Mo and Faye Ayato of SFU SIAT: Isekai'ed into the Campus
Mo and Faye share their journey into Studio SIAT, a university program supporting the next frontier of entertainment from an academic lens
While we put a Filipino campus VTuber on the Spotlight, news about two campus VTubers debuting from Canada have emerged.
VTuber NewsDrop learns that the School of Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University (SFU SIAT) in the British Columbia city of Surrey launched its Studio SIAT Virtual Ambassadors program, enabling students enrolled in select classes to explore the VTuber scene from an academic lens.
"With the vAmbassador program we aim to arm our students with in-demand skills such as content creation, motion capture, animation, and game design all the while helping StudioSIAT continue our research and development mission and mature our production pipelines," the school wrote.
Studio SIAT is composed of virtual ambassadors Mo Ayato and Faye Ayato. Graduating Magical Conjuration student Faye and his part-time lab assistant Mo (a magical red panda-esque beast known as a Cappu) landed in our world.
They were studying magic before, but they now have a different purpose as they appeared at the SFU: "Our vAmbassadors will highlight the brilliant work being done by our students, faculty, and alumni through their regular streams and long and short form content."
We put Mo, Faye, and Studio SIAT's manager J Tseng on the Spotlight to know more about their operations.
Mo and Faye's Presence into the Wider Scene
"Let me tell you the story of a manager who couldn’t decide between two brilliant designs…. Just kidding," J wrote. "We believe two ambassadors allows for a wider representation of the students within the SIAT, the diverse and interdisciplinary topics our school offers, and frankly, so they are not so lonely on debut!
"It also allows for more student participation in this innovative project and creates more opportunities for skill building, hands-on learning, and community engagement."
We understand at this point that Mo and Faye are representing SIAT. What do you think their presence will bring into the wider VTuber scene?
We asked J what he thought about Mo and Faye's presence and what it will bring into the wider VTuber scene. "While in Asia, the perception of VTubing as a medium has recently become mainstream celebrities and play a wide variety of roles across media, VTubers in North America is still largely niche and entertainment focused," J adds.
"Our hope at SIAT is to push the boundaries of the VTubing medium by bridging the gap between traditional content creators and streamers and entertainment perception VTubers in North America. This hope aligns with the type of content Mo and Faye will create. They will not only be streaming or commenting on games and media but, in the future, be exploring physical spaces and interviewing real people in XR (extended reality) productions."
How Did Mo and Faye Become a Reality?
We know Mo and Faye came from their home world into SFU through a portal, but we break immersion just a little bit and ask how the actors were picked or assigned to be the person to represent said characters.
Mo answers for both her and Faye: "I think the audition process that we had to go through was not dissimilar to how established VTuber corporations do it.
"Out of a pool of 30+ students, Faye and I were picked after going through 4 stages of screening; the initial application, having to create a piece of content introducing ourselves and demonstrating our skills, an actual livestream demonstrating our ability, and a behavioral interview. There was a panel of judges, and I believe they were outsiders with no connection to the students to keep things impartial. Honestly, it was a lot!"
Mo also talked a bit more about the creative process. "For our characters, we did have some creative control over designs, and of course, backstory/personality, to make them match our real selves more closely.
"After making it through the audition process, we worked with the art director and writing team and provided suggestions on how we would like to change the characters to better suit us! Of course, I insisted the ears and tail STAY."
Mo’s Inspiration: Educational Longform Content Creators
Just as we asked about being selected, we also checked their VTuber knowledge. "I will be honest with you: I still don’t watch VTubers. I don’t even watch streamers!," Mo stressed.
A few years ago, she got introduced to VTubers with parasocial boyfriend/girlfriend experience type of content, which made her consider the genre as cringe at first. However, she end up working with them over time.
"I was very aware of what they were, had been exposed to clips here and there, I’ve got several friends who are indie VTubers themselves, and I’ve even worked with corporate VTubers at events! In hindsight, I’ve had friends and family say I would be well suited for VTubing and they’re surprised I hadn’t done it yet. And here I am proving them right, I guess."
Don't underestimate Mo's experience watching YouTubers though. "I’m more of a medium-longform content enjoyer–I’m a big fan of creators that bring specific skills or knowledge to the table: Captain Disillusion, Medlife Crisis, MattKC, About Here, camwing, Doodley, WIRED… but I also love comedy variety creators like Jacksfilms–the OG YouTuber!–Let’s Game It Out, and the Dropout (formerly Collegehumor) cast. (I mean, comedy is a skill!)
