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I'm not quite sure if I would. On the one hand, I'd be flattered if someone loved, say, Rainbow Love enough to write fanfic for it and I wouldn't discourage them from doing it (which would be a tad hypocritical of me because...I was one of them ). However, I'm not too sure if I'd read it or not. I'd be afraid (not afraid-afraid but just slightly uneasy) of accidentally stealing someone's idea, or smacking myself and going "That's brilliant! Why didn't I think of that!?", or gritting my teeth and going "NO! That's WRONG! This character would NEVER say or do that!" and yet not having the heart to outright say as such. Or, well...my Rainbow Love MC (Orville) getting shipped with the toaster.

(But I'd still read, say, Secret Santa requested fic; this is just in general for things like ff.net, or LiveJournal communities, etc.)

(Also, yes I know there's a whole debate about whether or not VN's are games or their own thing, "game" is just used as a general term here)

Why do I feel like I just opened Pandora's Box?

If a project is ongoing, if there was a potential for sequels or it was part of an unfinished series, than it's a really, really bad idea to read any fan-fiction (if any exists). Like you said, it's easy to be influenced by the ideas in the fics and that can open up a lot of legal issues. Even if it didn't turn into a legal battle, word getting out there that a creator may have ripped off a fan (true or not) can sour the trust the fans have in that creator and ruin the fan base. In general, it would be best to never read anything and never admit to it if you do. It's not worth the potential problems with your fanbase.

I definitely would. I only have one project with a direct sequel using the same characters and when it comes to that I already have it planned out. So even if someone had a really great idea I wouldn't change anything in the game for it since I've already spent so long myself deciding exactly how I want it to go. And if by chance a fan ends up knowing the first game so well that they can guess what's going to happen in the next game I think I'd like know before I release the second game. Because if I know it exists then I can reach out to the fanfic writer ahead of time before it's too late and people start making claims that I copied a fanfic I never even read. Heck maybe I could even recruit the fanfic writer to help out on the sequel ^^.


Oh and I wouldn't mind people writing characters out of characters or non-cannon shipping. I actually think that'd be interesting to see .

I find this a terrifying idea, but I would read it anyway. I remember discussing this with a friend of mine (the Whom to Notice writer). We agreed that if there's anyway to measure the popularity of his work (statistics aside), it would be the amount of fanfiction and/or fanart it gets.

Depends what kind of fanfiction, I guess. As has been said, if you're writing for an ongoing series and someone later thinks you've stolen their ideas... that's a pretty bad situation. So I wouldn't read any fics that were going for the 'continuation of the plot from where it ended last time' angle. But less broadly speculative fic that's more about 'let's pair these characters' or 'what happens if this character made breakfast?', absolutely.

The type of fic that'd make me most happy, however, would be getting a really fantastically bad fic for one of my games someday. Half-Life: Full Life Consequences bad. Transcendentally bad.

I think my morbid curiousity would demand I do it at least once.

I've wondered about this a lot in the past. Like Biomass says, morbid curiosity usually wins out for me. I make a point of every once in a while Googling bits of anime song translations I've done to see who's co-opted them for terrible songfics, so I'd be even more curious to see how someone interpreted a work that was wholly mine.

In the event that I read a fanfic of a work in progress of mine and really liked an author's idea, I would probably contact them and ask about using whatever concept it is they came up with in the actual game, and credit them appropriately. I know I'd be flattered if a creator read a fic of mine and requested that of me. Sometimes fans think of great ideas that creators might not have even considered.

It made me really happy when someone did, so sure. Always.

Sure, why not. I'd worry about how they would turn out, but I'd be pretty happy if I found out there are fans who enjoyed my work so much that they went as far as creating fanfiction (and even fanart).

I'd be on that like white on rice.

I do read them, but then I quietly complain to myself about how the fanfic authors are GETTING IT WRONG! Particularly common with Magical Diary, which is a setting where I have a lot of planned details already written out waiting for later works, which no one who isn't me has any reason to know.

I do not publicly comment on fanfic of my own work, except by sometimes pointing others to read it. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to critique for a number of reasons.

Honestly people who are crazy enough can attempt to sue you whether you actually read their story or not, and I have more issues with fans WANTING me to use their ideas than I do with fans complaining about me stealing them.

I think I would like that, at least once. But I'm equally frightened of the possibilities.

I probably wouldn't read a fanfic, since it's not a medium I particularpy prefer, but if someone makes a hentai doujin, I would be on that like ants at a picnic.

Whenever this has happened, I end up wanting to kick myself for either not thinking of what said fan did or for not making what I wanted people to get out of my work more explicit. Hence, I have quite a few self-inflicted bruises directly related to fanfiction/fanart.

Probably similar to my love-hate relationship with fanfiction in general. Sometimes, when you read a fanfiction (regardless of fandom) that's OOC or plainly poorly written, it does invoke a desire to bang one's head against the nearest wall.

But on the other hand, it's just so rewarding when you find something that's really unique and well-done.

Just my opinion, though.