[munificent]

> I think the relationship between streamers and their audience is a more extreme form of the relationship between celebrities and their fans

I totally agree. One of the things the Internet has dramatically increased are asymmetric relationships between people. Some amount of asymmetry has always been part of life — the peasants know who the king is but the king doesn't know the peasants.

But now that anyone can broadcast to millions, it's easier to have a one-sided relationship that a peer-based one. I believe that's profoundly unhealthy, and a problem society is going to have to confront and learn how to deal with.