Picture features the avatar of NocturnalNaomi who appears later in the article.

V-tuber’s continue to alter the way content creation is done and provide a way to separate the online persona and real life personality of creators. 

V-tubers stands for virtual youtubers where instead of a facecam the creator will use a video, png image or avatar to represent themselves as they play. In many cases, their real identity won’t be shown in videos.

They can choose what art style they want their characters to be and they are fully customizable to the creators preferences.

One V-Tuber who has made the change from using a face-cam to being a V-tuber is Naomi Amaya, 29 who goes by the online name NocturnalNaomi. She has 1.4k followers on Twitch. She discussed why she made the change from camera to V-Tuber in September 2022.

“I am already very into anime/cosplay culture so seeing someone become a virtual character was really cool for me to see. I started thinking about how I myself could become a V-Tuber by watching other people, watching YouTube tutorials and following other V-Tubers on Twitter and I liked the idea I could ‘mask’ myself as someone else”

For many years content creators have been reliant on using a facecam to succeed in video creation due to its ability to help a creator connect with their audience, it seems now that isn’t the case. Creators can us V-Tubing to accomplish the same thing just like Naomi has.

Several V-Tubers have accumulated audiences with millions of subscribers – the largest being ‘Gawr Gura’ who has an audience of 4,460,000. 

There has also been a steady shift where more and more people were choosing this form of content creation. In 2023 there were nearly 50,000 active V-Tubers, showing that this medium continues to grow. 

“I think V-Tubing is currently at its peak now. Lot’s of content creators have already moved to V-Tubing as it has evolved into a massive community.” Naomi says. “I can see in the future that things would end up going into AI V-Tubers where content creators wouldn’t even need to stream, they might just have a virtual assistant to do it for them.”

Whilst this does alter how a creator may approach their audiences, the upside is that it allows them to form an online character of their choosing and fully round that out – even if it is the complete opposite of who the creator is. This isn’t always easy though.

“Sometimes, you need to put on an act and pretend to be someone else which can be mentally exhausting after a three or four hour stream.”

For content creators who are making the change to V-Tubing, as well as working everything out for themselves, it is also an adjustment for their audiences.

“I announced to my audience that I was moving into V-Tubing before I did an official reveal and the news received a mixed reaction because people were so used to me reacting on camera and most people who watch me do not really watch other V-Tubers’.

“Eventually though people grew to the idea when they found out I would be a Fallout themed V-Tuber as that is what my channel is known for best.”

For those thinking of getting into the V-Tuber space, the first step needed is to design an avatar. Naomi found an artist who designed hers and rigged the image for movement. She was lucky to find an artist who designed it in a style she liked – thus her avatar was born.

“I was so happy to see an animated version of myself in the style of one of my favourite games of all time (Fallout).”

Using this style of content creation expands on the behind the scenes the streamer might need to do such as making sure the camera is tracking your movements, checking the backgrounds are stable and ensuring everything is synced.

Offering some advice for starting the design and experimental process of becoming a V-Tuber, Naomi said:

“My advice is to do research and see what works for you, I started experimenting with pre-made models on VTube Studio. I then binged about 4 hours worth of V-Tuber videos about how models are made and how to build confidence.

“Your Model’s design is key as well, you need to create a character that would pull an audience in such as using a design that’s never been done before or an character inspired from a game. Doing research on different models really helps a lot too.”

This medium clearly is here to stay and is offering new ways to build an audience. It offers content creators a new way to diversify their content. Naomi has found it has allowed her to creatively expand on the platform and community she built.

“Even though I still do camera streams. I get a lot of people who love my character, design and character’s lore. I really have enjoyed putting on a different personality from my usual camera streams, as I can play around with things and be more open and expressive.”

What do you think of V-Tubing? Would you consider moving to this medium?