The last section should have been titled “Why Do People Watch It?” because I finished the article still wondering.

VTubers separate the actor and the on-screen character, which is good for both the actor and the audience.

Audiences tend to be young (because, in general, they have the free time), and some struggle to distinguish the two, leading to strange parasocial interactions where audiences believe there is an actual relationship between them and the streamer. Some streamers are good at leveraging this relationship for money and clout; at the extreme example, there is OnlyFans.

At the worst, this fake one-sided relationship can lead to stalking and murder, but even lessor forms such as constant rumors over relationship status or sexualized screenshots can take its toll. VTubers reduce or eliminate this from audiences, but their use also helps the streamer since the VTuber is obviously a character they play, it is not them as a person.

This is not different than how some people obsess over actors, musicians, sports players, or models.

That's a bigger question, like why do people watch streamers in the first place. It's not for me personally but it's a huge worldwide multibillion industry so plenty of people enjoy it and / or aspire to be it.

I watch a few indie vtubers (and was a fan of idol corp before they got sold off and their first english gen left). I like the streamers and would watch them regardless of what they look like in meatspace

I also wondered this before I ever saw any. There is a gradient from someone streaming with no cam, then a non-human vtuber, then human vtuber and finally a real human.

The simplest answer is probably that we all have our likes and dislikes, but personally for me I fall inbetween the non-human and vtuber section. If they stream permanently as e.g. a fish I find it too odd, whereas apparently my brain is perfectly happy seeing any kind of expressive humanoid that I can link to the speaking person.

If they have no cam then its just a voice over which feels too impersonal for the streaming space, which I don't like.

I would rather flip the question. Why not?

If you watch streamers, there are going to be Vtubers on the same platform recommended to you.

Are you going to discard/ignore those streams because the streamer is more privacy concious and doesn't show their face, and instead uses an avatar?

Loneliness, as far as I can tell.

I enjoy a handful of streamers for a few reasons:

* I get to experience games I wouldn't normally have time for: I work full time, and as much as I love games and always make time for them, I still have a finite amount of time to make and a solid chunk of that time has to be devoted to multiplayer games, since it's a big part of how I meet my social needs. And even then, some games that are quite fun to watch for me are games I don't necessarily want to play? Like I love watching people play things like Lethal Company, but I don't have a friend-group to play with, so a streamer is great for that. Also horror games usually have really interesting worlds, but uh... I am a chicken shit LOL

* It also broadens the number of games I'm exposed to quite a bit. Many a time I have tuned into a stream, watched it for awhile, and been like "okay this actually looks really good/fun/interesting" and turned off the stream to go buy it on Steam. I've just bought Claire Obscur because I initially thought it was Yet Another Damn JRPG (objective 1: go to class, final objective: kill god) but I was thoroughly incorrect, and corrected by watching some streamers and an essay on it, and I'm really excited to play it now.

* Additionally, a wild third option: sometimes it's nice when working remotely to have a stream on for background noise. It hits your brain in a way that's vaguely similar to hanging out with a friend when you're both doing completely different things and just... existing together. It's completely fake of course, the streamer has no idea who I am, but it doesn't need to make sense to feel nice to my brain.

Same reason people watch any streamers; they either enjoy the streamer's personality, the games they play, or both.

For a lot of people, it's basically like watching one of your friends play a game you enjoy, and a way to become part of a community of others interested in the same thing.

Meanwhile in other cases it's a matter of just not having the time/energy/skill to play the games they're covering, but being interested in seeing how they pan out. For example, I often watch people play extremely difficult mods of games like Super Mario World, Super Mario 64 and New Super Mario Bros Wii. Yes, I could easily go ahead and do the same thing, and I do play mods of those games which are a lot easier...

But I find a good player's experience of these games fun to watch, and don't feel like spending hours on every level trying to match that myself.

People will make up a million different reasons, but at the end of the day, the vast majority of vtuber viewers are single men who like to pretend the streamer is their (girl)friend.

Oh I can answer this! I watch quite a lot of VTubers, almost all of them from the Hololive brand and a few indies. I don't watch regular streamers anymore.

