I try not to think about it, but the way fans received Miku Expo 2023 VR when it was announced still bothers me. Although I don't think it was their fault.
The real reason for all the vitriol and lack of participation in the Kickstarter was the surge of corporate greed after the pandemic, which still continues.
Lots of businesses took the pandemic as an opportunity to raise their profit margins. Many of them did not long continue to pursue the benefits of remote work, but plenty of them chose to cheapen their products while raising their prices. Often, that did involve moving parts of their services, if not necessarily their whole products, to use online processes.
Understandably, I think that caused fans to be afraid when another online concert was announced, especially since the pandemic was over/close to over at the time. There were no announced in-person Expo concerts at the time, and they were afraid that this move was more of the same. (In a way, I think Rewind was detrimental in this regard--its usage of existing concert footage probably reinforced the fans' fears. Although that reinforcement only partially made sense, since Rewind didn't raise funds from fans at all, so no one was paying to watch something they'd seen before.)
Still, I'm disappointed by the lack of fan support this show has received. I'll be disappointed again if no one comes, and again if those who still carry venom of some sort from the announcement period jump out afterwards and take the opportunity to share their bile.
Maybe having said that, I'll feel a little better. Hopefully it'll help me remember that the real reason for the situation is the fact that greed, and the insecurity that makes greedy people behave as they do, are bleeding the people of the world dry.
The real reason for all the vitriol and lack of participation in the Kickstarter was the surge of corporate greed after the pandemic, which still continues.
Lots of businesses took the pandemic as an opportunity to raise their profit margins. Many of them did not long continue to pursue the benefits of remote work, but plenty of them chose to cheapen their products while raising their prices. Often, that did involve moving parts of their services, if not necessarily their whole products, to use online processes.
Understandably, I think that caused fans to be afraid when another online concert was announced, especially since the pandemic was over/close to over at the time. There were no announced in-person Expo concerts at the time, and they were afraid that this move was more of the same. (In a way, I think Rewind was detrimental in this regard--its usage of existing concert footage probably reinforced the fans' fears. Although that reinforcement only partially made sense, since Rewind didn't raise funds from fans at all, so no one was paying to watch something they'd seen before.)
Still, I'm disappointed by the lack of fan support this show has received. I'll be disappointed again if no one comes, and again if those who still carry venom of some sort from the announcement period jump out afterwards and take the opportunity to share their bile.
Maybe having said that, I'll feel a little better. Hopefully it'll help me remember that the real reason for the situation is the fact that greed, and the insecurity that makes greedy people behave as they do, are bleeding the people of the world dry.
example of nice background music for a reading (from Valkyria, one of my favorite series):