marketing

Virtual Stars Part 2: The Advantages

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So last column I explored just why someone would want to make a Virtual Star, that star being defined by the following traits:

  1. The creation of a completely artificial media figure whose image, behavior, story, and personality are made up.
  2. This entity has no single component traceable as a contribution of an actual human being – no single voice actor, artist, etc.  The Virtual Star is an entirely artistic creation that cannot be rendered down to being identified with a single person, unlike an animated character with a popular voice actor or being distinctly modeled on a single human being.
  3. The entity is treated as real in most media produced around it, but it is acknowledged that the entity is completely virtual.

I then explored why I thought that the creation of a virtual star was a viable venture due to culture and resources:

  1. There have always been virtual stars or creations like virtual stars, especially for the youth.
  2. Regular stars have often been fictionalized.  People have come to accept some fictionalization of celebrities.
  3. Reality Television creates stars by mixing real-life and fiction.  This further blurs the fiction-fact boundary.
  4. Games have people used to using technology to produce memorable characters and fans have responded.
  5. Technology allows for creation of the elements needed to create a Virtual Star easily.

So the question then comes: what is the reason to create a Virtual Star?  Frankly I can think of a lot:

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Virtual Stars Part 1: An Analysis of Viability

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(I've noticed talks about the Vocaloid Concerts echoing around the internet, and wanted to address the idea behind virtual stars in more detail.  Seriously, when you see a post on it at an econoblog, you know it's time to comment.)

If you pay attention to the news, you'll see occasional discussion about Virtual Stars, completely manufactured media people.  The ones I see talked about are mostly in Japan, such as Kyoko Date back in the late 90's, or the prominent Vocaloid phenomena today.  These creations ventures often seem to be a cultural curiosity (especially outside of Japan), an oddity, or something out of a bad anime or science fiction film.  I think there's something useful in the virtual idol/virtual star concept that I want to explore as worthy of actual consideration as a viable commercial exercise

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