VRChat seemed like just another social VR wannabe contender only a few months ago -- last September, in fact, it was only attracting just 100 or so daily users. But then over the holidays last month, this happened -- see the spike at the far right:
This is all the social VR apps being tracked on Steam, so the total usage is probably many multiples over these numbers. (Not all users go online via Steam.) And as you can see in the chart, VRChat is suddenly, vastly outpacing all the competitors -- all of the others, including High Fidelity, are hardly registering any concurrent users at all, while today, VRChat boasts about 7,000 online users.
What happened with VRChat over the holidays? Some dramatic blockchain-related announced, like High Fidelity recently did? Or maybe some official Star Wars-related event, as Sansar did?
Nah, nothing as high-minded or brand-friendly as that. It was more like avatar cosplay and troll-ish jackassery, heavily embraced by live streamers on Twitch and YouTube:
Considering that VRChat is only available on Vive and Oculus Rift, the player base is still limited. The reason VRChat has skyrocketed in popularity is because of YouTubers and Twitch streamers who have brought attention to the game. One YouTuber in particular, Nagzz21, uploads near daily videos with his time in VRChat. These include weird dating scenarios, oblong takes on popular gaming avatars, drama happening between players and groups in VRChat, and exploring all the different realms.
The video above (as smartass and scabrous as you'd expect), was on the very top of Reddit yesterday, generating hundreds of thousands of views and lots of interesting conversation:
We're finally getting close to getting a real life holodeck and it's more retarded than any Star Trek episode could possibly have imagined... While I personally think this video is hilarious I think Gene Roddenberry would be spinning in his grave so fast he would resolve the world's energy crisis.
... Second life troll videos aren't an accurate representation of Second Life. However, VRChat videos are a perfect representation of VRChat.
Of course, it's all fun and games until the IP owners of Dragon Ball Z and Winnie the Pooh (hello, nice Disney Corporation lawyers, this is a fair use representation of your Pooh for journalistic reasons!) and such start sending cease and desist letters. Then again, if VRChat is smart they'll carve out some fan use permissions with these companies now, and perhaps put together some official co-branded content.
7,000 daily users, by the way, is relatively impressive but still represents a blip against the previous generation of VR: Second Life still gets roughly 300,000-400,000 daily users.
7.000 too few.
But it works for Desktop Users. We dont need VR equipment.
I have tested VR chat and is somewhat inconsistent.
It looks even weaker than high fidelity grafically, no much better in performance.
This is fun? Not to me.
It also have a very demanding hardware like any other.
Sl is the future one. Near future or even more.
Posted by: gfcprogramer | Wednesday, January 03, 2018 at 04:32 PM
This is without doubt one to keep an eye on. It has that internet pre FB vibe going on.
Posted by: Vurt Konnegut | Wednesday, January 03, 2018 at 04:33 PM
Another less known side to VRchat is that users can create and upload their own rooms/experiences using current AAA game graphics and PBR substances for Free (using the dev kit supplied for Unity)
The lobbys are crazy funny too and it has desktop mode so you dont need VR to pick objects or play the games!
Posted by: Skygirl Kline | Thursday, January 04, 2018 at 05:51 AM
From what I see, VRChat looks to be attracting mostly young kids. They get a kick out of being utterly rude, ridiculous, and thuggish. Not my cup of tea. Will there be a more intellectual side to VRChat some day? I hope so.
Posted by: Tim King | Thursday, January 04, 2018 at 11:18 AM
How awful. This looks like the very worst of SL info hubs. I haven't willingly been to one of those in years.
Posted by: Amanda | Thursday, January 04, 2018 at 03:41 PM
OMG!
Posted by: Cybele Moon | Thursday, January 04, 2018 at 07:05 PM