VrChat - What the Virtual World Offers

I've been gone for a long time. I mean a really long time. Some of you might wonder where I've been, others not so much. To answer that question, I've been busy with work and a game known as VrChat. You've probably heard of it by now as many people seemed to have jumped on the bandwagon. It's gotten popular seemingly overnight and took the online community by storm. For example, the dreaded "Do you know the way" Ugandan Knuckles meme that emerged from it. It's amazing seeing the community that sprouted from such a unique game. This review will be a bit different from all the past games I've done simply because there is nothing that's really quite like it. Without further ado, please enjoy my travels of the virtual world. (All photos are my screenshots)

The Beginning
The first time I decided to play VrChat I made the decision that it was all or nothing. So I held my breath and bought an Oculus Rift. The wait was way too long for my liking, but eventually it arrived on my porch and I immediately dove into the game. The first thing you realize when you play virtual reality for the first time is that your body has no collision. Objects pass right through you and people do too. I made the mistake of playing with a balloon and trying to hug it, only to jump with fright as I realized the balloon passed right through my chest. A silly moment now that I'm used to Vr. After that frighting encounter I had made it through the tutorial and landed in the hub.

The hub is the basic world where everyone who logs in starts off at until they leave to a different one. I was so fascinated by this world alone I spent 3 hours there talking to random people. You might have thought I would have gotten bored, but the mix between meeting so many new and interesting people from my own home and learning how to control my hands gave me plenty to do. There was never really a dull moment, and this where I met one of my friends that I play with to this day. He was new as well, and so we decided to stick together. We made friends with a third person but he sadly hasn't logged on since. After all of this, we finally were ready to step out into other worlds.

(A screen shot of the hub and the friend who doesn't play anymore)

Immersion
VrChat is very immersive in some senses, and lacking in others. For example, if you have Vr you have a fully functioning upper torso. (A lucky few who can afford it also have leg tracking) In that way it can feel like you are really there. However don't get scared and think you'll lose touch with reality. I can always tell that I'm playing a game. The reason for that is that no matter how immersed you get, people around you are half of the time talking about the real world. You might feel like you are in a different place, but you are still always connected to reality. Besides that, you can really enjoy beautiful sights and sounds. The amount of beautiful places are limitless and the new people you meet at the places can always be interesting. Heck, there is a map of the Titanic, complete with a fog horn and big screen for watching videos with people.

Not your speed? Well how about visiting some of your favorite worlds from video games? I've been to a full remake of Majora's Mask, Windwaker, Nier Automata's flowers room, Persona 3's dorm rooms, and Persona 5's coffee shop and Velvet room just to name a few. You got a game you love? It's most likely there or being made. The community is big on making things that people love and want to see. It's crazy how someones childhood wish of visiting their favorite game world is coming closer and closer to being true. For me, I got to visit Destiny Islands from Kingdom Hearts.

(Nier Automata's Flowers)

Custom Avatars
On top of making rooms, they make your favorite protagonist from anything you can imagine into actual Avatars. You can play as the characters you love so much and even sometimes enjoy using some of their abilities. I wont lie, making avatars can sometimes be a pain in the behind. Having to find an MMD model of your character and rigging them with bones or fixing them up in unity can be hard to do for the first time. Luckily for most people the characters they enjoy most are probably in worlds that are easy to find. They are called Avatar rooms, and are pre-loaded characters you can click on to obtain and use to your liking. Some of them even have the ability to use weapons and animation effects. Some examples may be Cloud and Sephiroth from FFVII, or most versions of Link from Zelda.

Sadly there are a few characters that I would love to see in actual avatar rooms. One of those being Sora from Kingdom Hearts. I had to upload those myself. That in itself came with a few upsides though. I was able to play around with unity a bit and learn more about how to use it, (Something I've wanted to try for a while now) and I have the bonus of being able to switch to Sora anytime I want after changing avatars. People who just pick them up off worlds have to go back to that world to get it if they accidentally change avatars. People who upload avatars have them connected to their menus directly and can change at will. For example, I have a Sora from Kh2 and Kh3 and I am able to switch between them at anytime.

Minigames
On top of all of exploring all these cool worlds and avatars, there are tons of mini-games speckled in between them all. Some notable mention are things like Space shootout (capture the flag), Steel and gold (Cops and robbers), Bowling, Mini-golf, Chess, and even monopoly! There are always new worlds getting uploaded everyday and new activities with them. You can never really get bored unless you sit by yourself in a corner. I would have to say that my favorite game is hide and seek. You get to hide while a person runs around the map looking for you with knife. It's really fun and scary at times. One thing I never recommend and have to warn you about is any of the maze games. Save your sanity. You can get lost in there for hours at a time.

(I made a house out of monopoly cards :))

The most important piece
While all of this is certainly fun in it's own right, it's not what keeps me coming back. The thing that keeps me coming almost every night for an hour is the community. I've met amazing people and made great friends. So much so that we all have a discord chat together which we talk in daily. It's sort of amazing looking back and realizing that I can remember where I met all these wonderful people. They've been supportive and very kind to each other, and they always try to help with even personal problems. I can remember everyone because they have such colorful personalities. There is never a dull moment with them around and while we have had disagreements in the past, I am positive I will never forget these people. From the times we met up in the presentation room and drew instruments to make a band, to the movie night that we had the other day and watched silly shows and clips in the cinema. The people are what make VrChat special, and it's something I'm proud to be part of.

Thanks to the wonderful community members who put countless hours into making such a great game together. The effort you put into it to entertain us is astounding and really touching. You are what makes VrChat special. Thank you for reading this post of mine! If you liked my post please up-vote, resteem, and follow me for future content! I really appreciate the support.