Last year, a 20-something videographer in Toronto was wandering the world of VRChat as an adorable cat when he stumbled into a sexy anime girl who was actually a German Finnish man drunk off his ass having an existential argument with a purple dinosaur.
“I didn't expect to be doing VR interviews,” the young Canadian remembers now. But he hit record and uploaded the Camus-but-blotto conversation that ensued to YouTube (above), where it quickly went viral. “That's when it really clicked in to me how crazy talking to someone from across the planet in VRChat actually was,” he says.
And so began the career of Syrmor, who may be VRChat’s first embedded reporter, and certainly among its most viewed YouTubers. Hundreds of thousands view each of his in-depth, in-world interviews, which by his estimate, are about 1/15th of the actual extended conversations he’s had with the virtual world’s denizens.
“When I first started my channel,” he acknowledges, “it was more just funny compilations.” After all, he once recorded interviews and on-the-street protests in real life. “My real passion was creating stories so the idea of just making gaming videos didn't interest me too much.
"However, as it grew I realized it had potential and I wanted to take it more seriously.”
And so while most other VRChat YouTubers focus on one-note memes and coarse trolling, Syrmor’s videos are smart, whimsical, perceptive, moving. Consider the bullied kid with ADHD and social anxiety who explains, while wearing a Kermit avatar, how being in VR helps him express who he really is. Or the young Korean anxious about his imminent, mandatory military service -- and who forms such a close friendship with Syrmor, he flies to Toronto, to hang out in real life. Or most recently, a young VRChatter and his father (watch above) who discusses a painful ailment he has that keeps him fairly isolated from the real world.
“Since then, I just talk to anyone I can in VRChat and sometimes people aren't too interested in a conversation, but other times people seem to really appreciate having an outlet with a stranger.” That’s when he puts on his reporter’s hat, and like any good journalist, lays out some ethical boundaries: “Before the conversation gets too personal I explain what it is I do and they can have final say in what personal information I include.”
Similar to what I experienced during the peak of my own embedded journalism years in Second Life, Syrmor doesn’t find it difficult to meet people who are eager to tell their real life stories through the safety and distance of their avatar:
The two identities of Syrmor
“I'm legitimately interested in hearing strangers share their stories so I think my interest shines through and makes them more excited to share,” Syrmor says. “Also in VRchat there isn't as much social anxiety cause you can just leave the conversation without consequence whenever you like.”
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