>>17562962I think the game examines two things - the effects of streaming culture, primarily on the streamer and not on the viewers as "faggot cuck game" posters wish it was, and on the effects of the internet on (mentally ill) women.
The former looks at the obsession with numberfaggotry, there are multiple bad ends with not getting monetized, not reaching 500k, not reaching 1M etc, even though 99.9% of streamers would be satisfied with 6 figures and steady income. The game prioritizes this by demanding that you continually stream and chain it day after day and unless you play the game to a tee, you're practically required to do a sexy or ASMR stream to succeed, meaning girls have to whore themselves out emotionally to achieve. There are multiple endings that are grounded in this, such as the endings where she becomes an extremely successful streamer while becoming delusional, or leaving you for a male streamer before becoming disillusioned.
The second is the focus on mental illness, which is honestly more important than the streamer elements, which are merely a modern set up for public visibility of a woman. You could substitute this game as a celebrity simulator to the same effect. The game really nails down accurate twitter and DMs from Ame from my experience, self-depciating, pathetic, ironic, and narcissistic. Her fame sinks her deeper and deeper into mental illness depending on what route you take, whether you become an unmedicated doxxed schizophrenic, or a deranged suicide cult-leader, or to hold hands with God. I've seen girls have 2 reactions to the character, often sequential or even at the same time, of empathizing with her and hating her, because she is a reflection of them. The more outward the girl rejects the heroine, the more they see themselves in her, without catching the irony. Sure, most Vtubers probably aren't OD'ing on benzoids and sleeping with old men in hotels, but they know when someone desperately DMs them or they have to put on a fake face at a bad time in their life, they're just like her. A girl's desperate need for approval and validation is what drives her and hurts her. The author is well versed in the concept of landmine girls who self-destruct themselves and those around them.
I've seen a lot of kneejerk reaction to this game saying that it's taking shots at vtubers or unicorn viewers, when that's not the case. The game uses streaming to take a straight shot at women and the way that social media enables the worst in them, and that hopefully one day, they can just walk away.
Thanks for coming to my talk.
