Forum - View topicWaifu Watching: What I've Learned from Joining a VTuber's Pack
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CheesingTheSplit
Posts: 1 |
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I'm happy for you, and I'm sorry for your loss. I created an account just to leave this comment after following this site for 10+ years.
I've always felt a little skeptical about the merging of the anime machine with parasocial relationships, but from your story I see even that it can be a force for good. Anime and video games have always been what connected me to others like me. It was anime like Lucky Star and Haruhi that made me realize I was an otaku and inspired me to start my own anime club in the 9th grade. I think this shows the power of culture and community, it has a psychophysical way of bringing like-people together, a gravitational pull sort of speak. As a creator, I hope to be a force for good as I begin my foray into Vtuber design. You all have a excellent day. 
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Asterisk-CGY
 Posts: 398 |
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Silvervale's great. I end up catching more Zentreya and Ironmouse based on my viewing schedule, but I'm also just deep into watching everyone at the moment. But I'm also mostly enjoying things in a more general chat who've been a bigger follow on NIjisanji and Hololive folks.
Could I interest you in the great Rosemi-sama? |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2262 Location: Online Terminal |
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Knowing enough info about the Japanese entertainment industry (as well as coming from Vocaloid fandom) I still kinda keep things like hololive at arm's length, and there are almost certainly circles that are not as conscientious as Silver looks to be. (For full disclosure, I am only in a couple of streamer communities, and the 1 VTuber I follow I knew as an artist and cat parent first before they decided to Tube.) That being said, humans are pack animals and parasocial relationships have likely been around in some form for as long as there has been ways to communicate. What's key is fostering a community based on love and acceptance, which is something that is sorely lacking on the Internet and in nerd/fan culture spaces in particular. Now that there's a level of mainstream acceptance of "the culture" and a generation of nerds have grown up into adults with agency, it is incumbent on me and my fellow olds to provide the spaces needed (and didn't have before) for the next generation to shine even brighter. I guess this is all to say that VTubing is okay when done responsibly? And that the real key is to find a community, whether it's through a talking moving picture or otherwise? |
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CelticMutt
Posts: 63 |
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I've watched some Silvervale by proxy because she occasionally does Among Us and even a session of Code Names with a bunch of other streamers I watch (mostly the crowd involving ChilledChaos, Aplatypuss, Kara Corvus, Jeremy & Kat Dooley, etc.), and she's been great fun in those sessions.
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v1cious
 Posts: 6203 Location: Houston, TX |
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I prefer Nyan and Ironmouse, but Silver makes good content. Her streams with her mom are the best: https://youtu.be/ZOZqTCnRoMc
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LinkTSwordmaster
 Posts: 382 Location: PA / USA |
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There's some legitimately cool stuff. Bunny_gif as been playing Banjo Kazooie as of late and it's some very enjoyable classic gaming time, as I believe she's going into the game blind. Seeing her reactions to all of the ups and downs and surprises in the game that most folks that played it back on the N64 already are anticipating, has been fun, especially since her character is well-animated and the expressions are mapped to her own IRL face via camera app.
The parasocial element can slide pretty toxic pretty fast though. It's important to follow Twitch streams in moderation, maybe keep tabs on how much chatting or how often you're participating so you don't go overboard. Read up on social boundaries, try to remember the fact that you cant run up onto a stage during a Broadway play and hang out with the actors in the middle of the show, but sometimes participating from the audience is welcomed as part of the experience. Once everyone is in VR, I think the VTubing scene is only going to be getting more & more intense over the next decade. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4088 |
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For starters, don't think that; All streamers play characters to a certain extent. I know the real names of a number of streamers but it's rude to use it when you don't know them. That's the baseline for V-Tubers and it goes up to taking on an entire character but it never reaches the level as say Jim Henson's muppets where the puppeteer gets taken aback if you break the illusion of their performance. V-tubers are live streamers and they know things go wrong. It's a person, that's all you need to know and react to. Then there's the identity of one particular V-Tuber who's real name and face is the worst kept secret in the industry but it's all in good fun. Except when it's not. |
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1213 |
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This is super important and can't be stated enough. I was watching a few last year(one or two still, albeit infrequently), and with the smaller-view ones, yeah, it feels good if someone calls out your username or answers questions you've asked, and there is a feeling-of-missing-out if you can't make a stream. But at the end of the day, these people are strangers creating and selling content to you, the consumer(and even if you're not paying with currency, you're giving them your time). Even more-so with the really big name folks, where you're just a drop in a bucket of thousands. This becomes more obvious when the streamer is successful enough to be selling you a brand, with merch, product partnerships, and continuous talk of viewer counts, etc. Moderation is key. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11378 |
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This was an interesting read but not at all my jam, so I know nothing about it. Which is why I'm puzzled by this construction: "Silvervale is a VTubers currently signed..." The phrase "a VTubers" is used 4 times in the article (one of which is unclear whether it's intended to be singular or plural), so it doesn't seem like a typo? Since the first use was "the debut of Projekt Melody (sic), a VTubers who focused on adult streams," I thought maybe the "a" was short for "adult," but since it still sounds like Silvervale is one person, I would expect her to be described as "an a VTuber." Also not sure if Projekt Melody is one or more people. Saying "Melody retweeted" suggests one person, as does calling Projekt Melody "her colleague and friend," but maybe that's just shorthand?
Do you understand my confusion? What is the accepted style guide on describing one or more video personalities in this genre? |
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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All of those seem to have been changed to "a Vtuber," so I guess they were typos after all. Vtubers aren't fundamentally different from webcam or voice-only streamers; they serve as a sort of middle ground between the two--providing (most of) the expressiveness of displaying the streamer's face while concealing their identity and appearance. The most popular ones are run by agencies who use them as "influencers," with many of their streams sponsored by the video game they're playing and/or some other product. But many smaller indie streamers and just-for-fun streamers have also started using animated anime avatars, partly for the trendiness and partly because showing your real face on-stream can be risky, especially for women. Likely part of the reason most vtubers are female. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11378 |
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Ah, well, ok then, that answers that question!
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Uokel
Posts: 94 |
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Man after all the drama the Vshojo girls and especially people like Silvervale have done I just had to completely stay away from them and look towards other vtubers.
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Asterisk-CGY
Posts: 398 |
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Meh in the end they all reconciled and nothing more is with it. |
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Dalek-baka
Posts: 42 |
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I've tried Twitch VT but they don't really work for me - YT feels like better outlet, it's easier to watch offline, chat can be hidden and those stream are slightly shorter (or so I think). For me biggest joy right now is great reaction to Luxiem, first wave of male livers in NIjisanji. They are all very entertaining to watch and I love how well they fit with existing members - out of nowhere rivalry of Luca and Pomu is a delight, Vox and Reimu bickering is a joy. But to be fair, Global market was ripe for more of male livers so good on NIji for capitalizing on it. |
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5529 |
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[quote="Dalek-baka"]
I'll kindly disagree with this because there's literally thousands. They're just all small and ignored/hidden |
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