Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships between two people, where one person invests interest and time and the other is largely unaware they exist. They usually occur between a fan and a content creator and are exacerbated by self-disclosure (sharing things about yourself), long term exposure (playing Blaseball a while), and any perceived reciprocity (responding to contact).
A relationship can be harmless affection for podcast hosts; it can also be someone DMing a creator constantly to try to become friends. Parasocial relationships are not inherently bad, but parasocial interaction can be.
<aside> ✅ Establishing and reinforcing boundaries serves both us and the community, and it means that we are not accidentally encouraging fan entitlement to our energy or the commodification of us as individuals.
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Parasocial relationships can lead to uncomfortable situations, fans taking up too much time, and fans getting angry and punishing us for not reciprocating their understanding of reality.
Approachability and accessibility of a creator means fans feel they have a better shot at a response, which would give them more social power in the fan space and validate their feelings. The more approachable we are online, the more likely it is fans will try to cross boundaries.
We as individuals do not want to be a part of consumption of a media property, because that often leads to fans reducing a human person to another part of a show/game/podcast to react to and analyze. We become inextricable from the product and commodity of Blaseball. Boo.
<aside> 🤷 At the end of the day, any amount of engagement and availability will be taken as encouragement by some fans, regardless of what we do.
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We can’t avoid parasocial relationships, but we can set healthy boundaries about behavior that can escalate!