- The most succinct way I can describe it is it has some overlap with the appeal of the anime/manga subculture in the West. Imagine a character in an anime has a "soul" imbued in them and they talk for hours on YouTube about a brand of ketchup they like and all the specific reasons why they like that brand. Depending on the topic, it's hard for some to get enough of that sort of thing. You feel a sense of (parasocial) connection to the streamer as you get to learn more about them in these hyperspecific ways over the years, in a way that a static, deliberately constructed medium such as anime or manga cannot express. Accumulated personal knowledge of the streamer is the social currency of VTuber fans, and by extension fans of real-life idols, as it can only be gained by watching and following them for a long time. I would recommend the book Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture for an academic perspective of real-life idols, since many of the concepts overlap with Japanese corporate VTubers.

- Many anime/manga franchises and brands like Vocaloid have historically appealed to a need of emotional connection in the past with things like character goods, but VTubers interact directly with their audience so the effect is much more pronounced. It is like those characters are actually speaking to you for once (though usually they aren't speaking to anyone in particular). Plus they talk about their own favorite anime, manga and games. This is very appealing to some.

- An added benefit to watching VTubers that are part of a corporation is you get to see them interact regularly with the other members, which becomes a large part of the appeal. It makes it feel as if you're watching one cohesive group of friendly individuals, and you can also switch between watching different members if you feel like it/the schedules overlap.

- I don't know about regular streamers, but with VTubers it's a surprisingly social activity. People are encouraged to create art and post it on the hashtags of each streamer, so watching streams is a wellspring of motivation for creative types. A lot of the things depicted in that art would be unusual or weird if they were drawn for real-life streamers IMO, but in the VTubing sphere it is seen differently. I would say the vast majority of VTubers aren't insulted if you post something explicit of them so long as you keep it off of the offical channels. They will just ignore it and carry on. There is something to be said about this in a culture that some might say is becoming more and more puritanical.

- The fan communities are niche but very devoted. The people I've met through them have helped me in a lot of ways, and I have also managed to give back as well. Being a fan gives you a sense of identity. Meeting with a fan that watches the same streamer instantly gives us a lot things to talk about. Multiple people I met at in person events have described the community as "home" to them, maybe same as football fans are with a favorite team. People wear the liveries of their favorite streamer or cosplay and group together for large gatherings or do online fan activities. I'm not aware of an equivalent for someone like Asmongold!

- In Hololive's case, it is a truly apolitical streaming experience, I believe one of the few that exists with their level of popularity. I watch VTubers to shut out the chaos and cynicism of the rest of the world. You can depend on Hololive for this anti-cynicism bubble because they have stringent rules that politics or inflammatory topics are off-limits. Instead of feeling that it's restrictive, I would say it's a breath of fresh air. But in addition, the VTubers themselves are just fun to watch. Reading the interactions they have with each other online is one of the few times I get the "old web" feeling that has mostly vanished from modern social media. It is a precious feeling and I end up wanting to protect and cultivate it.

- With Hololive in particular, it's hard to describe but after watching for a while you get a "feeling" for what brand identity the management is trying to build, and that identity appeals to me. It is built on some level of restrictions on topics/activities (permission to steam certain games being one example) but the trade-off is the amount of resources thrown at each VTuber means they are freer to be themselves within those limitations and they don't have to act outrageous all the time to get attention, since the company takes care of promotions and reach. This one is big for me. I disagree with the article's notion that "eccentric", "expressive" and "weirder" necessarily contributes to a more appealing stream environment. A lot of those things mean being loud and attention-grabbing if you're an indie with no support to stand out in the overcrowded market, which quickly loses its appeal to me.

- Being a fan gives me an excuse to feel like a child again, without the feeling of being perceived as weird or a loner. I think this is common to a lot of hobbies. I can carry around a plushie of a VTuber I like in public and people have randomly come up to me an said "oh! Is that ______?" and we can hold a sustained conversation for like half an hour.

Wanting a sense of togetherness is why I keep returning. True, it is an experience based on a false sense of connection with the streamer, but I have made a lot of real friends in the hobby and we talk regularly.