No.1636
Japanese Youtube has permeated into the international scene with the popularity of virtual youtubers. This thread is about the discussion and appreciation for our vlogging digital idols.
>What is a virtual Youtuber?Virtual Youtubers are content creators that hide behind personas, often using animations and body rigging software to control 3D models.
>Why are they significant to our culture?Depicted in many cyberpunk movies, novels, TV shows, and artworks. The use of virtual idols to sport advertisements and to use as personal assistants is a common theme. The rise of virtual Youtubers is a step in the right direction for character assistants to become popular.
>Where can I keep up to date and find new Youtubers?http://virtual-youtuber.userlocal.jp/ No.1643
It's insane with the popularity of these YouTubers after Kizuna increased in subscribers. She's already being placed in advertisements and paving the way to stardom with this format.
>>1639>was the stimulator!Is this much an older youtuber?
No.1645
>half of them are FaceRig/Live2D stock models. arr rook the same!
No.1647
>>1645Many of them do. And the community don't give them as much attention unless they happen to produce really good content and have a loveable character. Most of the top virtual youtubers are those with original models and good rigging. However there's some simpler channels that gained a community with the reasons I mentioned above. Such as:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy5lOmEQoivK5XK7QCaRKug No.1657
>>1643The stimulator was the host of subMedia's ITEotWaWKIaIFF that started in 2006 and ended in 2016, although they sometimes still use the character and there was talk about a restart.
No.1658
I can't imagine wasting my life watching real vloggers, let alone virtual ones. I remember watching a documentary about virtual pop stars in Japan and there were a load of dudes at some idols "live" concert and all I remember thinking was that it was no wonder Japan had a birth crisis.
No.1660
>>1659No doubt that behind some of these could be guys, but some of the top virtual youtubers are guys not trying to hide the fact even when using female models.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8tmsv8kL9Nc1sxvCo9j4Q>>1658It's amazing really, I could never get behind watching vloggers either. These channels use the same click baiting titles and thumbnails, but I find it really entertaining.
>>1656It's a process, she easily one of my favorites.
No.1661
>>1660>It's amazing really, I could never get behind watching vloggers either. These channels use the same click baiting titles and thumbnails, but I find it really entertaining.It's the internet version of reality TV. I'd rather spend my time living my own life than watching someone else living theirs.
No.1662
Would it be possible to create a virtual youtuber using only free (as in freedom) software?
No.1663
I like the idea, but i'm afraid that furries will ruin it.
No.1664
This is fairly neat.
>>1663Can't be worse than whatever the corps will do with it.
>>1662In theory yes. In practice there seems to be no ready-made tool to plug into Blender to get that result. So without a lot of knowledge on how it's done and a lot of motivation to make your own tools, you're in for a hard time.
No.1666
>>1661Yeah I get that. I bet your life is very rich and fulfilling, but I guess it's the idea that they're not real that makes it attractive to watch. These aren't people living their lives, they're characters with each video doing something new. Sort of like a cartoon show. We have our protagonist and cast, as they interact within their given space. Convincingly giving the idea that these are real people, but of course they cannot be living actual lives
No.1667
>>1665She's really cute! Especially when she moves her ears.
Why do they always put these videos full of text?
No.1668
>>1666It's not. But that's exactly why I'm not going to waste my time watching virtual reality vloggers. I'd rather do something… or anything else instead. The only way my life could get any more pathetic is to waste it watching virtual reality vloggers controlled by fat asians and then try and justify watching it on the internet to make it appear less sad than it is.
Vlogging, whether it's real people, or virtual reality, is "reality TV" for the internet generation. I wouldn't watch the Kardashians or regular TV. And I won't watch douche bags trying to maintain viewer counts by upping the shock factor of each of their videos on the internet.
How fucking little does someone have going on in their own life, that they have to fill it watching the mundane and fabricated drama from other peoples lives? Same for soap operas too. I don't watch that soykaf either. Like Eastenders in the UK. What a fucking joke that show is. Every Christmas they're trying to up the Christmas episode I'm just waiting for Al Queda to hijack a plane and fly it into the Crown Vic pub.
