VTuber Research Study - Participant Recruitment

[wrp]

I choose to treat "was a real person" as "personally knew you", because unless otherwise specified I'm pretty sure all vtubers are real people.

 

[MysticMads]

4/10 survey. No fill-in answers does not leave room for creative responses. My ratty compartiots and I will not be returning.

I would've honestly loved to have fill-in answers, however, since I'm doing a quantitative study, I am unable to do that. Our uni provides a different course that you need to take if you wanted to do a qualitative study (which fill-in answers would count as such), and I've put off my thesis for long enough that I ended up just doing a quantitative study anyway. Maybe sometime in the future I could redo the study that allowed a more in-depth look at this subject in particular.

 

[Nenélove]

Hi! The reason for the specificity of the requirements is basically just to filter out people who are into vTubers and are into the vtuber niche as opposed to people who just watch vTuber clips. Admittedly, the requirements were purposedfully made to be an easy enough gap to clear for people who are in the vTuber niche, as there hadn't been any previous studies that clearly stated their filter requirements (and how long do vTuber audiences usually watch/interact with vTuber content). This was done because the study wishes to observe how parasocial relationships can possibly affect one's well-being when observed in the context of vTubers as opposed to celebrities or other media personalities (due to the differences in peoples' perception of vTubers as a media personality).

It doesn't need to be with one vTuber specifically, just as long as you've interacted with vTubers in some capacity. And yes, you can definitely be parasocial towards multiple vTubers; think of it like having friends, you're not limited to only having one friend. The only caveat is that the relationship is usually a one-sided one (I say usually, as with some indie vTubers, they may actively hang out with their viewers, which brings on a different kind of limitation).

From the literature review I've done, parasocial relationships can be a good thing or a bad thing; it all depends on context, and how you're going about it. I know, that's not a satisfying answer, but I'm also withholding my hypothesis (as I don't wish to potentially affect the data/your answers by outright saying whether it's a good thing or a bad thing). Though, you're welcome to email me (listed on the consent form) if you wish to see the results after my thesis is completed. Hopefully that answers some of your questions!

I will die the day there's academic literature on vtubers. Society has gone too far already, god needs to end this gay earth.
Anyway, now that we have you here: Care to share how you came across this site?

 

[No Name]

Joins forum for academic purposes, instantly sets up a profile pic .
As the only sane individual here, I will do my best to even the craziness levels.

 

[Seth]

Hi! The reason for the specificity of the requirements is basically just to filter out people who are into vTubers and are into the vtuber niche as opposed to people who just watch vTuber clips. Admittedly, the requirements were purposedfully made to be an easy enough gap to clear for people who are in the vTuber niche, as there hadn't been any previous studies that clearly stated their filter requirements (and how long do vTuber audiences usually watch/interact with vTuber content). This was done because the study wishes to observe how parasocial relationships can possibly affect one's well-being when observed in the context of vTubers as opposed to celebrities or other media personalities (due to the differences in peoples' perception of vTubers as a media personality).

It doesn't need to be with one vTuber specifically, just as long as you've interacted with vTubers in some capacity. And yes, you can definitely be parasocial towards multiple vTubers; think of it like having friends, you're not limited to only having one friend. The only caveat is that the relationship is usually a one-sided one (I say usually, as with some indie vTubers, they may actively hang out with their viewers, which brings on a different kind of limitation).

From the literature review I've done, parasocial relationships can be a good thing or a bad thing; it all depends on context, and how you're going about it. I know, that's not a satisfying answer, but I'm also withholding my hypothesis (as I don't wish to potentially affect the data/your answers by outright saying whether it's a good thing or a bad thing). Though, you're welcome to email me (listed on the consent form) if you wish to see the results after my thesis is completed. Hopefully that answers some of your questions!

I was not expecting ananswer to be honest but thank you still for the answer. If you're willing to answer some more ( you dont have too we are a pain in the ass ) , how did you find this place? And have you shared your survey elsewhere? We are a community of people who love to make fun of people being parasocial to a point where it becomes unhealthy. So our vision might not be the same as the community next door just a fyi.

