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Back in VR today. First world I joined I found two people singing a duet to a small crowd. I'd love to know how this started.
I wanted to try more of the interactive games available in VRChat and came across this Cat and Mouse game.
I joined an on-going match and didn't find much to do, but navigating rooms as a mouse-sized person was fun.
The round ended and everyone was sent back to the lobby. Some users chatted about how fun the match was, others spent their in-game money on the prize machine. I could tell these were frequent players.
Next game I played was a VRChat conversion of Among Us, a social deduction game where you have to weed out imposters from your crew. Shrek seems in good spirits.
I really liked the way these players posed while they deduced who the imposters were. It felt great to capture such a tense moment. Well, excluding the guy on the right, but he was playing on desktop so I can excuse his stiff posture.
I find it funny how I started really getting into the game while juggling my documentation responsibilities as well. I completely forgot I included my arm in this picture, I was just that dead-set on accusing this girl of being the imposter.
It was actually the desktop guy.
This kid must have been 15, but he surely knew his fair share of racial slurs. That's one of the unfortunate sides of online games, that you'll inevitably come across someone very nasty.
Foxy gave me a smoke to help calm my nerves. He actually followed me around the next couple of matches. I guess he liked my camera.
This world comprises most of the photos I took this day. It was by far my favorite place to explore.
I don't remember what I talked to these guys about, they were nice though. I do remember an awkward moment where I thought there was a language barrier, but they did indeed speak English.
This world is primarily made for Brazilians, and features a ludicrous amount of inside jokes and gags that are probably obvious to most Brazilians that visit. They all went over my head unfortunately.
The architecture is a wonderland of compact buildings. I struggle to put into words how fascinating this world is.
I know nothing about Brazil, let alone its internet culture, so seeing these out of context snippets makes me incredibly eager to know more.
Who is this guy? A Brazilian would know, but not me!
I have a fondness for worlds like these. They remind me of Team Fortress 2 maps like mario_kart_2 by Xenon, or any of the Counter-Strike 1.6 maps made by NIPPER. Do yourself a favor and go look up their work, you won't see maps made like those today.
To put it to words, these made invoke an amateur approach to level design, creating areas and locales with no explicit purpose other than the creator wanted it to be there. In short: it was made because it was fun to make.
This, for example, is a miniature amusement park, complete with a functioning rollercoaster! There is no logical reason for this to exist, but you can tell the creator had fun building it.
I found these weird stalls advertising Brazilian content creators? I honestly prefer this kind of advertising, where the product is something more personal like an animator's youtube channel. I'm more willing to give that a shot because I know its being made by an actual person.
You could also go to more recognizable brands if you'd like. I wouldn't. I don't trust the look of those mobile homes.
I should also mention this world is set on the top of a ship, with multiple convenient points to jump off with style.
It also features a highway system that goes under and through the ship!
Here's a better look at the rollercoaster. I can't explain why I like the look of this area. It's so small and dense, but this density has purpose. Space is a luxury on this ship.
This was by far the largest residence on the ship. Here you can see me waving! You can wave back if you'd like.
This is a better look at the front of the ship. I'm using the remote camera feature again this time to capture it.
I'm guessing the intended use of this area is for birthday parties? It'd make sense since it'd need to accommodate a large amount of guests.
Heading back to the center is where most of the players hang out. Tiny shops and parks litter the area, serving as ideal spots for small groups to form.
This looks like a nice spot to hang out in. I think the mismatched chairs are a hilarious detail. I'm guessing this isn't too dissimilar to actual Brazilian eateries? Maybe local ones.
It wouldn't be Brazil without a football field (That's soccer for us Americans by the way).
Here's a neat moment. I wanted to take a picture of the ship to give a better idea of what this world looked like and got this very nice shot of the side.
When I turned the camera the other way the sky had gone pitch black! I thought I had clipped my camera into a wall or something, but the sky was still black from my perspective. I was about to restart my game until I turned my head back the other way.
I still don't know how this happened, but someone must have activated something to replace the sky with this vaporwave rising sun. As a superfan of 1980's aesthetics, I really appreciated this surprise.
