The genealogy of containment fiction.

Containment fiction, sometimes shortened to “confic”, and also known as “collaborative fiction”, “anomaly fiction”, or “WikiDot fiction”, is an informal literary genre presented through the framework of documents and material from one or many organizations which describe said organization’s interactions and study of various scientific “anomalies”. Containment fiction is characterized by prescriptive, predominantly 3rd-person writing through the framework of the organization’s attempts to contain or suppress information of said anomalies. The genre often explores how humans react to a world where anomalies exist and are a regular part of life, as well as how anomalous entities react to humanity’s attempts to understand and contain them. Examples of containment fiction include SCP articles (such as SCP-173), RPC articles, as well as independent formats.

Various websites created for the organized production of containment fiction can differ greatly in execution. The ways in which these websites can differ include strictness of canon, emphasis on clinical tone, emphasis on the immersive qualities of containment fiction, and amount of control that staff members exert over the users. It should therefore not be assumed that two containment fiction websites are similar because they have a similar premise. (For more information on specific containment fiction communities, consult the Containment Fiction Communities and/or the Resources & Links page.)

If accepted as valid, variations of the term “containment fiction” can be used to describe up to 32 writing projects in conservative estimates,^[1]https://www.containmentfiction.net/wiki/resources-and-links/ and over 100 in less-conservative estimates.^[2]https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X49isWmwiNtSqaN98hNQ8u0Q_gzlw_QyH9EuYYv4vFs/htmlview#, archive Most containment fiction sites and projects that have existed have gone extinct.^[3]https://i0.wp.com/www.containmentfiction.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Splinter-chart-small.png?ssl=1

Content

Containment fiction consists of in-universe documents written for the benefit of the reader to help them navigate or avoid a specific extra-ordinary threat. This threat falls into a broader category of extra-ordinary threats (e.g. SCP-173 vs SCPs as a whole, or the Holder of the End vs The 538 Holders Objects).

The genre includes other works such as prosaic or epistolary short stories which depict containment fiction characters, objects, and phenomena, and that appear either within or alongside those documents as supplements. Websites created for the organized production of containment fiction will often also allow authors to write pieces in a containment fiction setting that are not considered containment fiction by many. These are typically called “Tales”.

Shared Attributes

Containment fiction projects and communities share a number of characteristics and qualities that lend themselves to being grouped together as a larger genre, including:

• Clinical Documentation – Most containment fiction communities and their liminal fiction derivates involve a bureaucratic approach to prose, existing in the form of informative and/or prescriptive documentation, and provide a template for said documentation, including components like numerical designations, object classes, threat levels, and description/procedure /supplemental sections.^[4]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/how-to-write-an-scp, “Templates”^[5]http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/templates^[6]http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/formatting-guide^[7]http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/formatting-guide^[8]http://ci-wiki.wikidot.com/personnel-guidebook, “Manual of Style” Most containment fiction communities focus on procedures and protocols in order to contain an anomalous object, entity, or location, while liminal fiction focus on survival and posterity for the sake of fellow in-universe explorers. Both focuses are prescriptive in nature, lending themselves to expository and descriptive prose with supportive documentation acting as the vehicle for narrative.
• Tales – all containment/liminal fiction communities feature more flexible modes of writing without the restrictions of the native format, whether that be a document, recording, narrative story or even poetry.^[9]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/foundation-tales^[10]http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/authority-tales^[11]http://ci-wiki.wikidot.com/system:page-tags/tag/tale^[12]http://ci-wiki.wikidot.com/system:page-tags/tag/tale^[13]http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/tales^[14]http://wayward.wikidot.com/tales-hub
• Overseers – most containment fiction projects that feature a containment organization have a power hierarchy, including upper-level administration or personnel with higher relative security clearances/knowledge that operate in some secrecy and makes executive decisions about the organization and its overarching goals.^[15]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/o5-command-dossier, https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/O5_Council^[16]http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/directorate, http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/security-clearance-levels^[17]http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/the-m-e-g^[18]http://wayward.wikidot.com/about:aboutus^[19]http://ci-wiki.wikidot.com/personnel-designations, “High Command”
• Redaction/expungement – most containment fiction projects feature document redaction, meant to build suspense and mystery in the formal nature of the presentation. (See dedicated article for examples.)
• Contests – most containment fiction communities host writing contests, often in order for a winning entry to assume a pre-selected numerical designation.^[20]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/contest-archive^[21]http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/misfortune2020-contest^[22]http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/contest-archive^[23]http://ci-wiki.wikidot.com/public-domain-day-2023^[24]http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/contests
• Rating modules – a feature of WikiDot, most containment fiction communities feature ratings for individual articles, tales, hubs, author pages, and etc pages. Some sites require the rating module to be standardized and in the top right of every page,^[25]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-sqrt-1-j, rev.26 while others allow for variety in its placement and presentation; for example hiding the rating module in a collapsible^[26]e.g. http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-279, http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-001-2 or placing it at the bottom of pages.^[27]e.g. http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/shaftway, http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/the-womb
• CC BY-SA 3.0 – Most containment fiction communities have their content released as Creative Commons By-Attribution, Share-Alike, whether 3.0 or 4.0.

History (Term)

The term “containment fiction” was coined by pixelatedHarmony. Depending on the relationship of an individual to the term “containment fiction”, the genre either began at that time (opponents), or much earlier, at the creation of SCP-173 (proponents). Advocates of the term often regard the genre to have definitively fractured out of a monopoly at the SCP Wiki during the June 2018 Pride Controversy.

