Not All Content You Think As “Innocuous” Can Be Covered By VTubers – Here’s Why

The content offered by VTubers are diverse: Aside from Let’s Plays, they also offer chatting streams, karaoke streams, and music videos. However, when it comes to VTubers covering third-party content in their content, not all of the content many thought as being “safe” would be covered by them, as doing so might have a risk of these entertainers getting criticism from the public for “ruining” their wholesome image – if they branded themselves as “wholesome” / “family-friendly”.

Drillimation’s Viewpoints

Drillimation Systems doesn’t have any intent to set up any VTubing channels at this time, but if they do so, the talents would be characters from Drillimation’s game libraries such as from the Chuhou Joutai series, which takes place in the modern day. The games that Drillimation makes follow the same principles as found in the Walt Disney Company’s philosophy, that being with families in mind.

That said, Drillimation would only allow the talents to play games with a Teen rating (PG-13) or below from the Entertainment Software Rating Board. In addition, music that carry the Parental Advisory label for explicit lyrical content are blocked out from karaoke streams and music videos. In addition, we would have to moderate the chat streams and block out things such as profanity.

Studio Emiko’s Viewpoints

Writer’s disclaimer: Some subject matter in this section is graphic.

Emiko Hosokawa of Studio Emiko is having from a similar dilemma when she discovered that Powerwolf – one of her favorite metal bands – published a new song called “1589”, as a teaser track for their upcoming album Wake Up the Wicked. While she admitted that the song is incredibly catchy, its content is incredibly disturbing: The song was about the German farmer Peter Stubbe, who was executed in 1589 following several murder cases – including that of fourteen children and two pregnant women as well as these women’s fetuses. It was also reputed that this man also had sexual activity with his own daughter, who allegedly was executed as well. In short, she stated that this song “isn’t really that appropriate for a teenaged audience”, and is currently considering whether she must remove the song permanently from her plans of karaoke setlist additions or not, as she is planning to tailor her content towards teenaged (namely 13 years and up) audiences.

If that person’s actions were depicted in a movie, it would be guaranteed to easily get an NC-17 rating for “extreme horror violence and some explicit sexual content – most involving children”. Outside North America, especially in Studio Emiko’s home country of Vietnam, said film would be denied releases in several regions for very high impact violence and child exploitation. Hosokawa was riddled with PTSD after listening to the track at least once.

Afterword

For many, a lot of things on the internet that parents think of can be a joke. Because of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, many content creators have created content suitable for most teens. Yes, there are many pieces of online content geared toward younger audiences, but they must appeal to adult audiences if they want to make big bucks.