Dylanrockin

I noticed that your past couple updates have been about the same subject, and I just want to say that I and many others hope that you're doing ok. If you ever need to vent about anything, hit me up and I'll listen with no questions asked.

Isn't that a tough kind of irony. To create is to add value. THAT is what societies thrive on. You know what is really weird? Going into very deep debt to learn a service skill that doesn't add value. I will never understand somebody doing a degree in language studies, history, or ministry. It's sad that graphic design is not an easy career choice, while everybody enjoys graphic art every day. So, I appreciate graphic designers for sticking to it!

Female characters rock! Keep at it!  Males are harder to not make them look bland.

I believe the furthest it could get would be "idolization," rather than being friends. Much like how some of us (and many that came before us) had idols as we grew up, whether it be a pop singer or an action star. I'm personally not the one to indulge into idolization, but seeing how most people (going by people around me + news coverage) aren't reported to have gotten themselves into the wrong path because of idolization, I don't think it's particularly dangerous to do so.

Honestly, considering how the line between Youtubers and the viewers are only ever so slightly thinner than stars outside Youtube and their respective audiences, I believe that experiences with the two are very much alike. I haven't seen people considering their idols as friends, so I would expect people not to consider Youtubers as friends, too, though I would appreciate a counterexample of someone that has considered a Youtuber as their friend, with the one-sided intimacy that one would expect from a relationship of unequal powers (Perhaps the case that had made you ask the question?).

Pmuch what Seal said, it depends on how genuine they are. Some of the people I watch are just being themselves while doing something they enjoy on camera, and those people are often very interactive with their audience.

None of them can gain my friendship, as I very narrowly define it, but I can see why others feel a more intimate relationship with them. And to be honest, I feel in many cases it's not one-sided. The YouTuber may not be aware of each individual, but I can see them developing a sense of intimacy and affection towards the concept of an individual fan. Just look at the level of trust displayed at meetups they do at conventions compared to more typical celebrity meetups.

As for danger, I'd say yes. Because developing a sense of mutual trust and intimacy without actually knowing someone sounds like it could lead to all sorts of messy.

One way that I feel it'd be easier to look at this situation would be from a personal vlogging/live streaming aspect of it, where you see the person's face quite a bit, and there's a lot of interaction. Some have a camera on and some don't, but a huge majority do. One unhealthy way of thinking about it from a streaming perspective is when some impressionable viewer reads the description of stream and the streamer says something along the lines of "donate x amount of dollars for me to notice you". Some viewers really do, genuinely, care about their favorite streamer or vlogger and tends to take upon them, what IntSys said, a sort of "celebrity/idol worshipping" stance on the matter. They believe their streamer is their friend when it comes to that (this mostly applies to significantly younger audiences, as I'm sure most adults would definitely not let themselves be manipulated so easily like that.)

In that situation I put above, it's a matter of the viewer thinking that their "idol" cares about them when they show a genuine reaction to their donation and praise them, and in some vain scenario where the viewer meets them irl and realizes their idol doesn't know who they are, then... well, I don't need to tell you the rest there.

But, that's just a very specific scenario, and I'm sure some other people have counterexamples to that and probably better organized than my scatterbrained...ness.

EA published it, and with certain publishers the developers have to adhere to certain... criteria that must be met or the developers won't get the funding for their game. EA basically said "put microtransactions in the game, till it's fit to burst, and make it a pay to win system. Everything else is up to you." Activision is a million times worse and would definitely NOT result in anything better.

Activision made a system in the recent CoD where you get something for watching people open loot boxes. Like... WHAT?

ah, well shows what I know

Yeah, Activision, or sorry: Activision Blizzard is known for their focus testing and trying to appeal to their one and only audience, and making everything as boring as possible, while shoving microtransactions down everybody's throats. They would've focus tested the shit out of Battlefront 2 and made it just another, glorified Call of Duty game, rather than what it is now, which has more substance than anything they could ever make - let's be real here.

Not American so I can't do much, but I hope you guys stop politicians/ISPs from killing the internet.

I'm just questioning why anyone would've wanted to vote for the tyrant of a president we have now, to have him be the supporter of removing Net Neutrality - the fucking hack. I'm just eagerly awaiting for all the protests and boycotts of companies like Verizon, until they realize just how badly the fucked up and they can face the music like EA is, with Battlefront. The same principle applies, where they do something the internet REALLY does not like, and then the internet makes their voice known in a very unpleasant way, and giving the recipient a whole lot of negative PR and loss of credibility. Among other things.

The problem with that is two-fold:

1) With battlefront you have a choice not to play. With ISP, you do not have a choice. Even if you had a few alternative options, they are usually doing the same thing.

2) Gradual change. At first it seems benign, and it erodes what we feel is acceptable.

I can kinda understand where he's coming from, but my issue is more with a minority of the fanbase than the series itself