[gburdell3]

Some people just prefer their public persona to be in the form of an avatar instead of their real face. They want to have something there to represent themselves instead of just streaming a screen and nothing else, but they would rather that representation be an avatar or character rather than their physical selves.

[maegul]

Personally, I like the idea. IMO, we lost something when it became normal/expected to link our real-life self to our internet selves. We arguable gained some unpleasant things too (thinking of Facebook here).

A persistent avatar/alias as an internet persona seems to match the real-life to internet-life relationship better. IE, for many, they’re different and rather separable aspects of life.

[javajosh]

There was a Black Mirror episode that makes plain the downside of a virtual representation: it can be taken from you and manipulated by someone else. The persona becomes a sale-able commodity, and can be separated from your control.

[spartanatreyu]

I remember hearing that this exact thing happened a few years ago in either Japan or South Korea.

There was a talent agency that had three-four performers who took shifts streaming games through a shared vtuber persona who had build up some popularity. At some point the agency fired the performers and replaced them with a new performer who didn't have the same performance.

The fans weren't told but it was immediately apparent, so they started demanding the changes to be reverted. The fans were ignored and both the vtuber's popularity and the agency fell back into obscurity.

I guess the lesson here is that personas are personal.

[arczyx]

Maybe this is what you're talking about? https://virtualyoutuber.fandom.com/wiki/Game_Club_Project#20...

[teddyh]

With deep fakes, this is already also true of your non-virtual representation.

[setr]

Perhaps relevant — loss of control can be much more impacting depending on how much weight you give to that online persona: http://www.juliandibbell.com/articles/a-rape-in-cyberspace/

[astrange]

Also Japanese viewers like this better, and you don’t have to look good, and if you’re streaming from inside a soundproof box in summer without AC then you don’t even have to wear clothes.