It's interesting to me that so many people can care so incredibly about the canon, what "actually happened", in a fictional universe -- myself included. But in actuality, these events never happened but we treat them as if they did. Why is it that we put so much emphasis on stories having continuity or real-world relevance?
Honestly, for me, I have certain hierarchies in which I care about the events in a story. The top tier, and the canon in which I care the most, is my personal canon. If a video game has particular choices that affect the story, whatever choices I made on my original playthrough are the choices that make up my personal canon. For example, in my personal canon for Mass Effect, my Shepherd is a Male, romances Jack, and if a certain character dies, they are unfortunately dead. My personal Canon takes precedence over any other.
The next tier would be "authorship canon". This is whatever the author deems as actually happening. If authorship canon conflicts with my personal canon, then I choose to align with my personal canon. For example, in KOTOR my character is Female but in the authorship canon, the main character is Male. In this case, I choose to disregard the author's choice in favor what was established in my personal canon.
Last, and lowest in the hierarchy, is other's personal canon or disregarded authorship canon. These consist of playthroughs from people other than myself, and canons that differ from my personal canon but are no longer considered canon by the author. For example, if Jim played Mass Effect, was a girl, and sexed up Liara -- or if an author wants to abandon a certain work in a franchise in favor of a new one (aka Retcon).
Anyway, what are you personal thoughts on Canon? Do you care at all? At what level do you care?