"Many trans people cry when they finally feel whole in VRChat."

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/28224864

Metaverse game VRChat, where users can embody any avatars they like from e-boys to furries to a cursed Marge Simpson, is one of the biggest VR social platforms by user numbers. According to users Mashable spoke to, it’s also the most common social VR platform trans people are playing. One of the main reasons that VRChat is used over other options, like Meta Horizon Worlds, is due to how freely you can customize your avatar. Being able to select from a wide range of avatars in a broad spectrum of art styles is fun for anyone, as you can visually embody anyone or anything you’d like. Looking at yourself in the mirror as an avatar, seeing your movements perfectly mimicked by the digital suit you’re wearing, is riveting. But, for transgender people especially, this visual embodiment can be life-changing. “When I put this avatar on and saw myself in the mirror, I was like oh — my egg cracked at that moment,” Penny Buttercup said, looking at herself in the mirror wearing the feminine avatar that changed her life two years ago. “I felt like me, in a way I never had before.”

  • vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    10·
    7 months ago

    Pah! I’m my days we used IRC for that and we liked it!

    The internet is a great place to try out things, interact with people as someone else, without the assumptions people make when looking at your actual physical form. I remember I used to hop on a fresh shell, pick out a new nick name and join the same channels, see how the same people react to the new you. It’s an instructive, sometimes distressingly so, thing to do.

    It’s less of a sanctuary and more of a proving grounds.

  • LEONHART@slrpnk.net
    10·
    7 months ago

    This reminds me of a surprisingly wholesome conversation between a group of (what sounded like) middle schoolers in flamboyant anime and furry avatars I overheard once when I was exploring a public VRChat world…

    Person 1: This is awesome. Have you looked at any other worlds on here?

    Person 2: Yeah, a few. How come most of them are covered in mirrors?

    Person 1: It’s so you can look at your avatar and stuff.

    Person 2: I don’t get it. There so much cool stuff on here to explore. Why spend so much time looking at yourself?

    Person 1: Well…some people on here like this because they can make themselves look different than real life. They can wear something that they like better.

    Person 2: Oh.

    (Silence.)

    Person 1: (quietly) I…I like this better…