Inspired by the eternally sexy Motoko Kusanagi of the classic anime Ghost in the Shell and the video game series Hyperdimension Neptunia, V-tuber “Melody” is the most recent–and dare I say the most controversial–virtual personality to grace the Internet. Like Hatsune Miku and Kizuna Ai before her, “Melody” is a self-proclaimed A.I. with her own personality.

While the A.I. bit is part of the fantasy, this isn’t entirely true. There’s a real person wearing “Melody’s” likeness as a virtual avatar using VR mapping and responding to her thousands of fans in real-time through a microphone.

Since “Melody’s” debut on Chaturbate (review at that link), she’s had quite a mixed reception because of this. On one hand, this virtual cam girl is living proof that the technological capabilities of VR are undeniably incredible. ProjektMelody is literally making thousands of fans’ live hentai fantasies come true.

There’s no one else out there doing quite what she’s doing, and maybe that’s part of the problem. Other cam girls attempting to capitalize on similar concepts are being banned by the very platform hosting “Melody,” and “Melody’s” fan base is even going so far as to harass live cam girls, celebrating our so-called inevitable obsolescence.

Over just a couple of days, this became enough of a problem that the Adult Performers Actors Guild even suggested that victims of ProjektMelody’s fans reach out to them for assistance.

While this behavior from cam fans is disappointing, I’m hardly surprised, having been the recipient of similar threats long before ProjektMelody reared her blank, emotionless head. The real issue, however, is that “Melody” shouldn’t even be on Chaturbate in the first place. Chaturbate, like all major cam sites, requires every model to verify their identity using a government-issued photo I.D. This helps confirm that the performer on-screen is of age and is consenting to appear live on the platform.

If the performer and the account holder don’t match, Chaturbate may suspend or terminate the offending account. But in true clout-chasing fashion, Chaturbate.com went over their own terms of service so they could be the first platform to host a real hentai cam girl. To absolutely no one’s surprise, despite obvious heckling from “Melody’s” rabid fan base and “Melody’s” very apparent violation of Chaturbate’s model agreement, articles and posts across the Internet eventually came to one extremely reductive conclusion: hoes mad :-).

And to their credit, some of us are, but it’s not for the reasons everyone thinks. In fact, ProjektMelody gives plenty of us hope for a way to stream free of the perils of doing. And besides, who wouldn’t want to be an anime girl?

As proven by Hatsune Miku and Kizuna Ai before her, virtual personalities will never completely eliminate the demand for live entertainers, so the argument that the completion of ProjektMelody is a harbinger of our impending doom is just a hater’s wishful thinking. However, the technology driving ProjektMelody may have even more sinister applications if placed in the wrong hands.

If more platforms allow V-tubers to perform without matching the photo on an I.D., who’s to say that virtual mapping won’t be applied to minors involved in human trafficking?

At the end of the day, we have to accept that “Melody” is simply the first of an inevitable surge of V-tuber cam girls. And that’s okay, so long as there’s a way for them to perform without violating a platform’s terms of service…or worse, the law.

Also here is a link to ProjektMelody on chaturbate.

Tweet @AdultCamNews and share your comments and thoughts about the merger of VR and sex cams. Will it ever really threaten cam girls and the real human to human live sex webcam connections they make?

Also, check out this list of the best live porn cams or the article where we discussed how Chaturbate is making it easier to find new cam models.