“To ship” is defined by the online community as “to endorse a romantic relationship” (UrbanDictionary.com) and has taken the internet by storm. The most popular form of supporting one’s OTP (short of “One True Pairing”) is through blogging sites such as Tumblr.com, the production of fan videos, the writing of fan fiction, and role playing games. Why do people become so obsessed with fictional characters? Do television and film producers take advantage of vicarious fantasies? What is fan fiction and who writes it? And why, exactly, are we all guilty of shipping, one way or another? 

The internet phenomenon has developed so far as to have its own jargon. Here are a few key phrases you need in order to understand the shippers, RPers and bloggers when they talk:

• Canon Commonly accepted by the original text (i.e. It is canon that Voldemort killed Harry Potter’s parents). 

• Fanfiction.net The largest internet archive of fan fiction literature. (Also see fanfiction.wikia.com, or for Harry Potter specific fan fiction fanfiction.mugglenet.com). 

• Fangirl an enthusiastic female fan.

• OTP Short for One True Pairing, a fan’s favorite couple, whether or not they are explicitly suggested in the original text. 

• Slash Fiction The shipping of two characters of the same sex, generally not suggested in the original text (i.e. I totally ship Clark Kent and Lex Luthor in Smallville… I don’t care if they’re both straight and mortal enemies.) 

• Fandom The community of fans for a book, movie or TV show (Harry Potter has one of the largest fandoms I have ever seen). Synonym: fanbase 

• Endgame A couple that “ends up together” in the original text. 

• Crackship The ship of a couple that is probably never ever going to happen.  

• Lemon/Smut Sexually explicit fan fiction. Ant: Fluff 

• Fluff Overly romantic fan fiction. Ant: Lemon, Smut. 

• Crossover The shipping of characters that are never found together any original texts (i.e. I ship Harry Potter and Princess Leia). 

• Ship Wars when people who disagree over who should end up together spread shipping propaganda in support of their OTP that contains a character who is involved in the OTP of another group. (i.e. Harmony shippers and Romione shippers are having a ship war with no end in sight.) 

• Universe The reality in which a certain text and certain characters exist. (Superman and Batman are part of the DC Universe, whereas Spiderman belongs to Marvel.) 

• AU Alternate Universe, a fictional parallel universe in which a key characteristic of a character is changed to create an alternate story. 

• RPing Abbr. for Role-playing, where real people create profiles on social networking sites, acting as a fictional character. (Ashley RPs on Facebook and has a Luna Lovegood profile.) 

• OOC Out of Character, when a role player steps out of character in order to converse with other role players. 

• Drabble a 100 word excerpt of a story or RP. 

• One Shot a single-chapter fan fiction story. 

Books, shows and movies that seem to be the most prone to ship wars are those that feature a prominent love triangle. For example, the very popular 90s teen drama, “Dawson’s Creek” centered on a love triangle that involved the main character Joey (Katie Holmes) debating between the two boys, Dawson and Pacey. In the end, it “canon” that Joey chooses Pacey, though some fans still insist that she was meant to be with Dawson. While Dawson’s Creek was not the first teen drama on television, it was certainly defining, and the WB (now the CW) has been shaping most of their shows around it ever since. In fact, their long running show “One Tree Hill” also features a very strong love triangle (the object of the conflict, Lucas, is played by Chad Michael Murray) and premise of “The Vampire Diaries” is that of a human girl trapped between the affections of two vampire brothers. 

“The Vampire Diaries” is one of TVs newer shows, (it is currently approaching the middle of its third season) and has prompted what could be argued to be the subject of the internet’s most heated ship wars. In fact, writers Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson both reported receiving death threats via Twitter after two of the shows main characters, Damon and Elena, shared their first kiss. Apparently, Stefan fans were not too pleased about the couple’s canoodling.

The original vamp fandom, and easily the most popular, came about in the 1997 with Joss Whedon’s “Buffy: the Vampire Slayer.” Since the show’s inception, it has spawned two reasonably passionate ships (Bangel and Spuffy), a graphic novel series, and a loyal cult following. “Buffy” has been regarded by many as the show that started the Fan Fiction craze, and nine years after the show’s end, still holds the third spot (after “Glee” and “Supernatural”) of most Fan Fiction stories on Fanfiction.net.

According the Bryan Station junior and Tumblr blogger, Felicia Laks, fan fiction has an unfortunately negative connotation as a result of a lot of the sexually explicit content that can be found in some of the stories. Still, she defends fan fiction stating, “The best part about it is being able to take established characters that everyone loves and coming up with your own ending for them. Or maybe it's just the start. The options are limitless.”

Suprisingly, shipping has extended to the most unexpected of places: video games, children’s books, comics, and even reality. Fans root for their favorite band members and actors to begin relationships (move over Brangelina). Fans of the new boy band “One Direction” have begun a rampageous ship war involving members Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson (dubbed Larry Stylinson), and the boys take advantage of it, teasing the crowd with flirty glances during concerts.

Of course, it is very easy to accuse writers, producers and managers of manipulation for capital gain, but then again, it could very well be that they are the biggest shippers of them all. Ryan Murphy, the creator of “Glee,” is known for his personal affection for the gay couple on his show, Blaine and Kurt (dubbed Klaine) stating, “I think what it says to a lot of young gay people who are confused and ashamed is that you can get love and are worthy of love.”

Laks adds as a reminder, however, that getting emotionally involved with fictional characters is as old as popular literature stating, “if you go back to when Sherlock Holmes was being written, Doyle tried to end it by killing off Sherlock, but so many fans wrote to Doyle that he resurrected his hero. People have always been passionate about characters.”