Edit : also, instead of emails. You could send the results to Proctor directly that way he could share it with the rest of us.

 

[MysticMads]

I choose to treat "was a real person" as "personally knew you", because unless otherwise specified I consider all vtubers to be real people.

The "was a real person" was also something that I had debated on for a while with my supervisor in regards to potential validity issues. I originally wanted to go for something along the lines of 'personally knew you' or 'was here with me,' however, upon conducting some literature review on studies regarding vTubers, it was found that vTuber audiences intentionally separate the vTuber avatar from the real person voicing them. Because of that, we ended up using "was a real person" as the final phrasing of the question.

Here's the paper in question that delved more into it if you wish to read further: https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445660

Though it's important to note that the interview conducted in that paper was done with a China-based demographic, which may be different to the western approach of the perceptions towards vTubers.

 

[MysticMads]

I was not expecting ananswer to be honest but thank you still for the answer. If you're willing to answer some more ( you dont have too we are a pain in the ass ) , how did you find this place? And have you shared your survey elsewhere? We are a community of people who love to make fun of people being parasocial to a point where it becomes unhealthy. So our vision might not be the same as the community next door just a fyi.

Edit : also, instead of emails. You could send the results to Proctor directly that way he could share it with the rest of us.

I was honestly scrambling to find places where people in this niche often gather. I initially asked around vTuber-dedicated discord servers for their permission to post the survey, as well as on other social media platforms. While I was googling for other platforms where people in this niche hung out opn google (literally just typed "vTuber discussion forums"), I stumbled across this website and decided to give it a shot and sent an email to Proctor asking for their permission to post the survey, and here we are now.

The clash in vision may/may not be a problem that we'll have to see once the data collection and analysis is done. I'll keep that in mind, as well as sending the results to Proctor directly. Though, don't have too much expectations, as this is just my undergrad thesis. Some mistakes may happen, and the methodology may not be perfect.

 

[MysticMads]

Joins forum for academic purposes, instantly sets up a profile pic .
As the only sane individual here, I will do my best to even the craziness levels.

Hey, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, yaknow?

 

[Seth]

Hey, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, yaknow?

Who's your oshi? And dont tell me gawr gura or i'll know you're a fed

 

[BlueSharkTV]

@MysticMads missed opportunity to call yourself MysticMeds

 

[MysticMads]

Who's your oshi? And dont tell me gawr gura or i'll know you're a fed

Suisei all day everyday, man

 

[Seth]

Suisei all day everyday, man

Alright you're fine. I wont have to hide in the Amazon with my 5 vtuber waifus after all.

 

[Hff201]

The "was a real person" was also something that I had debated on for a while with my supervisor in regards to potential validity issues. I originally wanted to go for something along the lines of 'personally knew you' or 'was here with me,' however, upon conducting some literature review on studies regarding vTubers, it was found that vTuber audiences intentionally separate the vTuber avatar from the real person voicing them. Because of that, we ended up using "was a real person" as the final phrasing of the question.

I understand where you're coming from with this assessment, but I think this is a much more complicated matter which is probably something you could dig into when analysing your results; there are variables here, for example some vtubers are very kayfabe-heavy (meaning they lean hard into their character and their fans respect this part of the show and play along with it) while others act more similarly to a traditional vlogger or Let's Player and simply use a vtuber model for flavour. The particular style of vtubers someone watches might influence how they'd answer the questions in the survey, as (and this is my humble hypothesis) a vtuber who is very open about their personal life will likely be more relatable, while a vtuber who plays into their fictional lore will provide more of an escapist fantasy.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with the wider vtuber community, but something I think you should be familiar with is the culture around "roommate-posting" (discussing the real person behind a vtuber avatar). On this forum, users will openly talk about who a vtuber is, what they post on their personal social media accounts, the kinds of content they produced before becoming a vtuber etc.. This makes us an outlier, as most vtuber fan communities (like Discord servers, subreddits, 4chan's /vt/ board etc.) find this distasteful and will usually ban someone on sight for it. I have a feeling that when discussing a specific vtuber, people here are more likely to be considering the person, while people elsewhere are more likely to be considering the character.

