As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
[VTuber] thread: Streaming on the internet, you really can be a dog.
MrBlarney
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
What are VTubers?
VTubers are online streamers who present themselves in the form of animated avatars. Everything that your typical Youtube or Twitch streamer does, you'll also see VTubers do.
Gaming streams? Of course.
Chat streams? Yep.
Art streams? Indeed.
Singing streams? Lovely.
So there's really not much different between virtual streamers and other traditional streamers in the activities they perform. There are cases where streamers have switched between virtual and real modes, or who stream in both modalities. But one benefit of the virtual streaming mode is that the virtual avatar allows for a streamer to have a distinct break between the performance they put on stream and the rest of their life they have off-stream. It can provide a mask to let those that would otherwise be too shy or afraid to stream to be able to connect with others. This thread is here to primarily share the fun that can be had with this new and growing form of entertainment. Welcome to the rabbit hole, enjoy your stay.
Who are some notable VTubers or VTuber groups?
No overview of VTubers is complete without mentioning Kizuna Ai. While Ai's not the first to produce online content through a virtual avatar, she is by and large the origin point for the modern idea of what it means to be a virtual entertainer, and the origin for the term "Virtual Youtuber" in the first place. While her star does not stand out nearly as brightly as it did before, she still remains a recognizable figure, and active in promotions and events outside of the standard VTuber sphere. Her intricate 3D tracking, including through full concerts, remain a notably strong aspect of her content.
One of the two major Japanese-based VTuber agencies, Nijisanji made its mark as a major force in establishing the current formula for VTubers, with 2D avatars and live-streamed content. The agency now hosts almost 150 talents across their domestic branch and their growing international branches. While the number of "livers" (that's live-ers, not as in the bodily organ) within the organization may seem intimidating, the large number of streamers also presents an incredibly diverse variety of styles and interests. The (re)launch of a dedicated English-speaking branch in the middle of 2021 presents an easy entry point into the group.
The other major Japanese-based VTuber agency, and arguably the single agency with the largest international outreach. Overseas clip translation and the opening of their English-speaking branch in 2020 established hololive as many international viewers' reintroduction to VTubers outside of Kizuna Ai. The "idol" moniker given to their talents might bring to mind singing, dancing, and variety shows, but most of hololive's talents are not particularly different from other VTubers in what their general activities look like. The "idol" label does mean that they play things a bit safer than other major groups, but it also makes them a generally easy starting point if you're getting familiar with what VTubers do.
VShojo is an English-based collective, and the newest agency covered in this list, having been established in the last few months of 2020. However, the agency carries a lot of presence, as most of its founding talents were already known from their independent VTubing activities and close associations with one another before the group was formally announced. The VShojo members generally stream on Twitch, with their YouTube channels generally focused on archives and clips. VShojo also has a bit of a reputation for being quite a bit spicier than the two other Japanese-based agencies highlighted above.
There are dozens of other VTuber groups out there, and thousands of individuals who stream with a virtual avatar. While there are still costs to be had in avatar artwork, model rigging, and software, those costs are not so insurmountable that VTubing is such an exclusive group. It is increasingly becoming just another style for content creators to put a face forward to their audience.
VTuber thread discussion guidelines
Minimize discussion of VTuber identities - In many cases, the Vtuber character exists as a separation between the streamer's front-facing entertainer persona and their private life away from the screen. Other VTubers will retire a persona to take up the mantle of a new character, as is often the case when someone joins a VTuber group. A general rule of thumb used by the community at large is to spoiler any discussion that connects an individual talent to their alternative faces. While there are different degrees of secrecy in the connection between a streamer's multiple roles (with a few exceptional cases where there's little to no barrier), it's still a good rule to follow in general, as different people interested in VTubers will have different levels of engagement and desire in that kind of information. If you're interested in a talent's work at large, that's research you can put in on your own time.
Source your translations - A lot of the more prominent VTubers hail from Japan, and so naturally stream and post on social media in Japanese. If you're posting a translation of a VTuber tweet, try to source your translation. This is especially important if you're relying on a machine translation: while services like Google Translate and DeepL have made great improvements in recent years, they still have lapses in context that can mislead or misinform. So citing your sources can be useful so that an appropriate weight can be put on how valid the translation is.
