>>17890807>>17889621Pretty much. There's no way people would donate in such quantities if they weren't emotionally manipulated into doing so, and pretending like the streamer has no part in this is disingenuous. It's an open secret that nobody wants to discuss because it would bring up some uncomfortable truths about the business model, and the situation of the people involved. (Nobody wants to admit if they're lonely, sad and desperate for affection. They'd rather lie to themselves that they're donating with a more wholesome motive.)
It's all good as long as everyone are consenting adults of course, but the streamer needs to keep up their part of the deal by avoiding the topic entirely, instead of only avoiding it when it benefits them.
The entire social contract of vtubers is based around maintaining this pleasant illusion. If you break it, the audience will react poorly. Vtubers who accept this do well, but many vtubers either don't realize, or deliberately try to subvert this. And that's worthy of criticism.
The same could also be said for the audience. Some sincerely haven't thought of any of this, or are simply in denial. They've convinced themselves that they shouldn't demand anything at all from the streamer. This is also worthy of criticism, because they're ruining it for everyone else by making this unethical behavior easier to get away with. (Despite it not even benefiting themselves. It's basically stockholm syndrome.)
Nobody expects vtubers to not have a private life of their own. They can do whatever they want in their own time. The problem only arises if they let that bleed into their job. It really shouldn't be that hard.
