When I first registered on UtaForum, albeit illegally, at age 10 on the Zetaboard site in 2011, I knew that this community would be different.
Sure, you say. How could a ten year old know?
I'm sure many of you were like that young me. A curious child thinking of exploring a curious world.
I had previously explored the internet, believe it or not. I joined other online forums under a different alias, many times. I was not so scared to look through what others had to say.
But I had always seen the Internet at the point as some mysterious wide open field, with no limits on who you can be. You could be... well, you. You didn't really need to hide (except for your face and personal info), you could express yourself in ways beyond what you and I could think of.
I felt that the Vocaloid and UTAU community was different from that--you could express yourself in way more ways. You had your own personal singing voice! There was a welcoming, warm community! People were free to say what they wished and had no quarrels because they had only good things to say.
It's been five years. Five years since that little me joined UtaForum to explore something he loved.
I am now approaching the age of 15, hitting it in less than two months, in September. I have matured since I was 10. I have seen things that would last me a lifetime (though I will not go more than that). I realized that I like the same gender. I found myself advocating for feminism and wanting to fight against that gap between male and female, between black and white which I had thought had been defeated long ago.
More importantly, I have seen this community change.
The community that I came into was more or less a 'fan community'. We cared less about the creation of things--more about the consumption of things. Back in the earlier days, we wanted more covers of the things we loved, rather than venturing out there and challenging ourselves. Of course, I was not one of the first UTAU fans. There were those before me, the first western fans back in 2008 or 2009. Hell, there could've fans of LoliEdit. Despite those before me, I like to fancy myself to be a somewhat second-generation wave of UTAU users.
But time has passed. Times have changed. People's attitudes have changed.
Today, this community has become much more creator-orientated. We don't care as much about your first CV UTAU as we might have 5 years ago. We crave so much more than the generic plug-n-play covers. We don't care about the song that's been covered a million times before with the same singer and instrumental and version. We applaud the small achievements, but in the end we no longer see any worth in those first achievements other than the fact that those will lead to something bigger.
Those ridiculous jokes about how people only care about 'kire multi-pitch multi-append VCV banks'? Upon thinking about them a bit, maybe they're not that far off.
They probably aren't even a quarter of a foot off since we are now so competitive.
Everybody is scrambling to get to the top. A lot of users now don't care about doing stuff for the hell of it or because they want to. They desperately want that attention, that popularity because--let's face it--the only time you will really have people come to defend you is either A. you have strong friends on top, B. you have a lot of followers, or the elusive C. you are blessed to have friends that might be able to make a mark. People want to become the next big thing. Some would do anything to get there.
Some would even do as much to attempt to deface someone, ruin their reputation, destroy their emotional being. I'm not saying I've seen anyone do it personally, I'm just saying I know a few times where this could've been used as a description in some aspects. And I know a hell of a lot of people that are willing to do it when they have a chance.
Willing to strike at defenseless, weak, and vulnerable moment. Not even bearing to think to read the other's side of the story, or thinking about what could have been happening.
You know, that's the thing. People think 'they don't show it, so they must not be going through something,' instead of 'they might be going through something, I don't know.'
We are so selfish and so quick to jump to revenge when we don't even know if our freaking words that we freaking typed are the last words that person will ever see before the off themselves.
(Please don't take this the wrong way. I support pulling receipts when it's about something that's legitimately bad. I don't like when people use them simply for the sake of ruining someone's reputation, especially when that someone is pushing to become a better person.)
We are so competitive, whether we choose to accept it or not.
For us, it's either 'do that, or you're horrible at UTAU/Vocaloid/CeViO/vocal synth/music making/etc.' Some will say, 'Your opinion is different? haha wtf you are a terrible person, why would you even come close to thinking that? that is the worst thing I've heard ever. Your works are trash.' Believe me when I say I know at least one person that would say these things and a hundred others that are thinking the same thing.
Others will disagree with what I have to say. I am fine with that. But you know that community I came into at age 10?
That community that I came into, the community that I loved and considered my internet home... is gone.
I don't want to see it gone.
I know it's selfish to want something to not change, but I think I might be asking for quite the opposite.
I don't know why we have become so competitive. Hell, I'm competitive af at times. I'm ready to pounce on drama at times, even when I know it's wrong.
I just want everybody to chill for one goddamn minute, take a deep breath, and actually think about different perspectives other than yours for once. That includes myself.
..when I first registered on UtaForum, albeit illegally, at age 10 on the Zetaboard site in 2011, I knew that this community would be different. I didn't think it would be different as I aged. But everything changes.
I just don't want this community to change into something utterly toxic.
And I hope you understand that everything is all about your perspective and your attitude.
All about your attitude in this community.
Thank you.
---
I don't want this to start arguments. This is somewhat of my own opinion/analysis piece of what I've been seeing in the community. Too many people are getting too passive aggressive and competitive about UTAU.
I want this to start a new discussion and a new conversation about how the community feels around experienced and new users. I want to know how people feel. This doesn't just apply to the UTAU community.
