>>78326592Yes, and it's retarded. Not even vtubers, but the whole fucking streaming industry is built on parasocial relationships. So when it became trendy to scorn parasocial viewers, it was a strange phenomenon, as there seemed to be zero self awareness. You don't even need to be gfe or bfe to cater to parasocial shit. Simply interacting with chat will do it. Think about what the point of a chatting stream is. There is none besides letting chat see into your life more, or conversing with them more. Remembering regulars, making discords, doing shit your viewers tell you to do for money. All of this contributes. Streamers WANT their viewers to care about them, at least to a certain degree, and they're 100% lying if they say otherwise.
It's even dumber if they do actually engage in gfe or bfe shit, even jokingly, and then act surprised when their viewers reach that level of parasocial.
The trend of calling out parasocial relationships has by far been the most retarded development with the western vtuber industry.