I don't have much to say about these remaining pictures. I just really like the look of them.
I worry I've taken too many, but I really want to show off some of these areas.
Looking back I felt like a tourist visiting another country. I technically was. Kinda.
Here's the other end of the ship, and the road leading down to the bottom area.
I think there are functioning cars in this world? Which would explain the road system.
What does this say? Why is Gordon Freeman here?
I love this detail here. Be careful to not drive too fast or you'll hit the turbines on the roof! Why was a speed bump even put there? Why were turbines put there?
A part of me wonders if this is some kind of inside joke about Brazilian highways. That's the beauty of this map; you can't tell when something is made for fun or when it's made to make fun of something.
I honestly have no idea where this leads. I think it's the inside of a building?
This spot reminds me of cruises I would go on with my family. Being on a boat allows you a rare moment to appreciate the serenity of night time without the fear of what lurks in the shadows. Everything scary is beneath the waves.
This was my final stop, as I had gone full circle at this point. Genuinely an amazing world. I'd love to see this place full of users, utilizing this space to its fullest extent.
Strange encounter I had with someone. He started off antagonistic asking why I was taking pictures, to which I told him I'm taking pictures of everything. He then posed for my camera.
This world works like the website Omegle. It connects you to random users in different world instances, allowing you to talk to strangers. I figured I'd try it out.
First person I met was BIGPAPA321. He told me to grab my webcam and shake it. I had no idea I could do this and had a lot of fun shaking my camera, but the guy disconnected the call before I could impress him.
After some people skipped me I met cottencadylord ef67. He was glad to get a call with someone who actually wanted to talk to him. He was nice from what I remember.
Next call was Abegaelll. She and her boyfriend, I think, got really mad about how I pronounced her name. Apparently it's pronounced "ab-uh-guh-ll" in one short syllable.
Next was krispycream2024. He was some kid goofing off with his disturbing Bugs Bunny avatar. I played into it and called him hideous. We had a laugh.
Next one was Rdomeij b499. That's specifically the soldier guy holding the camera. The anime dude is his friend, which he described as "the weird one". Rdomeij was a chill kid, but his friend was bouncing off the walls shouting nonsense.
Dubbs_is_daddy was my last call. He was playing a character of an unsupervised baby. When he started talking about his penis I figured I had seen enough of Omegle.
Still in the roleplay game mood I headed down to the VRChat Drama Court to catch what was going on.
The court was packed with attendees.
In this world, users are selected to fill the roles of a court, although this usually devolves to people yelling at each other. This was no different.
I had no idea what the lawyers were arguing about so I turned to my right and asked Batman what was going on. He said this was a murder trial, and he demanded justice.
I turned to my left and asked Micheal Meyers what the specifics were. He just glared at me.
I joined a different world instance and the court room was more organized. They were getting ready to start the game and were inviting people to take up roles.
They wanted two suspects for this case and offered me a spot, so I joined my apparent cohort Waluigi in standing trial for whatever we were being accused of.
We quickly gave up when some trolls arrived.
My last stop was a house on an asteroid next to a black hole. It looked neat enough to warrant a visit.
The black hole itself was impressive as it actually warped the light around itself. You could see this effect in real time as you walked around the asteroid.
I met this guy at the back entrance to the house. Turns out he also lives in Texas! I told him I live in DFW and he sounded disappointed. I'm guessing he doesn't like city-slickers.
When I told him about my photography he asked if he could show his avatar, which I obliged. He really lit up when he started going, showing off all the configurations his avatar could do.
Here he is showing off the actual size of his avatar, which he had shrunk down for easier access to the building. I think this is a Gundam?
I took a lot of pictures of this guy and his guns, though I've only selected a few of them to show. He was having a blast though, I could hear it in his voice that he was excited to show off his avatar. It is a cool avatar.
Unfortunately I had disabled avatar particles on other users so that my game would run better, and this guy's avatar relied on them heavily. I'm sure if I had them enabled it would have looked very rad.
My headset was on low battery so I had to cut this short, much to the disappointment of this user. I still find it charming how something as simple as a camera causes people to change their entire disposition towards you.