Sure, you say. How could a ten year old know?
I'm sure many of you were like that young me. A curious child thinking of exploring a curious world.
I had previously explored the internet, believe it or not. I joined other online forums under a different alias, many times. I was not so scared to look through what others had to say.
But I had always seen the Internet at the point as some mysterious wide open field, with no limits on who you can be. You could be... well, you. You didn't really need to hide (except for your face and personal info), you could express yourself in ways beyond what you and I could think of.
I felt that the Vocaloid and UTAU community was different from that--you could express yourself in way more ways. You had your own personal singing voice! There was a welcoming, warm community! People were free to say what they wished and had no quarrels because they had only good things to say.
It's been five years. Five years since that little me joined UtaForum to explore something he loved.
I am now approaching the age of 15, hitting it in less than two months, in September. I have matured since I was 10. I have seen things that would last me a lifetime (though I will not go more than that). I realized that I like the same gender. I found myself advocating for feminism and wanting to fight against that gap between male and female, between black and white which I had thought had been defeated long ago.
More importantly, I have seen this community change.
The community that I came into was more or less a 'fan community'. We cared less about the creation of things--more about the consumption of things. Back in the earlier days, we wanted more covers of the things we loved, rather than venturing out there and challenging ourselves. Of course, I was not one of the first UTAU fans. There were those before me, the first western fans back in 2008 or 2009. Hell, there could've fans of LoliEdit. Despite those before me, I like to fancy myself to be a somewhat second-generation wave of UTAU users.
But time has passed. Times have changed. People's attitudes have changed.
Today, this community has become much more creator-orientated. We don't care as much about your first CV UTAU as we might have 5 years ago. We crave so much more than the generic plug-n-play covers. We don't care about the song that's been covered a million times before with the same singer and instrumental and version. We applaud the small achievements, but in the end we no longer see any worth in those first achievements other than the fact that those will lead to something bigger.
Those ridiculous jokes about how people only care about 'kire multi-pitch multi-append VCV banks'? Upon thinking about them a bit, maybe they're not that far off.
They probably aren't even a quarter of a foot off since we are now so competitive.
Everybody is scrambling to get to the top. A lot of users now don't care about doing stuff for the hell of it or because they want to. They desperately want that attention, that popularity because--let's face it--the only time you will really have people come to defend you is either A. you have strong friends on top, B. you have a lot of followers, or the elusive C. you are blessed to have friends that might be able to make a mark. People want to become the next big thing. Some would do anything to get there.
Some would even do as much to attempt to deface someone, ruin their reputation, destroy their emotional being. I'm not saying I've seen anyone do it personally, I'm just saying I know a few times where this could've been used as a description in some aspects. And I know a hell of a lot of people that are willing to do it when they have a chance.
Willing to strike at defenseless, weak, and vulnerable moment. Not even bearing to think to read the other's side of the story, or thinking about what could have been happening.
You know, that's the thing. People think 'they don't show it, so they must not be going through something,' instead of 'they might be going through something, I don't know.'
We are so selfish and so quick to jump to revenge when we don't even know if our freaking words that we freaking typed are the last words that person will ever see before the off themselves.
(Please don't take this the wrong way. I support pulling receipts when it's about something that's legitimately bad. I don't like when people use them simply for the sake of ruining someone's reputation, especially when that someone is pushing to become a better person.)
We are so competitive, whether we choose to accept it or not.
For us, it's either 'do that, or you're horrible at UTAU/Vocaloid/CeViO/vocal synth/music making/etc.' Some will say, 'Your opinion is different? haha wtf you are a terrible person, why would you even come close to thinking that? that is the worst thing I've heard ever. Your works are trash.' Believe me when I say I know at least one person that would say these things and a hundred others that are thinking the same thing.
Others will disagree with what I have to say. I am fine with that. But you know that community I came into at age 10?
That community that I came into, the community that I loved and considered my internet home... is gone.
I don't want to see it gone.
I know it's selfish to want something to not change, but I think I might be asking for quite the opposite.
I don't know why we have become so competitive. Hell, I'm competitive af at times. I'm ready to pounce on drama at times, even when I know it's wrong.
I just want everybody to chill for one goddamn minute, take a deep breath, and actually think about different perspectives other than yours for once. That includes myself.
..when I first registered on UtaForum, albeit illegally, at age 10 on the Zetaboard site in 2011, I knew that this community would be different. I didn't think it would be different as I aged. But everything changes.
I just don't want this community to change into something utterly toxic.
And I hope you understand that everything is all about your perspective and your attitude.
All about your attitude in this community.
Thank you.
---
I don't want this to start arguments. This is somewhat of my own opinion/analysis piece of what I've been seeing in the community. Too many people are getting too passive aggressive and competitive about UTAU.
I want this to start a new discussion and a new conversation about how the community feels around experienced and new users. I want to know how people feel. This doesn't just apply to the UTAU community.