If I have absolutely nothing else to do, I'll go listen to an album front to back and lie in bed. At the end of the day, its preferable to sitting in front of a TV or computer and filling my head full of fake drama and pointless celebrity.
No.1669
>>1667Honestly I don't know, it not just these videos. But it common for text to appear in many East Asian shows.
No.1670
>>>1665
>created by Yahoo
So an NSA partner has penetrated the Chinese firewall and is captivating Chinese (and apparently western 'cyberpunk' youth with virtual anime girl avatars? This is such a bizarre timeline.
No.1678
virtual desktop assistants when
I want an agenduck
No.1679
>>1678>Desktop assistanceHave you met Bonzi Buddy?
No.1684
>>1683I have a smile ear to ear. This is great!
Virtual vloggers, gamers, and education. This is the good step in the right direction. Now imagine these videos being solely produce my machine learning programs.
No.1726
>>1725That cheese, though
No.1729
>>1728No you're right, cheeseburgers are still hamburgers. I was just making a comment on the gooey cheese in her hamburger.
No.1735
>>1728I always knew bacon burgers are the best and now I have the more evidence to prove it.
No.1779
>>1778What's going on here? There are no subtitles.
No.1781
https://youtu.be/MF4c8stzsFMSo cute! She's speaking in English!
No.1785
>>1783It is, she's just trying to reach out to a more western crowd by making it English in origin.
No.1802
>>1801She should sing more instead of playing boring games.
No.1804
>>1800Looking back, it seems she surprised everyone at her skills of PUBG. I don't watch anyone play this game, so I can't attest to that statement but she seems pretty good.
No.1805
>>1804>she surprised everyone at her skills<she surprised everyone *with her skills
No.1806
>>1801I'm addicted to this song
No.1841
>>1840Bike shorts… So thight
Unf
No.1868
BBC just published an article about virtual celebrities on Instagram:
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180402-the-fascinating-world-of-instagrams-virtual-celebritiesThis is not related to youtube anime idols, but in any case it shows that 2018 marks the beginning of virtual personas, as they are starting to be popular on instagram and in the west as well.
No.1869
>>1868The idea of "influencers" is a lot more upsetting than liking virtual characters.
No.1890
Shiro is speaking English!
Time for to rise in popularity.
No.1896
>>1895She probably won't parody other songs any time soon. But she should!
No.1900
>>1869Infuencers are half the reason I'm off social media entirely (the other half being the normal privacy concerns). The phenomenon makes my skin crawl.
No.1972
>>1676Did Hoonie delete her valintines day video? I liked her little song.
No.1973
>>1900What are "influencers" exactly?
No.1974
>>1973People with lots of followers posting advertisements.
No.1976
>>1668>virtual reality vloggers controlled by fat asiansI'm starting to wonder if all the people saying this are just closet homos wishing the characters were controlled by fat asian men.
No.2010
>>1800Don't forget that like on any social media you can pay for bots to subscribe and up vote you / your content.
Shady corps starting virtual YouTubers (and general all shady YouTubers like Paul Logan) are very aware of this option..
No.2011
>>2010She has tons of fan art though.
No.2012
>>2011In her case it might be legit.
But i've seen inconsistent subscription rates enough to know that in most cases it's not legit behavior.
Fan art is indeed an indicator to monitor, but this also depends heavily on the timeline. If it's quite after the huge subscription spike, then it's just some random people who just good fished by the PR.
No.2070
Why did they change Hoonie's model? I liked the old one better.
No.2078
It's been months since I made this thread.
Can't believe it's still here
Acutally, I can't believe so many threads here are still alive.
No.2079
>>2078Your thread hasn't gotten slided into oblivion because this site has a low posting rate. I'm not complaining, it's just the way it is.
No.2081
>>2079Is it me or is the site getting slower?
No.2092
I find the social and technical portions of the whole "virtual youtuber" thing pretty interesting, but I can't say I've been excited by much of the content I've seen so far. I suspect that's more due to the choice of material than anything else though: so far I've mostly seen let's play's of games I don't care about and vlogging, but there's nothing tying virtual youtubers to that. It'll be interesting to see what kinds of material this will expand to, as well has how popular it will become.
