Subscribers are only a means to an end to "creators" - there's no hope of genuine, personal, one-on-one connections with thousands/millions of subscribers (and methinks the "creators" at heart don't want that anyway) on an ongoing basis, so there's an emotional disconnection that needs to exist if the "creator" wants to keep making content for their simp bases. It's not much different from any customer-facing service that exists - for instance, your waitress being very personable while you're dining at their establishment, but they could not give a shit about you or your life once you're out of the venue. If money is why they're in it in the first place, the "creator" is just like any business owner - "Buy my shit and leave me alone."
I think for any business to be successful where parasocial activity is the norm and healthy boundaries are placed between the simps and the "creators", the following needs to exist:
- The "creator" needs to have a healthy attitude and overall positive mental health towards what they're doing and life.
- The "creator" needs to communicate regularly and establish a schedule around their wares as well as which wares they will/will not support, given the industry they're working in (NSFW ASMR and NSFW content in general).
- This is simple sales-and-marketing logic. Having a range of services and a schedule around them guarantees that expectations are clearly communicated and a customer base can be grown. Those services and schedule are subject to change, but those changes need to be coordinated in such a way that people aren't caught off-guard and pissed off to a degree that they unsubscribe due to lack of interest or ill feelings. Sustaining a customer's attention and appetite is one major part of having a continuously successful business while growing it.
- Life happens and the "creators" need to go offline/stay offline for a while. But if your income requires sustaining a customer base, pulling the rug out from under them by failing to honor previously communicated expectations will be detrimental to business.
- The simp/subscriber base need to be aware of general boundaries but also in on the story/joke prior to getting involved with a "creator" and their work.
- This may seem counterproductive by being Captain Obvious, but could be useful towards giving the simps a reality check once in a while.
- It also helps if the simp/subscriber base also collectively possess generally good mental health and coping abilities.
The sad part is that none of the above can guaranteed or enforced. There are millions of mentally unwell individuals who are lonely and craving a personal connection with someone who will make them happy, if only temporarily. There are also individuals who have mental problems rendering them unemployable or keeping them from developing life skills (inclusive of pursuing an education), but they need to earn some kind of living. The saving grace of it is that they're adjusted enough to communicate and manipulate people into feeling sorry for them, so that becomes their means of income: pursuing a career in manipulating people's emotions because there are platforms that exist for that purpose (even though their mission statements try to dance around that subject). Mai fits the latter category quite well. Without scouring her Onlyfans/Youtube and other platforms for consistency/validation, I believe she managed to meet some of the above criterion but missed the other important ones inclusive of communication.
Before naysayers drop in by saying "bad comparison/false equivalency, Onlyfans is not a normal business model" like they have in the past, I'm going to say that these "creators" are putting in as much effort as small business owners would who rely on the Internet for their income. They obtain residences (Mai moving around so she could establish a studio), buy supplies (costumes and accessories), dress up and so many other things that factor into their way of making a living that someone who wishes to support themselves financially via the Internet would, skill level or education being irrelevant. There are LLCs and trademarks likely in effect tied to their intellectual property. They also owe the IRS money based on this income derived from Onlyfans. These "creators" also tend to share an awful lot about their lives via self-doxxing or oversharing in their livestreams, so they in most cases confirm what we already know: unless they were famous before for different reasons, Onlyfans is their primary source of income unless they have a sugar daddy. If their accounts at Onlyfans are a business to them, most of them fail at managing said business because of the hands-off nature at Onlyfans and the erratic mental health/personal qualities of the "creators" they employ.
There's a reason why you don't make bipolar/BPD individuals CEOs, presidents and managers - they tried with Kanye West and...yeah.
