parasocial doesn't apply to the vtuber. This term exclusively refers to the one way relationship between audience and performer, in one direction. People say their vtubers are "parasocial for chat" but this is just a cope to be able to say that their chuba is just like them fr fr.
The relationship between the streamer and chat (collectively) is peculiar and does often involve affection but it is NOT "parasocial". What the streamer feels for the viewer and what the viewer feels for the streamer couldn't be more different, the constraints are different, the power balance in these relationships is different, the whole framing is different.
Maybe someone should coin an actual term for what a streamer feels for their chat, because I haven't seen a proper one yet.
Yes I will continue to autistically and pedantically cling to an academic definition of a term even when everyone else has already moved on from it, forever.
