Current Events > The whole VTuber thing is so strange to me

(+) Yeah! (+)

They're literally just streamers, it's not that deep.

Count on Gobs to overcomplicate it.

And this of course, is the running theme of your account.

Like, I get that part. What I don't get is the like, parasocial obsession with the avatar itself. It's so lifeless and stilted.

I imagine sometimes the VTuber aspect is attractive to people who want to stream but are uncomfortable showing their own face. Streams generally do better if there is a "face" to associate with the streamer and a VTuber avatar helps with that.

I imagine sometimes the VTuber aspect is attractive to people who want to stream but are uncomfortable showing their own face. Streams generally do better if there is a "face" to associate with the streamer and a VTuber avatar helps with that.

The one part I don't fully get is the audience and their obsession with the avatar itself.

I write Naruto Fanfiction

the models themselves are so... weird.

The one part I don't fully get is the audience and their obsession with the avatar itself.

My guy they're just anime characters for the most part, are you high?

They're like...3D model CGI facsimiles of anime characters rigged to motion controls and weighted to an awkward default stance.

They're like...3D model CGI facsimiles of anime characters rigged to motion controls and weighted to an awkward default stance.

Like, yeah, maybe there are some that are way nicer than that, but all the ones I've seen that are "serious" VTubers are just so bizarre. It's some uncanny valley shit, like it's trying to be human but just can't quite do it.

are you against the tech implementation or the actual thing? do you even know

I think it's just the audience fervor that I don't get. Like, how they can watch this streamer (who is just a normal human being) and treat that streamer as if they actually are their character. The parasocial stuff just gets so meta at that point, like...there's some kind of serious disconnect between fantasy and reality when it comes to hardcore VTuber fans.

No different than any other streamer out there. I've fallen in with watching almost exclusively larger VTubers because most of them aren't part of the React/Drama circlejerk that most of the big streamers I see are.

idk. ive still never seen one before

i kinda want a vtube avatar of a disgusting brutish orc, Grog, and stream as him

u gotta admit that would be pretty badass

Check out the VTuber Randon, his older streams since he doesn't have a legit model again yet(Was indie, went corporate, left corporate and returned to his indie persona).
Not quite that, but the closest thing I can think.

I think it's just the audience fervor that I don't get. Like, how they can watch this streamer (who is just a normal human being) and treat that streamer as if they actually are their character. The parasocial stuff just gets so meta at that point, like...there's some kind of serious disconnect between fantasy and reality when it comes to hardcore VTuber fans.

What I find weird is the way virtual characters get sick, retire, etc. Isn't the benefit of using an avatar that anybody could be "behind the mask"?

I get somone being shy and wanting to hide behind and avatar, but I also feel like there's an increasing number of people that more and more living in a fantasy world. I don't think that's very healthy.

There's just an unhealthy mindset going around for whatever reason. If people had healthy ones in regards to streaming things like parasocialism wouldn't even exist.

Point being, I'm not sure what it's actually for

I can understand being camera shy and not wanting to show yourself.

What I don't understand is why people are so stupid that they treat these avatars like they're the person they're interacting with.

Also, every single vtuber or Twitch streamer with an virtual avatar that I've seen later got invited to stream on the GamesDoneQuick channel and showed their normal self, and they looked completely normal, or even on the attractive side, presented themselves normally, and in general had no reason to afraid of being on camera. Like, I'll be able to relate to seeing another person much more easily than a weird, animated avatar, and I've never seen bullying on Twitch that would even target these people. (I've seen occasional bullying or misconduct towards women, fat people, based on their opinions, based on race, etc., but the avatar would either not hide these, or they were not in a group that would be targeted to begin with. Point being, I'm not sure what it's actually for.)

Because they want too? Why is that so hard to understand? The biggest ones at Corporations like Hololive are re required not too. Indies often just don't bother hiding who they are behind the avatar.

There's just an unhealthy mindset going around for whatever reason. If people had healthy ones in regards to streaming things like parasocialism wouldn't even exist.

Very few actually think it.

It's just playing along, or having a gimmick, or accepting that whatever film star is just portraying something on screen, without actually being who they play.

I think for a large number of people this is true, but we all know how...interesting...people can be when they develop an obsession with a content creator/media personality. I just find it to be an incredibly interesting phenomenon.

I don't think the 0.001% of people are worth treating as more than a tiny minority, in any fandom tbh.

That is nothing unique to vtubers or even streamers though.

People have been parasocial obsessed with youtubers for ages now, and celebrities before them.

I don't think it's nearly that low.

Its been around roughly as long as civilization has.