I have been thinking about this for a long time and about how to approach it. The best way to do it is to just come out and say it or propose a discussion about it. I don't really know if a reddit or twitter post would be better for it because i am not that versed in navigating those since this site has been my home for over 19 years.

I would like to start by saying that i am a practicing psychologist and i have found a fascination with the vtuber practices and how it affects the individual long term. I can see the fans progress through watching streams but i am very curious about how it is for vtubers as well. I was thinking at the start of it that there are 100% studies on fleshtubers and why should it be different for vtubers. One of the things that i felt was different is how the relationship between the person and its avatar changes over time. How is it to be in a close relationship to this avatar over a long period of time? I feel like the people who work with the people behind the avatars at least i really really hope that the talents work with someone would be a treasure trove of answers. My curiosity is sparked for scientific reasons but also personal one,that being that being the question of "how would i live my live when i am obligated to work with this version that is perfect in any way shape of form at least 3 times a week for years over lots of hours per day". I would like to stop the questions here for now and see if somebody else thought about this. I also take into account that there will be shitposting since we kind of are in a major crisis right now.

>>102640785 (OP)
wall of text incoming, sorry OP
depending on how close you are to your own avatar it could range from fulfilling to psychologically damaging your perception of reality. if your personality is close to your on-stream personality, there won't be that much dissonance in comparison to someone who makes themselves behave a certain way for 5 hours which obviously won't make anyone feel good in the aftermath. Cognitive dissonance tends to form because when you're an entertainer in general, you tend to say what people want to hear and not what you want to say yourself, so your "real self" tends to splinter into many pieces, which can lead to the entertainer in question saying even more things that they don't personally believe in but still say it in order to gain positive attention whether it be in money, perception, sponsors or metrics. There's a reason why famous people tend to go into substance abuse; not everyone can deal with having tens of thousands of eyes on them all the time and having to watch every word they say. a loss of "self" tends to happen especially with business models where the product in question is the person and the image they sell of themselves (idols, entertainers, actors... anything that involves the self.) VTubing is one of the least physically taxing jobs in the world, but it is one of the most mentally taxing ones because it deals with being a public figure in its own way and not letting anyone's expectations down. depending on how strong the person's mental is and how in-tune they are with their own personality, it can go very badly to very good since this type of job requires a certain mindset that is ready to deal with public blowback and the stress knowing that you could be doxxed at any given moment if you say any specific quirks about where you live like how long it takes to go to your local convenience store, or if you accidentally say a name you weren't meant to say. it's a lot to deal with. i don't envy vtubers because i'd rather work at a physically taxing job where i don't have to pretend to be someone i'm not and not have to think about my job when i get home.

>>102641091
Thanks, i was expecting the thread to go 404 with no replies honestly. I would honestly say that, in my opinion, that its not an OR from fulfilling to psychologically damaging your perception of reality but rather an WHEN because we don't really know the long term effects of it. The industry is really young and just lately there has been a big influx of new players to the table. I would be dying to know if companies have people qualified to deal with the mental fatigue on board not managers. I am honestly wondering how would one approach this research on a plausible scale. Email indies? Email big companies for a range of subjects on both sides of the spectrum?

>>102641318
And thats that i guess