Youna Kang (born 27 February 1990), better known by her online 3D

Virtual YouTuber A , or , is an online entertainer who uses a virtual avatar generated using computer graphics. Real-time motion capture software or technology are often—but not always—used to capture movement. The digital trend originated in Japan in the mid- ...

persona CodeMiko and alias The Technician, is a South Korean-American

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

streamer Streamer or streamers may refer to: * a person who streams online on an internet platform like twitch or youtube * Pennon, a small pointed flag * Streamer, a kind of confetti consisting of strips of paper or other material * Streamer, a common nam ...

and

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

. Kang is best known for her live streams on Twitch, interviewing other streamers, content creators and internet personalities as her alter ego persona CodeMiko and for pushing the envelope with regards to interactivity in VTuber technology. Kang created the CodeMiko persona using

Unreal Engine Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genr ...

, a

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of ...

from

Xsens Xsens Technologies B.V. (or Xsens) is a supplier of 3D motion capture products, wearable sensors and inertial sensors based upon miniature MEMS inertial sensor technology. The company has created intellectual property in the field of multi-senso ...

, motion capture gloves from Manus VR and a

facial tracking Facial motion capture is the process of electronically converting the movements of a person's face into a digital database using cameras or laser scanners. This database may then be used to produce computer graphics (CG), computer animation for m ...

helmet from MOCAP Design. The CodeMiko

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...

is composed of 36000

polygons In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two t ...

, modelled in

Autodesk Maya Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to just Maya ( ), is a 3D computer graphics application that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, originally developed by Alias and currently owned and developed by Autodesk. It is used to create assets for interac ...

and textured using Adobe Substance. While Kang originally created CodeMiko alone, the project is now developed by a team consisting of an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

/ animator /

rigger Rigger may refer to: * One who attends to the rigging of a sailing ship * Rigger (entertainment), those who tend rigging in stage performance (theater, film, concert, etc.) * Rigger (industry), specializing in moving large/heavy objects such as lo ...

, a

publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists w ...

, a

personal assistant A personal assistant, also referred to as personal aide (PA) or personal secretary (PS), is a job title describing a person who assists a specific person with their daily business or personal task,. it is a sub-specialty of secretarial duti ...

and a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. Kang now focuses on leading the development effort, on

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

and idea generation. Kang is focused not just on the broadcasting, but rather on introducing new standards of

interactivity Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but ...

with her audience. CodeMiko's virtual environment is designed to be ''quasi interactive'', meaning that viewers can influence and modify the CodeMiko avatar and surroundings by engaging in live stream chat or by donating money.

Career

Kang came up with the idea of CodeMiko while working at Nickelodeon. After being laid off due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, she decided to pursue streaming full time. Early on, she made around $300 per month from Twitch, which could not cover rent. This move was quite risky considering that Kang went into debt to acquire the Xsens Mo-cap suit, in total she accumulated over $20,000 of debt in order to get the setup she needed. She has attributed this debt and her poor risk management to her success: Kang states that, since CodeMiko project has been a success, she can now afford a comfortable living.

Streaming

Kang had her streaming breakthrough in 2021. She has attributed her sudden raise in popularity due to having a viral tweet on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and going viral on r/LiveStreamFails on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news news aggregator, aggregation, Review site#Rating site, content rating, and Internet forum, discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") subm ...

CodeMiko

The CodeMiko avatar's

in-universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes may ...

backstory A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of ...

, is that she is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

without a game. She had always wanted to be in a mainstream video game, but never succeeded in doing so, due to her '

Glitch A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as amon ...

' (a story arc very similar to

Vanellope von Schweetz ''Wreck-It Ralph'' is a Disney media franchise primarily consisting of an animated comedy film series produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The series tells the story of the eponymous arcade game villain ...

from the ''Wreck-It Ralph'' franchise). CodeMiko has expressed that she was forced to take smaller roles, such as a bush in ''

The Last of Us ''The Last of Us'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United State ...

'', following the archetypical story of the struggling

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

, someone who just wants to be in a movie, any movie, but for Miko, any video game. She finally managed to find her way into Kang / The Technicians Unreal Engine project, and thus becoming a twitch streamer. She is currently roaming different game worlds, looking for a place she will fit in. So far she has visited the world of

dead Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

s and ''

The Sims ''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. The games ...

''. The CodeMiko avatar is aware of the Technician and frequently breaks the

Fourth Wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cent ...