"...and I guess in a sense, the educational creators really made me want to do something valuable with my VTubing work; I want people to watch not just for Mo the character, but because the stuff I’m doing on stream is actually interesting and valuable and worth your time, while my favorite comedy creators inform my loosey-goosey approach of fun and sense of humor.
Mo did end up watching VTubers for research, after all. "In my research going into this whole vAmbassador thing, I’ve definitely watched a fair bit more to understand how they balance the character they play and their real selves, the kinds of activities they do, and how they conduct themselves on stream, especially for the debut–the entire structure of the debut stream was very foreign to me [laughs]."
Faye's Goal: Translate the Nazotoki Puzzle Genre Into VTubing
Same with Mo, Faye's surrounded by friends who did VTubing. "I personally didn’t have much interest in VTubers prior to becoming a vAmbassador, but I had a lot of people around me who did.
"In fact, I had a friend who makes VTuber models recommend I try to [apply for audition] or become one. That was several years ago now, but I suppose it’s somewhat come full circle. Since then I’ve picked up on some VTuber content, mainly clips and the odd stream here and there if it involves a collab I’m interested in.
"Even now though, my main inspirations and creative origins lie elsewhere. Part of the process for auditioning for this role involved me displaying my interest in game/puzzle design," Faye continues.
"My number 1 source of inspiration for puzzles is Ryogo Matsumaru, creator and CEO of the company RIDDLER. He and many other creators in Japan make a genre of puzzle called 'Nazotoki,' something I haven’t really seen in the west and something I knew I would want to try and highlight if I ever became a content creator.
"So when it came to preparing for said audition, I actually spent less time researching what kind of things VTubers make, and rather how to translate this Nazotoki aspect into an English speaking audition tape. Thankfully the team saw something in that and here I am.
"Now that I have the role, I of course have to consider what the virtual element brings to my content as a whole, not just the Nazotoki that got me here. My plans as Faye aren’t necessarily concrete, but I’d like to highlight my interests in passions in ways that could really only be done through VTubing.
"Do I know what these ways are? Not at the moment. But now that I have been given this position and opportunity, I’d like to make use of it to the fullest."
What If They Graduate (from School)?
We're all aware about a specific taboo of VTubing involving the actors behind the characters. Assuming that the program would eventually have rotating set of students, will SIAT keep the assets even after the current talents behind it would have to graduate from the school eventually?
"We believe once you become a SIAT vAmbassador, you can always be a vAmbassador. So even after the vAmbassadors graduate from the school, we would love for them to take their audiences on their journey into the workplace!," J asserts.
"While creating our first class did come at a great expense, it has also been a fantastic learning experience for the StudioSIAT team. No, we will not be having rotating students play one character. We believe, as long as the vAmbassador is leaving on good terms, they will be able to retain their model and character after completing at least one year of ambassadorship.
"We hope our vAmbassador alumni have great careers as indie creators or maybe even become a corporate VTuber. Our learnings with this first class of vAmbassadors allows us to provide current and future students the opportunity to work on designing, modelling, and rigging future classes of vAmbassadors."
We know there's three model assets–Mo, Faye and Cappu. While Mo and Faye are virtual ambassadors, the Cappu model has been used as early as last year. "To represent our audience body, we created a cute teaching avatar, Cappu! Anyone can be a Cappu, students, faculty, or fans alike. Cappus don’t speak, they just do and be."
Goals for Now and the Future
Given that we consider Mo and Faye as VTubers hailing from the academe, we also asked him what would be SIAT's goals for them now and in the future?
"SIAT’s aim is to incorporate Mo and Faye into campus culture, act as ambassadors for off campus outreach, engage SIAT students with unique content reflecting their student experience, and even take part in student’s games and animation projects.
"We believe strongly in providing students access to in-demand hands-on production skills, process, and technologies. Thus, we hope Mo and Faye will become iconic representatives for how SIAT embraces innovative virtual platforms in academic settings."
Mo and Faye streams on the SFU SIAT YouTube channel. Find out more about Mo, Faye and SFU SIAT on the following platforms:
We first found the news about Mo and Faye's debut through SFU SIAT art director Chockie on Reddit.