#there will be infighting the likes of which havent been seen in ages

[fireflythecinnamonjollyrancher]

I don't even really go here but I have to imagine this is how November 5th felt for Destiel shippers

[normal-thoughts-official]

I think the shipping-being-the-most-important-part problem had always been there but I think it's bigger now because of the desire/possibility of "making it cannon", but I can't fully articulate the why

personally, im not entirely sure its bigger. i havent really felt a shift in the way fandom behaves regarding shipping x other forms of engagement, altho to be fair ive only been in fandom for around a decade so theres lots of stuff i didnt live through; so im probably not the best person to make that assessment

but i do understand what you mean when you say that, i think. over the last few years we've seen fandom have a LOT of impact over what happens in media (see: reylo shippers and the profound impact they had on the newest star wars trilogy's writing), which i believe is because now, with the social media age, it's possible to basically run constant unlimited test groups with your audience. like, it took a LOT of money to do that before, now all it takes is a bot or frankly even keeping up with the trending topics list. media can be a lot more personalized now and cater to the specific wants of the majority of the fandom, which makes it more profitable. so fandom has been having a way larger impact on it's source media than it used to, and that means it is possible to "make" your ship go canon

also, because consumers are getting used to everything being targeted towards such a specific audience that they feel like it was hand-made for them, they feel entitled to having their media experience cater to their wants, headcanons, ships, etc

plus, specifically in the world of slash fandom (lets be honest, femslash is still such a niche that femslash shippers don't really have the leverage to want to change the route of a story) the discussions of queerbaiting have been largely appropriated to cater to fandom's desires. and to be clear! im not saying that discussions about queerbaiting aren't important or are just something fandom made up to talk about ships. but i frequently see ppl in fandom accusing a show of queerbaiting just because a ship that was in no way hinted at, or that was even effectively FOUGHT AGAINST by the writers/narrative/crew (see: destiel) didnt go canon. and while i dont think we live in a world where media corporations care more about being cancelled on the internet for queerbaiting than making a profit, nor where queerbaiting is less profitable than making a queer ship canon, this appropriation of the discussion on queerbaiting by fandom has also made fans feel more entitled to their ships becoming canon, or to campaigning for their ships to become canon. again, supernatural fandom is a great example of this

i think this has made fandom more intense and has made issues such as ship wars and fandom infighting more prominent and present (because before you could just ignore the corner of the fandom you dont like, but now there is fear that their influence will make the story go somewhere you dont want it to), but im not sure it has made fandom's ship-centrism more intense. first, because that phenomenum did not HAVE to be limited to shipping - people could just as easily campaign for, say, a specific plot twist that they think would be interesting to happen. but they dont do that. the fact that fandom's influence over media has been almost exclusively limited to campaigning for ships to go canon is a result of fandom ship-centrism that was already there, not a cause for it or influence to steer it even further in that direction

second, because i genuinely can't remember a time when fandom didn't revolve around shipping. if you go read about fandom history, most of it consists of conflict that arises because of ship wars, or within a specific ship's fandom. seeing most fanfiction sites, they are even organized in such a way that you search by pairing, rather then, well, anything else. AO3 has made it possible to steer towards a different path because its tagging system is so detailed and thorough, but in most sites you can search for a specific fic, or a specific pairing within a fandom. and that's kind of it

and third, because media in general since at least the advent of the cinematic industry (which is older than fandom as we know it already) has always been romance-focused. even stories that aren't romances always have some sort of romance. i dont remember the last time i consumed any media that didnt have at least one romantic relationship. often, that relationship's development is completely detached from the rest of the story and serves no real narrative purpose

because like... we live in an amatonormative, patriarchal, capitalist society, and media it produces, by and large, is meant to sell the great ideal of having a monogamous romantic and sexual relationship, have kids, and perform your assigned role in the traditional nuclear family™. so of course media consumers are used to seeing media through the lens of a romantic relationship, because that is pretty much the one constant you can expect from any contemporary piece of media. and beyond media, romantic relationships are always being encouraged and, as of lately, used to sell products as well (think perfume ads that imply that using that perfume will make you more desirable). so people are encouraged to want and need romantic relationships, particularly unattainable ones, and that affects the way they do everything - including consuming media

also, a relationship's success often MEANS a character's success in modern narratives, so the desire to see a romantic relationship is tangled in the desire to see a particular character be "validated" and "win". this is particularly true for women, who are taught that their worth relies on their desirability and their romantic relationships, and therefore see a character's worth the same way. men are mostly taught to see the women they end up with as a trophy or a sign of success, so shipping itself is not as important because the relationship itself doesn't actually matter. but of course that's not a set in stone rule, just a tendency

so personally i believe that there's been some shifting in the way fandom communities organize themselves and in the conflicts they face, but i dont think that it has changed fandom's tendency to be ship-centric. but that's just my two cents of course and it's not like i study the subject

hope i dont sound dismissive of your opinion, im really just sharing what i think and hopefully it might help you articulate what you mean better? sorry for the long ass response didndidm