>>73094751>>73095671Weird. I take nearly the inverse stance, but arrive at the same conclusion.
In my eyes, ALL streamers and audiences are parasocial. Our caveman brains are very objectively experiencing a new form of social behavior, and deriving extremely important brain chemicals from it that we're not getting elsewhere. It's an absolute cope to say that we're not, or that it's only a romantic/sexual phenomenon. We are a social mammals, end of story.
Since PewDiePie and even earlier, the most successful Let's Players and streamers have been the ones who make you feel like you're just hanging with the boys, and above all, that you're welcome and included in what they're doing. Even if your part is small, you're part of a tribe that values your presence. That's why fan names carry such cultural weight, even though at the surface level they're just kayfabe fluff.
There's no way it's a mere coincidence for this medium to explode like it has in parallel with the loneliness epidemic. For many, many reasons beyond the scope of this already long-ass post, the cost of friendships and romance is too damn high. Most people's brains can't do without those without becoming sick. And for the rare people who really can safely do without them, it's still far, far better to have them. Streamers in general are surrogate friends for filling those needs. The streamers are in the same boat as the audience, but just happen to be the creative people, who have slightly different needs.
Something that non-creative people often don't realize is that for creative people, creativity isn't a choice. They might choose WHEN to create, but not when they have ideas, and they actually need to create things to be psychologically healthy. Therefore, the social need being met for them, in addition to the same ones as the audience, is acknowledgement and praise of their creative passion, which is usually extremely thankless work, met with apathy and exactly Zero ($0.00 USD) profit for the massive amount of time and effort invested. It's a great way to spend your life feeling useless and unwanted if you don't Make It, which most artists never do. Streamers are arguably more trapped in this cycle more than anyone else for that reason, even ignoring the ones whose livelihoods are dependent on it.
The current model of streamer content looks to me like a new payment model for human interaction. That probably sounds sinister, and it has plenty of potential to be, but isn't inherently. It's more like mass production finding a way to put cheaper versions of products into the hands of the masses. Prior to the Model T, cars weren't ubiquitous, despite demand. We've now hit a point where human contact isn't ubiquitous, despite an even greater demand.
The maximum possible benefits of this sort of relationship are much smaller, but so is the cost of entry, both in terms of real dollar amounts, and in things like, personal responsibility, emotional availability, and accountability. But beggars can't be choosers, and it's the only one most people can afford. You can't afford a Ferrari, either. Some whales can, in terms of dollar amounts, but usually can't afford the social cost.
Unfortunately, this is a sort of F2P, Freemium, or Live Service model. And we've seen how well those have gone for video games. Imagine how much worse it can still get when applied to human contact, as more of the sociopathic and lowest-common-denominator streamers start thinking about it this way. I'm 99% sure Twitch and big tech in general already knows and is built with it in mind.
All of this is a crutch for a problem that shouldn't exist. It can be fixed, but it's going to get worse before it gets better. But despite knowing that grim reality and probable future, I am human, and therefore not an exception. So yes, I do miss my oshi, and I miss my own audience. I am parasocial, and so are you. But not nearly as much as we're going to be.
>Captcha: VT VRHopefully not a prediction.
