I've been curious about this board for a while, its pretty busy. I was wondering if someone could answer some questions and give me a summary of what a vtuber is? From what I kinda know, this stuff originated from Japan. And it's really popular - Futaba Channel has two boards for this stuff, and this one Chinese board I lurk has several vtuber threads per day. People create virtual personas, and put them on display. I guess I am having trouble understanding the appeal of it all. It seems no different than putting on a fursuit and living an "alt persona".

-When did vtubing start? I assume its a somewhat recent thing, since you didn't have the computer power / technology to make models and stream and such many years ago.
-What made the most popular ones, popular?
-Is the market now overcrowded?
-Is it mostly Japanese ones, with Western ones a very small slice of the pie?
-Can you make money from it?
-Is it all men pretending to be girls?
-What exactly do they do? Stream movies, play videogames, chat with fans? Perhaps this is where I really don't understand it - why watch someone else doing x thing? They are not even a real person, its a fake. Yet its so popular.
-How does a person even start creating a persona? Do they do it because they want attention from strangers? Do they seek out a more appealing version of themselves?

There are some cute designs out there, I will admit. But yeah, I don't mean any malice, I am just curious about /vt/.