A thought on the upper half of the meme: those “fans” sound like creeps with a fetish.
Streaming is just acting for a digital audience. If someone is going to be so upset over the identity of the streamer outside of their streaming persona, they are unhealthily invested in that person’s life.
Edit: I’m not surprised about the downvotes, but I am disappointed. This isn’t very different than followers on Twitch getting pissy when they find out their favorite gamer girl streamer actually has a boyfriend, and I’m sure most of you would agree that those people are creepy, obsessive, and fetishising women gamers.
When people engage with content, they have expectations going in - they expect to know if the content is fictional, truthful, or intentionally ambiguous.
For example, if someone watches a documentary and finds out it was all made up, they’d be right to be upset, because it presents itself as honest.
Likewise if someone watches a fantasy movie, they don’t have the expectation of honesty.
And if someone watches something like the Blair witch project, they go in knowing that it’s dubiously truthful. It’s a bit of a grey area because the deceit is part of the art.
Streaming is similar, vtubers are obviously fictional - nobody really has expectations around what they’re really like.
But if someone builds a following around being authentically themselves, and then it’s discovered that they’re lying about significant parts of their content, I can understand some degree of outrage.
I don’t really watch streamers because the dynamic between streamers and viewers seems toxic AF, where streamers are kinda forced to pander and appear personable… But I still understand being upset when you find out what you got isn’t what you were sold
One of the main advantages that streaming has over other forms of entertainment is that it does create a sort of relationship between the streamer and the viewer. Generally the viewer knows that the streamer isn’t really his friend, but the viewer does feel a sort of human connection to the streamer which relies on the assumption that the streamer is being authentic.
I’ll be frank: if I watch streamer content, it’s because I’m feeling lonely and watching it is a little like hanging out with a friend. Obviously it’s not the same because it’s almost entirely a one-way interaction and I know that the streamer is deliberately creating entertainment as opposed to doing what he’s doing purely for its own sake, but I would be disappointed if I discovered that a streamer’s whole identity was made up.
I like watching stream highlights, occasionally I’ll watch one live. But they’re generally pretty boring, even as background noise - they’re on there for hours at a time
I don’t think the relationship itself is bad, but it’s a relationship between you (massively plural) and an individual. It’s like being part of a crowd. I get that people like it, but I don’t get much out of it
A thought on the upper half of the meme: those “fans” sound like creeps with a fetish.
Streaming is just acting for a digital audience. If someone is going to be so upset over the identity of the streamer outside of their streaming persona, they are unhealthily invested in that person’s life.
Edit: I’m not surprised about the downvotes, but I am disappointed. This isn’t very different than followers on Twitch getting pissy when they find out their favorite gamer girl streamer actually has a boyfriend, and I’m sure most of you would agree that those people are creepy, obsessive, and fetishising women gamers.
I mean… I can see it both ways.
When people engage with content, they have expectations going in - they expect to know if the content is fictional, truthful, or intentionally ambiguous.
For example, if someone watches a documentary and finds out it was all made up, they’d be right to be upset, because it presents itself as honest.
Likewise if someone watches a fantasy movie, they don’t have the expectation of honesty.
And if someone watches something like the Blair witch project, they go in knowing that it’s dubiously truthful. It’s a bit of a grey area because the deceit is part of the art.
Streaming is similar, vtubers are obviously fictional - nobody really has expectations around what they’re really like.
But if someone builds a following around being authentically themselves, and then it’s discovered that they’re lying about significant parts of their content, I can understand some degree of outrage.
I don’t really watch streamers because the dynamic between streamers and viewers seems toxic AF, where streamers are kinda forced to pander and appear personable… But I still understand being upset when you find out what you got isn’t what you were sold
She’s stealing the identity of a marginalized minority, I say she didn’t get enough hate, this was an old case, the meme is just being recycled.
Why yes, I do watch femboy streams. How could you tell?
One of the main advantages that streaming has over other forms of entertainment is that it does create a sort of relationship between the streamer and the viewer. Generally the viewer knows that the streamer isn’t really his friend, but the viewer does feel a sort of human connection to the streamer which relies on the assumption that the streamer is being authentic.
I’ll be frank: if I watch streamer content, it’s because I’m feeling lonely and watching it is a little like hanging out with a friend. Obviously it’s not the same because it’s almost entirely a one-way interaction and I know that the streamer is deliberately creating entertainment as opposed to doing what he’s doing purely for its own sake, but I would be disappointed if I discovered that a streamer’s whole identity was made up.
This relationship thing is why I avoid streaming, just feels like propaganda eventually it affects you even if you know it can happen
I like watching stream highlights, occasionally I’ll watch one live. But they’re generally pretty boring, even as background noise - they’re on there for hours at a time
I don’t think the relationship itself is bad, but it’s a relationship between you (massively plural) and an individual. It’s like being part of a crowd. I get that people like it, but I don’t get much out of it
I think people would be upset that the streamer felt the need to lie in the first place