The term “liminal fiction” was coined by Discord user DrKrim/Krim/Blackbird, to describe offshoots of containment fiction and its communities, such as Tech Support/The Backrooms, and Liminal Archives.

The terms “containment fiction” and “liminal fiction” are strongly associated with The Society for Containment Fiction.

Controversy

As with any genre, the boundaries of containment fiction are “fuzzy” and without definitive shape. This has since the origin of the term led to lengthy and frequent discussions as to the nature of the genre and the appropriate term to describe it, as well as inquiries into the ramifications of accepted definitions.^[28]https://www.conficmagazine.com/post/what-makes-a-confic-organization-a-confic-organization Most of this discussion takes place in the Society for Containment Fiction Discord server, though has been known to occur on Twitter and in other containment fiction community chat spaces.

Academic discussion concerning the term “containment fiction” primarily revolves around whether or not it is an appropriate term for the style represented by the SCP Wiki, the RPC Authority, Backrooms, Liminal Archives, and other collaborative writing projects which are largely based off of the WikiDot platform, and that feature thematic and originative continuity.

Alternative designations for the genre have included “anomaly fiction”, “anomalous fiction”, and “WikiDot fiction”.

Critics

Critics of the term “containment fiction” generally regard the attempt to formalize a genre of literature that describes the unique attributes and works of the target communities — SCP, RPC, the Backrooms, Liminal Archives and others — as a hostile effort; the result of a personal vendetta between proponents of the term and the SCP Wiki, and explicitly meant to supplant or disrupt the SCP Wiki’s pre-eminence in the space.

More technically, some critics note that the term “containment” does not always apply to its subject matter; for example in articles which do not successfully contain an anomaly, or that do not attempt to. Additionally, second-generation containment fiction, also called “Liminal Fiction” or “limfic”, does not share certain fundamental qualities to “containment” fiction proper, notably containment. Critics therefore argue that the term should not be used to describe the liminal fiction writing projects.^[29]https://archive.ph/ptFTg

The existence of tales is used by some critics of the genre to disqualify the use of “containment fiction” to refer to fiction posted to the SCP Wiki, RPC Authority, and communities of liminal fiction. The argument states that tales do not abide by any of the would-be defining attributes of the genre, and so render the effort to organize the larger movement in fiction by way of “containment” inaccurate.

Other critics have claimed that “confic” is a purely political, catch-all term to use to refer collectively to SCP Wiki forks and splinter communities, so that the derivates of the SCP Wiki can be spoken of in aggregate. To quote SCP Wiki Administrator aismallard, “The inventors of the term see themselves as like historians or objective observers of this invented landscape.”^[30]https://archive.ph/CYNzJ

Other criticism addresses the futility of grouping together communities that do not feature good inter-community relations or diplomacy.^[31]https://archive.ph/3NgNp This lack of good relations is largely attributable to group-based politics (or the perception of group-based political identity).

Proponents

Proponents of the term argue that, while “confic” is not a perfect descriptor, no genre tag is. It is argued that the term can be used pragmatically in an umbrella fashion to refer to what is an ostensibly recognizable, but otherwise nameless style of fiction that is evident, but difficult to categorize fully. The umbrella term “confic”, according to this argument, can be used to imperfectly refer to liminal fiction projects such as Backrooms and Liminal Archives as a heuristic, with edge cases being included as per a continuum.

Many proponents of the term concede the point that TS/Backrooms and Liminal Archives have technically evolved past what boundaries containment fiction can be spoken of having, making the term “containment fiction” somewhat of a misnomer. However, these often utilize the term “liminal fiction” as a way to recognize this distinction, yet communicate these communities’ topical and social proximity to “first-gen” containment fiction (SCP and RPC), a family resemblance between the two subgenres, overlap between user/author participation in each subgenre,  proximal thematic play,^[32]The Bathrooms Wiki – SCP Foundation (archive.ph) and a direct creative lineage between containment fiction and liminal fiction.^[33]The Backrooms Wiki – The Backrooms (archive.ph)

Liminal fiction may be described as a spiritual successor to containment fiction proper by proponents, in the same way containment fiction was to creepypasta or ritual pasta fiction. (See The Holders.) Limfic’s grouping with confic has been done naturally by multiple independent sources.^[34]e.g. https://archive.ph/CKuCk^[35]https://archive.ph/OuDxr#selection-1401.0-1415.38^[36]e.g. this Wiki Other proponents of the terms “containment fiction” and “liminal fiction” believe that what shared subject matter they have is sufficient to justify the latter as containment fiction, or at least, “containment-fiction adjacent.”

“Purist” proponents of the term “containment fiction” will also agree with general critics, and do not regard either tales or liminal fiction as proper containment fiction.

Proponents counter alternative designations for the genre. They argue that “anomaly fiction” is too broad and would necessarily include predecessor media (e.g. X-Files, Warehouse 23, etc), and that “WikiDot fiction” is too limited because, while primarily digitally-based on Wikis, there is no reason why the genre cannot or could not operate independent of Wiki platforms, or even in analog environments. Critics of “Wikific” argue that the cessation of Wiki platforms would not erase the genre, pointing to its prior existence in a more dispersed form, i.e. on 4chan’s /x/.

Trivia

pixelatedHarmony performed several interviews with prominent SCP authors, often asking them about containment procedures specifically. (See here.)

Some readers of containment fiction pass over the containment procedures entirely.^[37]e.g. https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-77170/scp-579#post-5731489^[38]https://www.containmentfiction.net/wiki/drclef-on-containment/