Avoid spreading unconfirmed rumors - Entertainment and being in the public eye brings with it the potential of unwanted drama, whether you're behind a virtual avatar or not. So if you want to discuss something of a serious nature, double-check that you're taking from reliable, and ideally, direct sources. Serious news is already tough enough to deal with on its own, but having it come from a place of uncertainty or rumors can bring about an needless and unnecessary rise in emotions.
Previous Thread
Aug 2021 - Dec 2021
VTubers are online streamers who present themselves in the form of animated avatars. Everything that your typical Youtube or Twitch streamer does, you'll also see VTubers do.
Gaming streams? Of course.
Chat streams? Yep.
Art streams? Indeed.
Singing streams? Lovely.
So there's really not much different between virtual streamers and other traditional streamers in the activities they perform. There are cases where streamers have switched between virtual and real modes, or who stream in both modalities. But one benefit of the virtual streaming mode is that the virtual avatar allows for a streamer to have a distinct break between the performance they put on stream and the rest of their life they have off-stream. It can provide a mask to let those that would otherwise be too shy or afraid to stream to be able to connect with others. This thread is here to primarily share the fun that can be had with this new and growing form of entertainment. Welcome to the rabbit hole, enjoy your stay.
Who are some notable VTubers or VTuber groups?
No overview of VTubers is complete without mentioning Kizuna Ai. While Ai's not the first to produce online content through a virtual avatar, she is by and large the origin point for the modern idea of what it means to be a virtual entertainer, and the origin for the term "Virtual Youtuber" in the first place. While her star does not stand out nearly as brightly as it did before, she still remains a recognizable figure, and active in promotions and events outside of the standard VTuber sphere. Her intricate 3D tracking, including through full concerts, remain a notably strong aspect of her content.
One of the two major Japanese-based VTuber agencies, Nijisanji made its mark as a major force in establishing the current formula for VTubers, with 2D avatars and live-streamed content. The agency now hosts almost 150 talents across their domestic branch and their growing international branches. While the number of "livers" (that's live-ers, not as in the bodily organ) within the organization may seem intimidating, the large number of streamers also presents an incredibly diverse variety of styles and interests. The (re)launch of a dedicated English-speaking branch in the middle of 2021 presents an easy entry point into the group.
The other major Japanese-based VTuber agency, and arguably the single agency with the largest international outreach. Overseas clip translation and the opening of their English-speaking branch in 2020 established hololive as many international viewers' reintroduction to VTubers outside of Kizuna Ai. The "idol" moniker given to their talents might bring to mind singing, dancing, and variety shows, but most of hololive's talents are not particularly different from other VTubers in what their general activities look like. The "idol" label does mean that they play things a bit safer than other major groups, but it also makes them a generally easy starting point if you're getting familiar with what VTubers do.
VShojo is an English-based collective, and the newest agency covered in this list, having been established in the last few months of 2020. However, the agency carries a lot of presence, as most of its founding talents were already known from their independent VTubing activities and close associations with one another before the group was formally announced. The VShojo members generally stream on Twitch, with their YouTube channels generally focused on archives and clips. VShojo also has a bit of a reputation for being quite a bit spicier than the two other Japanese-based agencies highlighted above.
There are dozens of other VTuber groups out there, and thousands of individuals who stream with a virtual avatar. While there are still costs to be had in avatar artwork, model rigging, and software, those costs are not so insurmountable that VTubing is such an exclusive group. It is increasingly becoming just another style for content creators to put a face forward to their audience.
VTuber thread discussion guidelines
Minimize discussion of VTuber identities - In many cases, the Vtuber character exists as a separation between the streamer's front-facing entertainer persona and their private life away from the screen. Other VTubers will retire a persona to take up the mantle of a new character, as is often the case when someone joins a VTuber group. A general rule of thumb used by the community at large is to spoiler any discussion that connects an individual talent to their alternative faces. While there are different degrees of secrecy in the connection between a streamer's multiple roles (with a few exceptional cases where there's little to no barrier), it's still a good rule to follow in general, as different people interested in VTubers will have different levels of engagement and desire in that kind of information. If you're interested in a talent's work at large, that's research you can put in on your own time.