No.2257
>>2092Would love to see a newscast of virtual youtubers
No.2260
>>2257That could actually work pretty well. If you were trying to build a "professional" newscast with people who were in geographically spread out, then using virtual youtubers would let you still have everyone together in a single "studio".
>>2258I wonder how anonymous people using those tools actually are.
No.2264
>>2260It's Eliza from deus ex. There are going to be like 8 models per network. Your local news person looks like every other local news person. You write a script it reads it and that's your news. They can finally eliminate smaller affiliate stations who might not be as "on message" as you want them to be. Honestly a great business idea. Cut down on cost of production by a ton.
No.2267
>>2264>They can finally eliminate smaller affiliate stations who might not be as "on message" as you want them to be. Honestly a great business idea.I don't see how this would cause that. If anything, dropping production costs would make small affiliate stations MORE viable, not less.
No.2292
>>2257Starting today we have professional AI News Anchors.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46136504https://twitter.com/XHNews/status/1060399650434248704imo his english voice is still too robotic. The chinese one is pretty good. Can and will only improve though.
No.2295
>>2292http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-11/08/c_137591813.htmThat's interesting. The English speech is obviously just a "placeholder" TTS program (I think the Chinese speech might be as well?), but the animation is very impressive. Two things stand out to me:
They've chosen to make the animation as close to realistic as possible. That's very different from Japanese VYTs, which are intended to be distinctive characters. Maybe they're interested in appearing "professional", or maybe this came out of research on generating human-like animations.
>I will work tirelessly to keep you informed as texts will be typed into my system uninterrupted>According to Xinhua, "he" has become a member of its reporting team and can work 24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms, reducing news production costs and improving efficiency.The actual motivation behind this appears to be cutting down on the amount of time and effort spent "in studio", with reporters and editors pushing out broadcasts directly.
Also, a number of people seem to be leaping to conspiracy theories about this: China doesn't need clever software to control what news broadcasters can say.
No.2336
These virtual youtubers and newspeople are just the beginning. The aftermath will be much more terrifying. If technology advances the next few years, it'll be possible for anyone to make a virtual persona, and those funny OC pictures you laughed at will become reality. It can be said that already now people are totally detached and living inside their mini-computers they carry everywhere with them, but when virtual personas become widely available, people will be entirely and completely detached from reality and instead delude themselves to live inside the web. They will be always be roleplaying as their personas, and no one will ever grow up or develop a functioning self-awareness. The effect this will have on the next generation will be tremendous. Only war can save us now, and that will merely a temporary solution. Most of the world is living in despair, real life is ugly and harsher than ever before, and especially if you compare it with a clean, cartoony virtual world such as the likes that these virtual youtubers are living in, you will never want to enter real life, you will be terrified of it, when your smartphone breaks and you have to look up and exit your virtual personality, you will be shocked and scramble back to safety as fast as possible. But then again, if it comes to that point, smartphones might be obsolete and replaced with something else. Maybe alternate reality googles?
No.2337
>>2336Imagine boomer and zoomer IA OCs clashing with each other, replicating and starting a full-blown war on the Internet while their fandoms cheer
A bit like the AVGN/Nostalgia Critic drama but with IA and for real
No.2340
>>2336I was like "yeah no stop crying wolf you idiot" right until you said
>always be roleplaying as their personas, and no one will ever grow up or develop a functioning self-awarenessand holy soykaf you're right. There are so many people already who have a face they don't really like and just try to cover it online with some adorable something that better matches their displayed personality. They also limit their online actions to what they wanna be like, and breaks of character are only displayed towards family, teachers, doctors, police: people who have to and will look at them IRL while they are locked out from their virtual presence. These interactions are usually fucked up because said person already can't imagine their actual impression, and may seem anywhere from weird to full-blown psychosis from the outside.
I also have somewhat of this online persona confusion, but I keep it in check with "this is who I wanna be", leaving me fully aware that I'm not quite there yet. I hope this really is working.
