>>19541889I don't think that vtubing is indistinguishable from idol culture, nor do all popular vtubers follow these rules, but I do think that they're much closer than a vocal minority of Western "fans" want to admit.
Essentially all streaming is about feeling like you're interacting with the fellow behind the screen, if not you might as well watch a let's play. Having a deep and meaningful interaction, something that makes individual viewers feel like the chuuba values and appreciates them is essential to the model.
I think that all good vtubers display:
>Idol-like gratitude to their fans and watchersThis is very, very important, nothing kills a vtuber faster than any inkling that she takes her fans for granted or even looks down on them. The truly delusional will stay, but the average viewer will move on, see Ina's plummeting popularity over the last year.
>Good vtubers will never have a boyfriend, nor while they have any interactions with males that aren't considered "safe." There's a reason that vtubers who always stream with a gaggle of male-hangers on never break double digits. RL streamers have their bfs and gfs on screen with them, or talk about couple-stuff vtubing fans don't want to hear a peak out of.
>Dedication to a persona Vtubers shouldn't make light of their avatar or her lore, even if she isn't meant to be a slave to her fictional bio, it displays a disregard something important to her fans, not to mention the product of an artist's hard work.
I could go on, but most of what makes them different is hard to put into words.
At the end of the day, I think the cardinal difference is that vtubers, unlike Western streamers from gamer girls to ewhores, aren't entitled. That's the core of the matter, they're free of that cloying, self-centred entitlement you get everywhere else on the internet. They're happy that you came to see their stream, they'll thank you for your donations and they do their best to live up to your expectations (instead of forcing you to kowtow to theirs.