 

[Thomas Talus]

From the literature review I've done, parasocial relationships can be a good thing or a bad thing; it all depends on context, and how you're going about it. I know, that's not a satisfying answer, but I'm also withholding my hypothesis (as I don't wish to potentially affect the data/your answers by outright saying whether it's a good thing or a bad thing). Though, you're welcome to email me (listed on the consent form) if you wish to see the results after my thesis is completed. Hopefully that answers some of your questions!

Here's a semi-serious take on that subject from a vtuber herself:

 

[Just pretending]

As far as I can tell, this is legitimate, and made by somebody who actually understands at least something about vtuber culture. So I'm issuing an official Asylum 'be nice' sticker here. Also no, I am not being financially compensated for this.

I'll be on my best behavior.

"Issuing official Asylum 'be nice' sticker" should mean "preventing Takodachi from replying to the thread".

 

[MysticMads]

I understand where you're coming from with this assessment, but I think this is a much more complicated matter which is probably something you could dig into when analysing your results; there are variables here, for example some vtubers are very kayfabe-heavy (meaning they lean hard into their character and their fans respect this part of the show and play along with it) while others act more similarly to a traditional vlogger or Let's Player and simply use a vtuber model for flavour. The particular style of vtubers someone watches might influence how they'd answer the questions in the survey, as (and this is my humble hypothesis) a vtuber who is very open about their personal life will likely be more relatable, while a vtuber who plays into their fictional lore will provide more of an escapist fantasy.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with the wider vtuber community, but something I think you should be familiar with is the culture around "roommate-posting" (discussing the real person behind a vtuber avatar). On this forum, users will openly talk about who a vtuber is, what they post on their personal social media accounts, the kinds of content they produced before becoming a vtuber etc.. This makes us an outlier, as most vtuber fan communities (like Discord servers, subreddits, 4chan's /vt/ board etc.) find this distasteful and will usually ban someone on sight for it. I have a feeling that when discussing a specific vtuber, people here are more likely to be considering the person, while people elsewhere are more likely to be considering the character.

Oh for sure; the thing with vTubers specifically as a media personality is the fact that there are a lot of variations in terms of what a vTuber does and the style of content that they do. And that makes it interesting to study about and warrants deeper studies to be done on it. I will be honest and say that was already going to be considered as a limitation for my study and future studies should improve upon that aspect in particular, as with my current understanding of research and data analysis in my uni's psychology course isn't sufficient enough to go in-depth with those aspects in mind (yes I'm basically saying I'm too dumb to do it justice). Though, thank you for bringing that into my attention.

 

[Aquatic Novellite]

The survey is a bit weird to fill out, since the vtuber I feel closest to is a vtuber I only very rarely watch live, while the vtuber I watch the most is someone I like, but not someone I feel particularly close to. Just entertainment.

Maybe I should've refrained. Too late now, though.

I think a lot of the questions along the lines of the one Banana Hammock mentioned presume a that the audience member is interacting with the vtuber as though they were someone they knew personally, rather than as an entertainer playing a character to some extent.

I mean, isn't that the essence of parasociality and honestly, pretty rampant among 2views and their audiences?

It's probably not the kind of thing you see a lot of in Pekora's audience, but Ragdoll, Amiya or Hexa would be rather a different matter.

I will die the day there's academic literature on vtubers. Society has gone too far already, god needs to end this gay earth.
Anyway, now that we have you here: Care to share how you came across this site?

You've been dead since 2019?

2019 paper on vtubing, Frank Davey, Oxford.

A lot of social sciences papers are disappointing since they're often little more than forum post writeups, you can probably produce one by doing a meta analysis of our main thread, but this one actually delved pretty deeply into vtubing precursors in the 1990s, the cultural and media phenomenons & trends on which vtubing thrieved, and made some accurate predictions concerning its future, too. It's actually a pretty good paper.

 

[CalciumAnimal]

do not Qualify for the survey. wow you really hate canada huh.

 

[Nigel Nigerman]

ei @MysticMads, you’re a cool guy. Just wanna know your thoughts on the cesspool of the world called “Swifties”.

 

[superduper]

Alright, I've participated in the study. Good luck on graduating man!