I agree with your sentiment, but everybody wants their own version of the story, which is why fanfiction is overwhelmingly incoherent and terrible. Nobody wants

I agree with your sentiment, but everybody wants their own version of the story, which is why fanfiction is overwhelmingly incoherent and terrible. Nobody wants to be challenged by anyone else's differing opinion. Like it or not, on-demand fanfiction is where we're headed. It's not impossible that a canonical version of a story might be published though, like a video game. There's a main story about you saving the world from nuclear disaster, but if you spend 600 hours trying to romance the barfly in the first tavern and never fulfill your role, well, that's your story about a lecherous loser in the land of the lounge lizards, man. This isn't anything new either; look at the Protestant Reformation. Everybody wanted a version of The Story that appealed to their own interests then too. Now you can pick a church whose ending you most prefer.