Materializing storyworld, battles of transmedia storytelling: Trans-fandom cultures of The King's Avatar on Chinese social media platform

Transmedia storytelling and the storyworld are intersubjective communicative constructs imagined and shaped collaboratively by multiple authors and readers, independent of any specific medium. However, social media have not only interconnected transmedia storytelling and its associated fandoms, forming a collective intelligence with a shared narrative worldview, but also given rise to a discourse shaped by platformized participation that introduces intricate and sometimes conflicting modes of engagement. This research examines the emerging constructs and practices of transmedia storytelling by analyzing the interactions and conflicts among three intersecting online fandoms related to the intellectual property of The King's Avatar ((sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)): fans of the original novel; fans of the television series based on the novel; and fans participating in self-organized role-playing games on social media platforms. We argue that within the Chinese digital context, the storyworld is not solely the outcome of collective or alternative narrative creation; it is also molded by complex transfandom interactions facilitated by the settings of social media platforms.