Instead of beautifully describing what doesn't reach, I want to find a place where it does

Hello, this is Reiji Kuga.

Before I knew it, names I used to see every day were gradually disappearing from that place.

People I talked with until late at night, people I reached out to every day—before I knew it, they were active somewhere else.

At first, I felt a little lonely.

I even thought that perhaps staying in the same place was more sincere.

But now, I feel a little differently.

Maybe just creating works isn't enough.

While completing the metaverse drama 'Crossroad' and continuing to share content afterward, I realized I couldn't ignore where people find my work, just as much as what I create.

Even though we talked so much, it had already flowed away by the next morning

I started my journey by broadcasting audio.

There is a unique warmth in a world connected only by voice. I would talk for about 30 minutes, receive comments, and laughter would arise right there. It was something closer to human body temperature, different from text or recorded videos.

Even now, I don't think that time was meaningless.

However, the morning after finishing a broadcast, I would sometimes feel a strange emptiness.

Even though we talked so much, it had already flowed away.

I felt like I had deep conversations with someone, yet once a new broadcast started, yesterday's time would fade into the depths of the list. Even though it was truly precious to me, I couldn't quite get the feeling that it was building up into something.

Live streaming has value that is born only in that moment. I don't think everything needs to be kept as a record, either.

Even so, for me, wanting to leave my works and words behind for a long time, it felt like such a waste to have them end with just the heat of the moment.

Couldn't I make it into a form that someone could find later?

Perhaps that's when I started thinking about such things.

Sharing content isn't just about reaching the people who are there now. It might also be about leaving a path that people I haven't met yet can reach days or years from now.

I used to think that if I made a good work, someone would find it.

When I started making the metaverse drama 'Crossroad,' my mind was full of just getting it finished.

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Writing the script, meeting with the cast, and filming in the metaverse space. Editing the footage I shot, and if it didn't go well, filming it all over again.

I was doing everything I could just to shape it into a single piece of work.

To be honest, there was a part of me that thought if I made a good work, someone would eventually find it.

But it wasn't that convenient.

After uploading it to YouTube, when I checked the view counts, the numbers weren't moving as much as I had expected. Even when I announced it on social media, there was almost no reaction that delved into the content of the work itself.

There were many days like that.

The time spent on production and the numbers displayed on the screen seemed completely out of balance.

Even after spending this much time, it doesn't reach anyone.

Every time I looked at the numbers, that's what I thought.

Even if conversations get lively on audio streaming, it doesn't necessarily mean those people will come to watch the work.

Is it the content of the work, or the way it's communicated? Or is it because the term 'metaverse drama' itself is not yet widely known? Even now, I don't think there is just one answer.

However, I couldn't escape the reality that creating and delivering are two different jobs.

As a creator, I want to compete with the content of my work. I don't want to be seen as someone who only does promotion, and I don't want to be someone who only chases numbers.

If I post about the same work multiple times, will people think I'm being pushy? If I only talk about production, will I look like someone who only thinks about self-promotion?

Even now, I still struggle with that.

Even so, if no one knows it exists, I can't even get to the point where people watch the work.

It's frustrating, but this was also the reality.

In a new place, I become a nobody again.

That is why I have written on note, posted videos on YouTube, shared my production process on social media, and held screenings in the metaverse.

It is not that any one of these was the single correct answer.

I think it is more like I have been building a path to reach 'Crossroad' little by little, while increasing the entry points to my work.

However, going to a new place did not mean things would immediately spread.

No matter how many years I have been active in the metaverse or how many people I have created work with, that background does not automatically follow me to a new place.

A name that was known here becomes a nobody again when I go somewhere else.

I have to explain from scratch who I am and what I have done.

There were moments when I felt as if everything I had built up until now had become zero.

But in reality, it is not zero.

The way of speaking I acquired through audio streaming remains in my videos and writing. The production techniques that failed in the metaverse are being put to use in my next shoot.

Project Alive has also changed through encounters with people, learned from filming failures, and I have redone posts that received no reaction many times.

Even if I move to a new place, what I gained there does not disappear.

However, in a new place, people won't stop to look just because I list my past achievements.

In the end, I have to rethink how I communicate to suit that place.

That is tedious, and honestly, it is also scary.

I don't want to turn staying where I am not reaching anyone into a beautiful story.

Using the word 'market' sounds a bit cold.

Looking at numbers and scale and moving to places with more people—if you only hear that, it might look like I am just chasing trends.

I myself have felt, when seeing people leave places where they were active for a long time, that they were leaving behind the people who had supported them for a long time.

But right now, I don't want to unconditionally romanticize staying in the same place while your work fails to reach anyone.

There are relationships and cultures that are born precisely because a place is small.

Even so, if you have a work you truly want to spread, I also believe you shouldn't feel comfortable just by saying, 'I'm doing my best right here.'

If it hasn't reached anyone, just talking about your beliefs won't make the work spread.

It's a bit harsh to say, but I have felt that frustration myself many times.

If you blame the place or the times for why it didn't reach anyone, you might feel a little better.

The work isn't bad. There just weren't any viewers.

There are times when I want to say that.

But if you end it there, you might just end up in the same place next time.

That is why, instead of beautifully describing why it didn't reach anyone, I want to find a place where it will.

I won't make numbers my only goal. But I won't look away from the numbers either.

If the response was low, I'll re-examine the entry point before denying the work itself. If it didn't reach people through video, I'll turn it into text; if it's hard to get into a long story, I'll try a different format.

Remaking 'Crossroad' as a game with choices and branches is one such attempt.

It might look like I'm just repeating the same work.

But to me, it still looks like there are other entry points.

'Crossroad' is still looking for its place

'Crossroad' is finished.

But in my mind, it isn't over yet.

Is a work finished the moment it is released? Or is it only finished when it reaches someone and leaves something behind within them?

I haven't found the answer to that yet.

However, I didn't want it to be a work that is released once, consumed, and then just drifts away.

Even after releasing it as a drama, I wanted to turn it into a note article, a short video, and connect it to another form like a game.

Even if only "Crossroad" remains, if no one else appears who tries to create stories in the metaverse after that, it won't continue as a culture.

I don't know yet if it will spread that far.

If there is no reaction in a new place, I might feel that I should have just stayed where I was. There will probably be days when I feel that no matter how many times I send it out, it doesn't reach anyone, and my work has no power.

Even so, I don't want to quietly stop "Crossroad" within a limited world.

A few years from now, "Crossroad" might suddenly appear on the screen of someone who doesn't know this work yet.

I think that person surely won't realize that this is a story that has been placed there for a long time.

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