Source your translations - A lot of the more prominent VTubers hail from Japan, and so naturally stream and post on social media in Japanese. If you're posting a translation of a VTuber tweet, try to source your translation. This is especially important if you're relying on a machine translation: while services like Google Translate and DeepL have made great improvements in recent years, they still have lapses in context that can mislead or misinform. So citing your sources can be useful so that an appropriate weight can be put on how valid the translation is.
Avoid spreading unconfirmed rumors - Entertainment and being in the public eye brings with it the potential of unwanted drama, whether you're behind a virtual avatar or not. So if you want to discuss something of a serious nature, double-check that you're taking from reliable, and ideally, direct sources. Serious news is already tough enough to deal with on its own, but having it come from a place of uncertainty or rumors can bring about an needless and unnecessary rise in emotions.
Previous Thread
Aug 2021 - Dec 2021
MrBlarney on
+1
Posts
mikkorone 24 hour marathon is just about at its end, they're capping it off with a concert
and then right after is towa's anniversary live
Let's jump some fucking ROPE
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Levergacha clip!!!!!!
In which a senpai is shown respect (?)
mysta has never heard of the Seelie/Unseelie despite being Bri'ish, huh
1) La+ got demonetized for some reason:
2) Youtube's recently done something weird with the displayed number of live viewers that makes the number completely and totally inaccurate. This has been seen across all of Youtube livestreams, including with Ludwig who they recently poached from Twitch, so it's not just Hololive or VTuber specific. The image in the linked Tweet really shows off the problem, as the poll has 27k votes in it in 2 minutes but the current number of viewers is listed as 23k. For the record, poll engagement should not only be below the listed number of viewers, it should be way below, since not all viewers are on a device that can engage with polls or are not logged in and thus not even able to respond to the poll (for example, people say Twitch polls generally max out at 30% engagement).
Wake was back in Bright Falls; it was prettier than he remembered it. But it was also wrong, somehow. The faces of his friends looked... off. And that Purple Dragon. Why did she insist on LAUGHING at his pain? Why did she want to tag along on his mission to save his wife if she was just going to be scared the whole time? Wake didn't know... but he knew in his gut he would have to find out.
Edit: Selen has an incredible gift for finding broken PC ports. Swapping to the old and hopefully less busted version.
FAM released a new song and if you liked hanafubuki you're in luck, it's another banger in the same vein
music video for honma himawari's new original song (btw @WeedLordVegeta have you watched any of her peace walker playthrough? i hear she beat it recently)
And Sana trying (and failing) to not humblebrag is hilarious:
"You one-shot my entire team"
"Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?"
holoshop officially shipping to NA, just in time for ame's birthday (or the 4th gen anniversaries if you were planning on buying something and haven't yet)
they also restocked some stuff like the summer festival merch
Don't have a great feel for Millie since half her stream was spent on the lore videos and she had to speed through her slides.
In contrast, I've watched even less of Enna's debut and I am witnessing smarts like a damn whip. Impressive range of voice too.
Reimu is comf. That accent's gonna trip me up something fierce. Also mixing her name up with the Touhou character.
And I am loving Nina's high society energy. The languages bit especially put a smile on my face.
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg)
Backlog Challenge List
enna and millie were best friends prior to nijisanji, and auditioned and got in at the same time
they're both very sweet and very unhinged when together
edit: one more clip, they're old friends of elira's too
You know what that means.
EVERYBODY WANTS TO SIT IN THE BIG CHAIR, MEG!
here's a video with another one of Pekora and Botan's "games"
laplus pressing E and opening her inventory thinking she's opening the chest is very good
this is incredible documentarian work
as is this
Wait it’s also a drinking collab oh no
The absolute ideal use case of VR
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Steam: pazython