Parasocial Proxy Punishment Mode (PPPM) v7.0: A Conceptual Framework for Desynchronized Punitive Action in Parasocial Identification

VTuber fandom highlights a striking paradox of parasocial identification: why do supporters who strongly identify with a performer sometimes act against the expressed wishes of the very performer they are trying to protect? Parasocial Proxy Punishment Mode (PPPM) is a conceptual framework for understanding this communication problem. It examines how supporters may continue to punish a third party "for the performer" even when the performer has explicitly asked for de-escalation. The paper focuses on desynchronization—the structural divergence between the performer's expressed de-escalation message and the supporter's proxy punitive action. It develops: two activation pathways: Direct Proxy Punishment and Interpretive Proxy Punishment; a distinction between PPPM and Self-Reactive attacks driven primarily by the supporter's own anger; explicit boundary conditions for determining when PPPM is and is not present; Punitive Drift, a later-stage transformation in which punishment expands beyond the original grievance; implications for parasocial communication and directions for future empirical research. VTubers and other avatar-mediated performers are the primary domain of analysis, but the framework is intended to apply more broadly to other fandoms and mediated communities with comparable structures. This is a preprint and has not yet undergone peer review. This manuscript was prepared with AI assistance.