>>102556659Uhm...nope.
Telling viewers they are not friends is just bringing delusional people back to earth with some base logic.
I remember Astel saying the exact same thing on stream, and I've been saying for years how it was absolutely agreeable.
You should NEVER get parasocial period, it's stupid. These Vtubers have THOUSANDS of viewers, and you know jack shit about them IRL. Yeah, even the doxxed ones. You know how they look IRL, big deal, it's not like you talked with them in person for years. You know nothing about their real personality and habits.
The sane thing is to consider them just acquaintances. Not friends, not complete strangers, acquaintances.
Like someone you see everyday in the office or the waiter at the restaurant you chat briefly with everytime you go there to eat.
Someone you know and vaguely care about because you like them and will miss if one day they leave the job, but not someone you are friends with.
You don't pay for friendship, you give tips to a waiter. Friends are a different thing.
The only thing I think she did wrong, and I can't argue with OP about it, is not telling people right away after going indie and selling them plenty of merch instead.
I'll give her the benefit of doubt in that it may not have been intentional and it may just bad timing because she was conflicted about sayng it or not, IDK, but at the very least it LOOKS bad.