No.2341
>>2340Digging up an old post:
"I've deleted my facebook account in July 2017. I got tired of it, it consumed too much of my time and was absolutely worthless. 2 worst things about fb are the surveillance and profiling. Data mining is absolutely unethical and people who own companies that were proven to do it should be put in jail and their companies closed because it violates human rights. But there's something that's as bad as data mining if not worse - it's profiling. All of their algorithms that are responsible for showing you what you want too see create an informational bubble thus making people who are less resistant to manipulation think they're living in some kind of an amazing, colorful world filled with love and niceness. It also creates complexes since everything there is so awesome, people are happy and they love each other, which again might trick some people (especially young ones) into thinking this is the world we live in, and alienate them from reality because they would rather spend their time browsing those colorful, amazing and happy social media filled with interesting things than to participate IRL, 'cause honestly… why would they? Fuck facebook, fuck social media owned by corporations (and corporations themselves too), fuck profiling, data mining and all this soykaf. I have only one social media account and it's mastodon. Because it's ethical and doesn't cause any kind of addiction on purpose."
No.2342
>>2336Vtubing is never going to catch on in the West, and "real" people on youtube are already acting out characters and have been doing so for a long time (e.g. AVGN). Even many people on social media are essentially playing characters and presenting a false image of themselves to their peers. Some vtuber running a 6 hour Minecraft stream is going to be less fake than someone strategically curating their social media presence. Vtubing is less about roleplaying a character and more about projecting yourself through a virtual avatar, which is particularly important in Japan where people are very reluctant to appear on camera. Because of the anonymity of vtubing and its discontinuity with real life, it's also much easier to separate from the avatar compared to appearing on camera or presenting an image of yourself on social media to people who may know you in real life.
>>2337There's already a vtuber war on /jp/, where they have been turned into just another arbitrary variation on Playstation vs. Xbox or whatever, except even dumber. Right now it seems to be Nijisanji vs. everyone else.
The latest vtuber development is that there's going to be an anime series starring many of them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIoZrftDKhc (even more than what's shown here).
No.2688
>permeated into the international scene
Lol no. The only people who know, let alone care about these things are weebs who go out of their way to seek out Japanese media. Most people don't even know they exist to begin with.
No.2689
>>2336>please screeencap my vapid bullsoykafI see your game.
No.2745
>>2336>when virtual personas become widely available, people will be entirely and completely detached from reality and instead delude themselves to live inside the web.Hasn't that been a fear for basically every form of media ever? And each time, those fears turn out to be groundless. New forms of media can't replace reality, they become a part of reality.
>Only war can save us nowI cannot politely express how strongly I disagree with that view.
No.2746
>>2336>If technology advances the next few years, it'll be possible for anyone to make a virtual persona, and those funny OC pictures you laughed at will become reality.Technology doesn't need to advance at all for that, it has already been the case for a long time. Online RP has existed for about as long as the internet has. In fact, the creator of Second Life had a vision to create an idealized version of the world you're describing, but then that just ended up largely being used for dumb sex stuff. And then more recently, VR Chat created a resurgence in the popularity of the concept, but then that primarily became known as just a medium for virtual brewing soykaf. I have no doubt that people like what you described exist, but only in edge cases where they're just the type of person who's already inclined to dedicating way too much time to escapism. People like that have always existed and always will exist - technology isn't the cause. If it weren't for modern technology, they'd find some other form of escapism to lose themselves in. If anything, I think that online RP might actually be somewhat beneficial to that type of person - it's a social form of escapism, so at least they're sort of socializing instead of just delving into self-imposed solitary confinement.
>>2341I agree that the fact that facebook only shows you happy stuff is harmful, but for almost the opposite reason that you said. Facebook isn't going to make anyone think that life in general is great. People are intelligent enough to realize that their own life sucks. Instead, it makes people feel like everyone else is living in that happy colorful world, but that they themselves have been cut off from that world somehow. It doesn't make people happy by making them think "life is great," it makes people depressed by making them think "everyone's life is great except mine." At least in the case of VTubers there's an explicit acknowledgement of fakery. They're less harmful since they're presented as fictional characters, so there's no illusions about them being real people.
No.2753
>>1658I totally agree with you. Not that I'd ever go to one, but in my town sometimes there is a music concert where the musician doesn't play instruments! He literally stands on stage pressing buttons on his laptop.
