A meetup of Niconico streamers, a guild meetup from a mobile game, a Discord server’s year-end party, the after-party following Comiket. Men and women gathered by a shared hobby loosen up at a bar, and two who have missed the last train check into the same business hotel. The next morning, a sub-account on Twitter mutters only “offpako done.” Since the 2010s, this has become a semi-routine phenomenon around otaku and streaming culture.

Offpako is internet slang for a sexual relationship formed off an offline meeting (offukai). A compound of “off” and pako (to have sex), it spread within the Niconico and Twitter communities around 2010 to 2011. The defining trait, distinguishing it decisively from dating sites, is that a gathering not explicitly aimed at finding partners ends up developing into a sexual relationship.

Etymology

Pako is onomatopoeic slang for intercourse that settled in the 2channel and Niconico cultural sphere in the late 2000s. Its combination with “offukai” dates to around 2009 to 2011, surfacing from listener meetups of Niconico streamers, singers, and game commentators. Originally an in-joke laced with derision, it expanded through wide sharing on Twitter into a neutral descriptive term for the phenomenon.

Structural features

Three conditions roughly overlap to produce offpako: initial trust secured by a shared context of hobby, streaming, or gaming; the narrowing-down (self-selection) of offline attendees making the other’s identity visible; and the physical proximity of group eating and drinking. Because it is not declared “sex-oriented from the start” like a dating site, attendees have lower psychological resistance, giving it a structure that develops readily.

The main arena has shifted over time. Early on it was Niconico streamer and singer meetups; in the mid-2010s, genre-specific Twitter meetups and Comiket after-parties; from the late 2010s, Discord servers, mobile-game guilds, and the VRChat scene; and in the 2020s, viewer meetups of streaming platforms.

Cultural position

Within otaku communities, offpako has been received at both poles of “boasted about” and “shunned.” Cases where a streamer, artist, or popular account uses their influence to have a relationship with a young listener are often criticised as “eating fans,” while encounters between equal attendees are sometimes spoken of positively, making it an ambivalent term. A connection to POV (hamedori) culture also appears: incidents in which an attendee filmed and the footage leaked to anonymous boards or personal-recording sites recurred through the 2010s, and because leaks destroy the parties’ social lives, both the trade and communities repeatedly issue warnings.

Regulation and problems

Offpako itself, a consensual relationship between parties, raises no legal problem. Problems arise where a minor is involved (child prostitution, youth-protection ordinance violation), where filmed material leaks without consent (Revenge Porn Prevention Act violation), or where a streamer uses their position to have a semi-coerced relationship (sexual exploitation, a power-harassment structure). In the 2020s, streaming platforms have strengthened guidelines on personal contact with listeners, and warnings from operators have increased. In the VTuber sphere, “gachikoi sales” and “offpako risk” are discussed as two sides of a theme, and some agencies restrict individual contact.

See also

• Dating sites (deai-kei)
• Hamedori (POV)
• Personal recording (kojin satsuei)
• Papa-katsu
• Live chat