Hello /vt/, board newfag here.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I've come to you in need of guidance.
I've started watching a lot of vtuber clips recently after actively avoiding them for a while. I've actually found a few that are really entertaining and I enjoy watching, but I've always treated them as nothing more than normal game streamers with the added bonus that you get to look at a cute animated character instead of some poor girl staring into a webcam with a fake smile like I'm stuck in some shitty work required Zoom meeting.
However, I'm starting to notice a trend.
A significant amount of my online frens have turned pretty much all of their time to nonstop posting about vtubers, ranting about their schedules not being consistent enough, bragging about their biggest superchats, dumping fanart of the characters during unrelated conversations, etc
I'm starting to get tired of it, and I don't know what to do.
I'm seeing so many of my longtime pals getting increasingly emotionally invested in them as well. They are spending pretty large amounts of money on donations, and I feel like if I even bring up anything slightly negative about some of the characters, they'd go ballistic. Some of them have even been sharing the more sexual paid content from the fantia/fanboxes of the IRL channels that some of these vtubers run on the side.
It's starting to affect my own enjoyment as I feel like too many of my friends are getting sucked into this unhealthy level of obsession.
These were the same people who laughed at people who simped for e-girl streamers not too long in the past.
What do?