffD »

I actually had an interesting discussion with one of my brothers about copyright, fangames and IP recently.

Imko the keen fangames approach the relm of EU books of starwars. However, where starwars books are cross checked and do a fairly good job of not conflicting, keen fangames don't exactly form a contiguous, accurate timeline of events. In the end though, Disney has control over technical canon for starwars and have been selecting parts of EU starwars as canon (I think I heard Thrawn and chiss are?)
It would certainly be interesting if Tom does somehow manage to get the rights back and then decides some mods are canon.
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troublesomekeen
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Post by troublesomekeen »

Nope. Not a chance. It can't be canon. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise.
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Post by Ceilick »

I think MoffD has it right, and if I might extend that line of thought:

The original 7 games will always be the canon. But we've definitely reached a point where we have more than a few fan games which build off each other in ways which could be considered the "new canon" or "fan canon", or we could individualize it further with the "keenrush canon" or the "levellass canon".

Also, moved to Other Keen Stuff.
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Post by Commander Spleen »

I also what Ceilick endorsed what MoffD said.

Because there is no cohesive attempt to prevent conflicts and ensure an overarching consistency, it should be left up to the players as to what they consider canon.

It is also best for creative freedom to keep the future of modding stories flexible. Once we start cementing fan-made stories, it becomes another barrier of entry to the modding scene. The bar is already set pretty high for the quality side of things without preemptively casting illegitimate plots into the abyss.

This idea of modder-specific fanon could be a viable approach, as long as it leaves things open for future modders to expand rather than forming a kind of clique that intimidates them from contributing or rewriting what has already been created or exploring prior ideas that may have been seen as less polished.
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Post by Keening_Product »

I agree with the above. I view mods as what ifs - they're all as legitimate as each other within their own chain of events/universes. Multiverse theory makes everything play friendly enough, and hey, it worked for DC. ...kiiinda.

With that in mind, has anyone done something of an inter-series crossover mod before? Might be fun to do a NetKeen mod based loosely around the plot of the Three/Five Doctors/50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who. Say, Bernie's Keen meets Hall Keen meets one of Szemi's parallel universe characters.
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Post by Levellass »

The biggest problem I have is the idea of 'canon' itself. Who sets that? Not just in regards to Keen but things in general. Is GBC canon? TUIT? What if Tom Hall said so? What about Star Wars, what does and doesn't count there? What if Lucas disowned the new movies?

In the end I think that 'canon' is an opinion, possibly a shared one. It can differ over time and between fans and even between creators. What is being argued is not whether our mods posses some sort of qualifications that admit them into an exclusive club, or whether some factor overrides another, allowing them inclusion. Instead what is being asked is our mod's relationship with the original games.

Each mod is canon to itself. Some mods share a canon, perhaps all can by virtue of being Keen games (Though games like Bunny Basher can lack even that.)

Really what matters is not their canonicity, but rather that they're Keen.
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