My friends were complaining about trans people getting Pikamee cancelled. They were saying how Pikamee is the next big thing. What the hell are they talking about Jesse? :jesse-wtf:
My friends were complaining about trans people getting Pikamee cancelled. They were saying how Pikamee is the next big thing. What the hell are they talking about Jesse? :jesse-wtf:
I don't know anything about vtubers so I looked it up and read some articles and watched her video, and I still don't understand. Is this like a real person that uses software to make them look animated, or is it a company that designs a character and hires a voice actor, or is it AI generated? And if enough people are mean to them in the comments, they stop making videos forever and say that they "graduated"? Could the person behind Pikamee create a new character and continue making videos under a new persona, or could a different person make Pikamee videos? Is this more like The Waldo Moment Black Mirror episode or is it like Gorillaz?
Disclaimer: I do not watch vtubers.
It's a combination of these two. An actor (often already a streamer/entertainer of some sort) is hired by a company (there are also independent vtubers but Pikamee isn't one of those). The actor and company design a character for them to play on their streams. In theory, nobody knows who the actor is, though IIRC many have been figured out. Even so, most people ignore this, and only refer to the character.
"Graduating" is slang meaning they quit. This could be due to anything because the companies don't say what happens.
It's possible they might have some non-compete agreement or something so maybe, maybe not. Also note that there is substantial cost in getting a decent avatar (several thousand dollars).
Possible but unlikely. I think this happened once for one of the oldest vtubers and people flipped out (it's worth noting that vtuber fans are extremely online). Much more likely to just make a new character instead.
Everything old is new again
Volume warning. Surrealism warning. 1980s warning
There was a Max Headroom TV show episode that was downright prophetic in presenting the Singularity(tm) beliefs of modern techbros, especially of the "Rationalist" sort. It featured an "upload" heaven for the rich dead of the dystopian hellscape that was just computerized images of the rich dead smiling and saying how great the "upload" went, over and over again. :no-mouth-must-scream:
Sounds like yet another level of weebery obsessing about high school (or younger) with the implication that life ends after graduation. :pathetic:
From what my friend tells me it is like the Waldo Moment black mirror where a real person voices an animated character that goes along with their facial expressions and stuff. They're trying to tell me it's the next big thing and that no one knows about it, but it all sounds very online to me.
They use motion capture - cameras, IR sensors, whatever, to map their own facial movements to what is essentially a 3d puppet. It's like anime muppets that play video games.