It speaks to a person that isn't physically present and just an observer. "You" typically addresses someone directly, but can be used to break the 4th wall and talk to observers. "Chat" is exclusively for breaking the 4th wall.
I don't think it's accurate to call the barrier between a streamer and their audience "the fourth wall". The fourth wall is a concept that exists in theater, and then more largely in fiction, where characters exist in a world where they do not know that they're characters in a story. And the fourth wall breaks when they realize that they are.
If "chat" breaks the fourth wall, then self-help books that use "you" are too, or news anchors addressing their viewers, or politicians saying "my fellow countrymen" in a broadcast address.
Why isn't that just 2nd person plural, like "y'all"?
It speaks to a person that isn't physically present and just an observer. "You" typically addresses someone directly, but can be used to break the 4th wall and talk to observers. "Chat" is exclusively for breaking the 4th wall.
I don't think it's accurate to call the barrier between a streamer and their audience "the fourth wall". The fourth wall is a concept that exists in theater, and then more largely in fiction, where characters exist in a world where they do not know that they're characters in a story. And the fourth wall breaks when they realize that they are.
If "chat" breaks the fourth wall, then self-help books that use "you" are too, or news anchors addressing their viewers, or politicians saying "my fellow countrymen" in a broadcast address.