, both indirectly through cross-over interviews such as CodeMiko interviewing the Technician, and directly through the use of

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory Modality (human–computer interaction), modalities, including visual, Hearing, auditory, hap ...

. The "glitchiness" of the CodeMiko character is expressed and explored through her sometimes glitching into her evil alter ego avatar simply known as "Glitch", exchanging her usual pink-haired avatar, for a semi-transparent Matrix digital rain-inspired avatar. The "Glitch" avatar is additionally distinguished by having a deeper and hoarser voice achieved through the use of a

voice changer The term voice changer (also known as voice enhancer) refers to a device which can change the tone or pitch of or add distortion to the user's voice, or a combination and vary greatly in price and sophistication. A kazoo/ didgeridoo can be used a ...

. Glitch is very profane and seeks to offend. It was assumed that CodeMiko was originally released and developed under the name 'mikoglitch', only to be dropped as it conflicted with 'Miko Kubota' of

Glitch Techs ''Glitch Techs'' is an American animated streaming television series created by Eric Robles and Dan Milano for Nickelodeon and Netflix. The series premiered on Netflix on February 21, 2020, with a second season premiering on August 17 of the ...

- but in a VOD, Youna said, "this is not true" and explained how she created "mikoglitch" to bypass the temporary shadow ban of her "CodeMiko" channel. The interview show has been compared to 1990s animated parody talk show ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the origi ...

''. On CodeMiko, Kang said, "She's kind of stupid, unfiltered, and not afraid to say whatever is on her mind or what she sees."

PogChamps

CodeMiko participated in the online amateur

chess tournament A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition am ...

PogChamps 3 in 2021. She placed last with 4 losses and 0 wins, along with streamer

Myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

. She was coached by PogChamps coaches WGM

Anna Rudolf Anna Rudolf (born 12 November 1987) is a Hungarian chess player, chess commentator, Twitch live streamer, and YouTuber who holds the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a three-time Hungarian women's nation ...

and Andrea Botez.

TOS PTSD

Kang has described having developed "TOS

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

" following her unintentionally breaking Twitch's terms of service (TOS) and subsequent receiving bans, leading to her developing economic anxiety and seeking help by psychiatrist and Twitch streamer

Alok Kanojia Alok Kanojia, also known as Dr. K. (born October 7, 1982), is an American psychiatrist and co-founder of the mental health coaching company, Healthy Gamer. He streams interviews on Twitch, where he and participants discuss mental health topics. ...

on stream. Kang has expressed worries about Twitch's introduction of a "Brand Safety Score" system, with regards to how her

X-rated An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences. Aust ...

jokes and humor may not be advertiser-friendly content, and thus may threaten her income potential on the platform. She has since described how her worries lessened as she came to be sponsored by the energy drink brand

G-Fuel G Fuel (stylized in all uppercase as G FUEL), is a brand of caffeinated drink mix sold by Gamma Labs, based in West Babylon, New York. It is marketed as a supplement for gaming that allegedly boosts focus and quickens reaction time. G Fuel wa ...

, the gaming-chair company Mavix, Seagate Gaming and metal poster company

Displate Displate is a Polish poster manufacturing company. Its posters are made of metal and feature many characters and scenes from popular culture or art made by hired artists. There are over 1.5 million unique designs, which are shipped worldwide. H ...

Reception

The CodeMiko project has generally been positively received, with ''

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

'' describing CodeMiko as "The Future Of Streaming" and ''

Designboom ''Designboom'' (stylized as ''designboom'') is a daily web magazine covering the fields of industrial design, architecture, and art internationally. Launched in 1999, and headquartered in Milan, the publication was the first web magazine to focu ...

'' stating that she is "Revolutionizing the digital space". The ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

'' have reported that her content might be signalling "The next frontier of digital entertainment", while ''Quartz'' has reported CodeMiko as "The talk show host of the future". ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

'' has reported CodeMiko as someone who is "reshaping the Twitch landscape in her image". The project has also received interest from several producers of sexually explicit content.

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:CodeMiko 21st-century South Korean women American YouTubers American people of Korean descent Gaming YouTubers VTubers Let's Players American Twitch (service) streamers Video game commentators Women video bloggers YouTube vloggers Rancho Bernardo High School alumni Palomar College alumni Ringling College of Art and Design alumni 1990 births Living people Streamer Award winners South Korean Twitch (service) streamers