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I've recently been getting into VRChat and I think something really special is happening there. VRChat has made it possible for users to create their own avatar

I've recently been getting into VRChat and I think something really special is happening there. VRChat has made it possible for users to create their own avatars and worlds (like Mozilla Hubs), including scripting and shaders. I'm absolutely _floored_ by the creativity and talent I've seen in abundance there. It reminds me of the early internet, where people are creating things for the only purpose of connecting with others. Similarly I feel lucky to experience this period in VR because I don't think it can last this way forever. It's also as addictive as we were led to believe in science fiction! Numerous people I've met there have clocked _thousands_ of hours in VR, so I'm fully sold that social VR is going to be a major part of the future *If you read this and decide to try it yourself, heads up: you have to do some searching to find the gems – the demographic skews quite young and male so you may find jumping into a random world is chaotic to say the least! It's also far from a polished experience. I like to spend time in quieter spaces like the sign-language practise world (it's amazing to be able to practise any time with real people!) and drawing worlds A world I came across recently that you might enjoy is "ShaderFes 2019" – it's a shader museum! [0][1] I'm less convinced more serious social VR will do so well initially as I suspect the surrealism and unconstrained creative-weirdness that VRChat makes possible goes a long way to diffuse the uncanny valley and awkwardness inherent with the current state of the technology [0] https://youtu.be/Em4JYyKu2d8?t=479 https://youtu.be/Em4JYyKu2d8?t=479 [1] https://www.vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_f5a298f6-83e6-45ee-be58-4fafbbd38139 https://www.vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_f5a298f6-83e...

m4rtink 6y ago
Cool, sounds like Snow Crash is finally happening in real live! :) Now some needs to build Black Sun in VRChat to move it to the next level. ;)
- usrusr 6y ago
  The Virus involved isn't exactly Sumerian NLP hacks and Uber Eats isn't quite Cosa Nostra Pizza yet, but yeah, it feels increasingly accurate in more ways than expected. These days a lot of dystopian fiction seems to do that.
cagenut 6y ago
According to steam I'm several thousand hours into my VR usage if I add up a few of my favorite 'games'. I completely agree with you that it reminds me of the very early internet. Like the late 90s, when bbs's and prodigy and compuserve and aol and "the internet" were all a jumbled mix. If you haven't yet make sure to check out Rec Room. Its in a very similar space to VRChat and FBHorizon, but their gimmick is they've invested heavily in "maker" tools so that users can build their own "rooms" (levels) including customized 'game' logic. Its really a VR IDE they just don't call it that.
- emerged 6y ago
  I tried Rec Room and everyone sounded 11 years old. There was one guy standing there talking about killing himself. Was that atypical of what you find on there?
  - cagenut 6y ago
    I'm pretty sure thats exactly how the middle aged dudes when I was a teenager described usenet.
    - emerged 6y ago
      Not really, I remember usenet and other young technologies being populated by older people. I literally mean they sounded 11 or younger. Voices not yet having gone through puberty, by a decent margin of years. Several remarked that I was using a voice mod to make my voice deeper. I left feeling uncomfortable.
  - throwaway413 6y ago
    Eh, yes and no. Few times I've been on there, I've experienced similar to what you've mentioned. But another few times, I've had some great experiences with clearly adults - notably, playing pickup HORSE basketball games in the lobby.
    - emerged 6y ago
ilaksh 6y ago
I can't find a reference for the Udon API. Or a list of node types of whatever. Is there any networking? How would I find out what it can do? Thanks for any help.
- haxiomic 6y ago
  Hey, best I can find is https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/event-nodes https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/event-nodes https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/player-collisions https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/player-collisions Udon is heavily node focused at the moment It's quite new so I think your best bet is exploring it in Unity to see what nodes are available there and watching youtube tutorials by other users who have explored it

m4rtink 6y ago

Cool, sounds like Snow Crash is finally happening in real live! :) Now some needs to build Black Sun in VRChat to move it to the next level. ;)

usrusr 6y ago
The Virus involved isn't exactly Sumerian NLP hacks and Uber Eats isn't quite Cosa Nostra Pizza yet, but yeah, it feels increasingly accurate in more ways than expected. These days a lot of dystopian fiction seems to do that.

cagenut 6y ago

According to steam I'm several thousand hours into my VR usage if I add up a few of my favorite 'games'. I completely agree with you that it reminds me of the very early internet. Like the late 90s, when bbs's and prodigy and compuserve and aol and "the internet" were all a jumbled mix. If you haven't yet make sure to check out Rec Room. Its in a very similar space to VRChat and FBHorizon, but their gimmick is they've invested heavily in "maker" tools so that users can build their own "rooms" (levels) including customized 'game' logic. Its really a VR IDE they just don't call it that.

emerged 6y ago
I tried Rec Room and everyone sounded 11 years old. There was one guy standing there talking about killing himself. Was that atypical of what you find on there?
- cagenut 6y ago
  I'm pretty sure thats exactly how the middle aged dudes when I was a teenager described usenet.
  - emerged 6y ago
    Not really, I remember usenet and other young technologies being populated by older people. I literally mean they sounded 11 or younger. Voices not yet having gone through puberty, by a decent margin of years. Several remarked that I was using a voice mod to make my voice deeper. I left feeling uncomfortable.
- throwaway413 6y ago
  Eh, yes and no. Few times I've been on there, I've experienced similar to what you've mentioned. But another few times, I've had some great experiences with clearly adults - notably, playing pickup HORSE basketball games in the lobby.
  - emerged 6y ago

ilaksh 6y ago

I can't find a reference for the Udon API. Or a list of node types of whatever. Is there any networking? How would I find out what it can do? Thanks for any help.

haxiomic 6y ago
Hey, best I can find is https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/event-nodes https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/event-nodes https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/player-collisions https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/player-collisions Udon is heavily node focused at the moment It's quite new so I think your best bet is exploring it in Unity to see what nodes are available there and watching youtube tutorials by other users who have explored it