Expectations for VTubers Don't Come from Nowhere #VTuber #ENVTuber
A recent discussion sweeping the Western VTuber community involves people's expectations of new and aspiring VTubers and how expectations for them to do well have been set astronomically high leading to some VTuber fans ridiculing them for their lack of diligence and commitment to get further with their careers/hobbies.
Expectations towards new creators entering a pre-established fandom and wanting to contribute to it have always been a part of every hobbyist community. The actual expectations for fledgling VTubers in the West have been set so high due to the turbulent and rapidly-advancing, both in technological and innovation sense, aspect of VTubing. In just a few years, VTubers have made leaps and bounds in terms of what you can do with a virtual persona.
At this point, "VTubing" already has a long (at least in Internet terms) history pioneered by some amazing Japanese talents that are still active and well-known today.
During years that Japanese VTubers were "making their bones" and establishing their brand identities, they tested a lot of elements they could introduce to video production, streaming, or otherwise creating interesting content for their audiences.
What is important to know is that before the two biggest Virtual YouTuber agencies Hololive and Nijisanji even existed there were already independent Japanese YouTubers or Nico Nico Douga users who uploaded hobbyist videos to these two respective platforms using a virtual avatar to enhance the experience for their audiences.
Another thing to note that is even more crucial to the context of this discussion is that content always came first for most of these creators and that is how they were first discovered and reached notability. They let their work speak for itself and any social media presence was secondary to their efforts supplementing their reach to wider audiences.
Upon seeing the success of the Japanese, Western fans were enamored and captivated by this new frontier in interactive entertainment and quickly started to pick up on parts of specific VTubers' performances that were attractive and started to search out for similar elements in other creators' work.
Western fans already familiar with prior VTubers know exactly what they want because it has worked so well for Japanese creators all of these years contributing to their popularity. What isn't broken doesn't need fixing.
Does all of this mean that "pre-debut" and "debut TBA" VTubers in the English-speaking community should be shamed for taking too long before starting any kind of content production? Absolutely not. Every person's circumstances are dramatically different and in a lot of cases there are parts of their daily lives that are working actively against a VTuber preventing them from advancing their goals.
These new creators should still consider what they want to be known for online and just talking about something is not the same as actually doing it. See what attracts people to you, where your fans come from, and see how you can capitalize on it.
Don't be so hasty to dismiss critics. Filter out your haters and see who is actually willing to support your growth.
Respect history, take lessons from it and advance yourselves using the experience others had in the past. Kizuna Ai crawled so that Hololive and Nijsanji could walk. You can break out into a sprint on the back of your Virtual YouTuber senpais as long as you're willing to learn.
Lastly, remember that ultimately people follow Virtual Entertainers for their personalities and the ability to attract people to a specific experience. You can have all the financial means in the world but true charisma that brings people together is not something that many people possess.
