I've noticed a certain mindset amongst some young writers and roleplayers. To be sure, I'm not entirely certain whether these traits are merely a 'teenager thing' or whether they're actually possibly a disorder. (Although if they didn't start to grow out of them by the age of 18, I'd definitely suspect a disorder.)
Many of the traits they exhibit are reminiscent of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, hence the world "Narcisslet." It wouldn't surprise me if some of them are budding narcissists.
Without further preamble, I shall continue on.
When writing 'fanfiction,' they will sometimes re-write an entire story, adding the presense of a self-insertion. Sometimes, they'll add their friends into the story as well. Yet if you dare sully their fandom by any other means, such as by crossover or parody, they are disgusted that you would consider such a thing, because it's "not right." By extension, if you try to deviate from the genres and boundaries in their minds, it's virtually blasphemy - that is, unless a major company releases a medium that does it first. If they saw it on TV, in theater, in a book, or in a video game, it's clearly Something Cool; if not, it's worthless and/or stupid.
If you present one whom you know with your own creative material, you can expect they won't give it two glances unless it conforms to what they already consider 'cool.'
They treat their fandoms like precious gems, guarding them jealously and allowing no-one else to touch or tarnish them, yet at the same time twisting, manipulating, and disfiguring the fandom to suit his or her own whims and fantasies. (This is different from a parody or 're-imagining'/alternate universe in that the narcisslet's alterations of the fandom are selfish and egocentric.) The same goes for characters therein; they are entitled to portray or fantasize the characters in ways contrary to their canon wont, yet if you even suggest that you are attracted to a character to which they are also attracted, they will declare that the character is 'mine!' They are so selfish that they are unwilling to share even 'intellectual property,' so to speak.
They are incapable of creating anything new; the closest they can invent is a strange and often clumsy mishmash from materials they already admire. These worlds and the situations therein rarely follow any logical order whatsoever, but instead embody what they perceive as poignant, dramatic, exciting, and appealing. The characters that inhabit them are either thinly-veiled versions of themselves or other characters they like.
Because they take things for granted that do not directly concern them, the worlds they invent do not exist beyond what directly affects their character and their character's interests. Even the slightest insight into things such as commerce (unless it directly affects the character - EG, the price of a sword the character will purchase), agriculture, and day-to-day living seems to be either beyond their grasp or not worth their attention.
The characters they create are incabable of doing any wrong - or at least wrong with any consequences. When it all comes down, it will be shown that the character had the right intentions and was therefore justified in his or her actions. In collaborative storytelling/roleplaying, a character's player will honestly expect that once this is discovered by the other characters, they will automatically forgive and sympathize with this character, no matter how questionable or unethical the methods they previously used were. If they are writing the story, other characters who do not like their lead character are either villains or have yet to 'see the light.'
This also applies to themselves as well; if you bring a trait you find undesirable to their attention, they will blame it on someone else. "Everyone/someone else does it!" and "I learned it from someone else!" are common excuses. If you are criticizing a character, they will try to excuse the character's actions by pointing out events in his or her (absurdly) tragic background.
A lack of empathy seems to be predominant - although their characters can make a show of faking it. In collaborative storytelling, they will make ostentatious displays of showing kindness to other peoples' characters, but usually only the ones the writer really cares about - and 'really cares about' usually means 'has the hots for.'
Their characters will slay dozens, if not hundreds of armed forces, the writer being blissfully unaware (or choosing to ignore) that in real life, soldiers and other armed forces have friends, family, and even children of their own.
They see in black-and-white; those in the armies of the enemy are clearly evil drones, rather than being ordinary people paid or conscripted by a corrupt leader to serve as military and lead relatively ordinary lives somewhere else when not otherwise occupied in battle. Being loyal to the enemy apparently means that they are incapable of being otherwise kind, honest, decent people.
Much as the narcissist falls in love with an idealized, static self-image, the narcisslet writer seems to fall in love with a static image of the characters he or she creates. For a character to change hair or clothing is out of the question; somewhere in the mind of the writer it would shatter the character completely.
Although they will sometimes patch together an original character design, they will often as not model their character upon another, using characters from other media to represent the appearance of their own character. While I would not consider using another character to provide a quick visual reference as a sign of "narcissletism," it's the refusal to deviate away from the static image the writer/player has chosen to represent the character's appearance that's the problem.
And in closing, the question remains: is this merely a phase to be outgrown, or are these the warning signs of worse problems ahead?
-S