In this latest interview by "Syrmor", VRChat's best embedded reporter, a guy in a Bugs Bunny avatar shares with him and Winnie the Pooh a cascade of brutal stories from his real life, starting with FBI raid on his house, family abuse, his mother's meth addiction, from which point it gets worse -- and in the end, possibly, just a bit better.
When I started reporting in virtual worlds over a decade ago, among the very first people I profiled casually told me they were homeless in real life; that and many, many more similar experiences hasve informed my sense that virtual worlds are among the few mediums where people can share heartbreakingly intimate aspects of their lives that they couldn't comfortably speak honestly about elsewhere. Or as Syrmor put in when I profiled him:
“I'm legitimately interested in hearing strangers share their stories so I think my interest shines through and makes them more excited to share,” Syrmor says. “Also in VRChat there isn't as much social anxiety cause you can just leave the conversation without consequence whenever you like.”
Syrmor has such a large and dedicated viewership (nearly half a million YouTube subscribers now!), he has an anonymous commentator who posts graduate level philosophical analyses of his videos:
This short film is one of Syrmor's classic works to strike against traditional concepts of morality and justice. The audience is presented with a character that resembles one of Syrmor's previous characters, which is a reference to Syrmor's ever-enlarging universe and the continuity that links all of their short films. Overall, the theme of this short film is one of forgiveness and attacks deontological logic in which there are certain absolute "rights" and "wrongs".
The short film opens up to the initial action that sets forwards all of the events our character discusses: the act of their mother being arrested for drug, firearm and child endangerment charges; and the placement of our character into a youth shelter. While describing the environment of the shelter, our character acknowledges that although the children were troubled, they simply did not know "right" from "wrong. The plump figure that resembles a bear seems to represent the counterargument to this film: "Why wouldn't they know the difference between right and wrong?" Syrmor addresses this later in the short film, and so shall I as continue to mimic its narrative structure.
Our character then relates their experiences in this youth shelter. Typically, one hears that such environments are terrible due to the prevalence of delinquency from the peers and neglect from the overseers. Contrary to this notion, our character argues that this experience was rather helpful and foundational for them; and that they would not go "back in time" and change it if they had such an ability.
Next, our character describes their familial relations. Generally, the father was not very present in our character's life; and the audience is already aware of the mother's connection to their life. In a moral framework that most people would have, it would not be considered "just" for our character to still hold love for their parents -- people would argue that they no longer deserve it. This is a typical deontological argument in which certain actions are simply wrong and cannot be rectified. However, Syrmor is presenting, through this character, a moral framework that argues that the ENDS, rather than the MEANS, matter the most...
[Comment by "swaglord"]
Many other worthwhile comments on Syrmor's YouTube thread.
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