#i'd always read and analyzed the DSMP the way i read and analyze literature and film

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

I think part of why I'm a little bit softer towards Quackity's finale, or simply unsure of how to criticize it, is that, perhaps more than any other ending we've seen, the meta elements are... very difficult to ignore.

DSMP was a roleplay server. Even at its most highly produced and pre-written, it was still a roleplay server. Moreover, it was a roleplay in which all of the characters shared a name with their player, the lines between the fiction and the OOC friendships were frequently blurred, and very few people had much if any experience with roleplay and its associated pitfalls such as the dreaded "character bleed." That is an environment ripe for joy and excitement. It's also an environment rife with turbulence and wounded feelings.

So, the first thing is that this doesn't just represent an ending for c!Quackity, it represents closing a chapter in cc!Quackity's career. When he got the chance to stream in his native language without fear of being judged or mocked for it, k!Quackity was born. When he embarked on a project that reconciled his two audiences, there was q!Quackity. c!Quackity was a storytelling triumph as far as MCYT goes, but where was he to go next?

On a narrative level, I find it interesting that the two survivors, and the traits portrayed that helped them decide to continue living, represent what were once c!Quackity's best traits - k!Quackity's determination and sense of justice, and q!Quackity's love and desire to connect with others. Combined with c!Slime's parting words of "Thank you for teaching me what it's like to be human," this might underscore a point that c!Quackity was ultimately a learning experience, both for the writer and the other characters. He might be gone, but he still left some positive impact. The ones who came after him chose not to continue a negative cycle.

However, the other snag here is... the other people. Yeah. No need for detail, you know who I mean. The controversies, the racism mentioned above, the legitimately awful treatment of those within and without the DSMP circle. A lot of us won't excuse the writing because of that. And I get it - we, the audience, can easily separate the story from the people behind it. If this were a film franchise or television show, it would be easy to replace the actors and move on. Not so in a roleplay. Not so when the actor and character have bled together so much.

I've got to get a little personal.

Within the last few months, I've dealt with a similar experience - someone who I frequently roleplayed with and who I considered a close friend became incredibly abusive to one of my other friends, to the point where he needed to be distanced from our lives and cut from future plots entirely. Logistically, that is a hard thing to deal with, especially when your character was closely entwined with theirs and dozens of others. But emotionally, it's even harder. You start questioning past interactions, wondering whether the signs were always there. You start noticing strange details in their writing that you know you might be reading too much into, but still make you sick to think about. In extreme cases, the thought of even playing your own character again becomes unbearable, because they were so clearly impacted by the choices of people you no longer want anything to do with.

I had an easier time adapting my character to the new course of events. My other friend, the one who had suffered his betrayal firsthand, nearly had her character disappear alongside his.

Sometimes, people cope with endings the way Tommy did. By saying, "No, I'm going to go back and end on a happy note, because my character deserves that, and the goodness was there." Sometimes, that just... doesn't feel possible. I really truly have to wonder if c!Quackity, for all the pride and care that was clearly taken in crafting his story, was just a holder of too many negative experiences and attributes for the writer to do anything but throw up one last cathartic hurrah and shelve him forever.

I'm not saying it was the ideal ending for c!Quackity. I'm not saying it was perfectly written, or that the absence of certain characters wasn't baffling or frustrating. I'm not even saying people aren't justified in hating how our favorite character's story concluded. Hell, I'm still not sure whether I like how brutal, how final, how bitterly tragic it was.

I'm just saying it's hard for me not to empathize.