red herring (pt.3)

this should be the third and final post about ufotown-- at least, the final post in regards to just exploring the site's archives. i still want to look through old soompi forum archives and try to reach out in communities to see if anyone remembers anything, but! this should be the end of this chapter.

i get into some mental health topics (parasociality and its effects) towards the end of the post, so please be cautious. i marked when they begin so you can stop reading.

there's not much else we can get from the site's main pages, but they have a very in-depth faq page and some descriptive guides for each main section. so, let's start with the... 

faq

up first are the top ten popular faq answers. most of them are in regards to how fly messages work, how stars reply, and possible registration errors. as it turns out, you can send instant fly messages through phone (cellular) service and through the web. a flat rate of 300 won is applied to each message, plus a 30 won transmission fee. sometimes, you could participate in events and get free message coupons. you could also sign up for a membership, in which you'd pay a certain fee every month to send a certain amount of fly messages within a month. the most expensive one in 2009 was 9,900 won to have 150 prepaid messages on the web. the most expensive mobile plan was 4,900 won per month for 50 messages. it's a bit nuts to me. 

it could just be translation error and / or a bit of buttering up, but the faq also mentioned that the idols linked with ufo had specific facilities and equipment linked to ufo around them (in the dorms, training rooms, etc) so they could see messages in real time and respond to them in real time. it was also linked to their umpcs (ultra-mobile personal computers, sort of interesting actually) that they were said to "have on them at all times." this makes me really uneasy. well, to be frank, this all makes me a little uneasy. but i'll return to that later.

i also saw an faq where someone would say that their name and registration number would not match, and thus they couldn't create an account. and one of the solutions was to check with the seoul credit and information agency. so i think, at least right now, that this would be a service restricted to korean citizens. since, y'know, it probs wouldn't be easy for someone not in korea to be registered with the seoul credit and information agency. this was probably necessary for the ability to pay for the messages. i have a feeling it also eliminated some spam.

in the faq, we also finally get some hints as to what yuta / uta is. it's not explicitly described, but it's tied to how much you participate in the social offerings of the site, especially the forums. and instead of topics, the different types are actually connected to your level of interaction. the lowest level of interaction is comet, the little yellow raindrop-shaped icon. the highest level of interaction is galaxy, which is the red sun-like icon. even just logging in every day can give you 5 points. and if you accumulate enough points, you can become an unofficial news reporter for the site. how interesting. your points can also be deducted for saying cruel things, or having your account suspended in general.

these points can also reflect in the groups that i mentioned before. group effort. manager circles are for higher-level folks, and supporter circles are at the lower levels. the managers at the top are supposed to help other users (and tell you what to do? give you notices?), and supporters are meant to support each other build up points n stuff. or at least, i think that's how that works. it's not entirely clear to me, even with the diagram. i wonder if the users' personal circles could be customized.

moving onto the...

ufo lab

the ufo lab consists of short illustrated guides that show one how to use the various services of ufo town. there's not a whole bunch here to add on from what i already got from the faq, but there were a few extra details that i thought were interesting.

in regards to the radio: i think i already mentioned how you could get voice messages from the idols, and return them, as if you were actually in conversation. i'll get back to my feelings on this later. but you can also play a tarot card reading game (i'm assuming it's like one of those old flash quizzes based on background calculations), and your idol of choice would read your horoscope for you??? all the radio stuff was free, also.

but yeah, that's it from the lab. all the explanations are image-based, and not a lot of them were archived, so...

that was ufotown. do you have any thoughts on the service as a whole, with all this info?

!!! mental health topics begin here !!!

personally, the site design is cute and fun, but... i can't help but be unnerved. or uneasy, from the content and purpose itself. i know that fandoms, especially in regards to idols of any type and within kpop, have actively fed into parasociality and unhealthy dynamics and treatment since the beginning of the universe and continue to. but this just... i dunno. it's so much. between this, iple, cyworld, fansites that encroach on boundaries, the paparazzi... all the demand for the idol's time to feed into this relationship ALONGSIDE the insane schedules and expectations they had at such young ages... do you know what i mean? it's the way these interactional things can encroach into their days and entire lives-- at what point are they really themselves anymore, and not performing at all times? 

and then you have the exploitation of fans. don't get me wrong-- a fandom can do DAMAGE, and unchecked parasocial expectations and downright entitlement is a scourge on artists and art as a whole. and sasaengs and anti-fans are a whole different topic that i don't have the grace to handle right now, though they are connected. but these companies actively feeding into this. at times, parasocial relationships can be born of loneliness and insecurity. taking advantage of that, bringing people deeper and further into this relationship-- that isn't even real, but actively being marketed and pushed all the time as such!-- is just damaging them. especially as so many of them are so young! 

and yes, it does come to a point where the person themselves has to make an active choice to resist the pull of parasocial ideas, disconnect from content that they recognize can cause them both happiness and harm, and set boundaries in their mind that ensure their safety. they have to go against the marketing, and ultimately, themselves. one is responsible for their own actions.

these feelings don't exist in a vacuum, though-- society's expectations, family and friends, how that all affects self-image can cause this. and systems like these have been stewing for decades, if not actual centuries. with idols, it's almost completely guaranteed that you would be "loved". and who wouldn't want that, from someone who is supposed to be so perfect? it makes you feel perfect too. would you not want to be close to them and call them your friend, talk to them?

but it's not real. and it can be dangerous. it's not the idol's fault. it's not the fans' fault, even if both idol and fan feed into this relationship back and forth from the isolation both feel. it's the fault of those who failed to protect them, on so many levels, an infinite amount of times. (their feelings and the structures that brought them about, i mean. i say again, one is responsible for their own actions.)

i just don't know. do i sound patronizing and rude? hypocritical? if i do, please let me know, and i mean this genuinely. i've got akanishi in every post's image and i say jaejoong's made a place in my heart, yet i say this. it feels that way. 

i'm not saying all of this out of malice, truly. there was a point in my life, in which i depended on the idea of a particular idol in order to get me through every day. i didn't sign up for any subscriptions or participate in fan-idol interactions, but he consumed my waking thoughts and ideas of my future life. that was way before any of you knew me (before spacehey, i mean), and i'm in a better enough space that i don't do that anymore. that pattern is no longer part of me. but i can still remember the effects of it to this day. i remember how sad and lonely i was-- how fleeting the happiness this imaginary relationship brought me was. how devastated i felt when i realized i didn't like him or his group anymore, and having to restructure myself from it. 

having something like this-- access to his voice and communication with him "just like a friend" AT ALL TIMES, REMEMBER, could've had me dig deeper into that hole. heck, the only reason i didn't get bubble back then was money. some of this stuff was FREE. and as kpop is a business first, this is intentional. it's all for the same reason, and it makes me sick that this is supposed to be normal.

i should give some grace. my self (and some others, i'm sure) back then was doing their best to stay afloat in what was a very rough time for them. while it got them through, it wasn't sustainable or healthy. and that's ultimately it. one cannot structure their entire lives around an interpretation-- and this goes for all sorts of relationships, including ones in the real world.

of course, that isn't to say that everyone using these apps are obsessed and consumed with their favorite idols. not everyone participating in fandom and consuming content is in such a place, either. but as this slippery slope is something that's encouraged, and has been for so long, it can't help but feel insidious whenever i see these services.

and what's it in the name of? must i even say it? it makes my blood boil. no one wins from this except for those at the top.

if you read this far, thank you. i'm sorry it took such a turn. i'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter as well.

sotd: throwin' shapes by cursive