Holy freaking crap VR Chat. in The Big, Blue House, year one.

Someone on r/Aspergers mentioned VR Chat, so I thought I’d take a look, and now I keep forgetting to eat.

The compulsion to see everything is great in an MMO, with set geographic boundaries, but positively exhausting in something with 50k+ worlds. Merely looking at avatars has consumed 17 hours thus far.

People talk about the joy autistic people deride from intense immersion in a special interest. How it’s one of the few positive qualities of autism. Something to appreciate.

I’m thinking those are people with no other goals or responsibilities. I can barely find time to paint as it is, for all of the hours I spend unable to pull myself away from Reddit.

And now this. It’s a nigh endless gallery of 3D artwork. A game explorer’s wet dream. Waterfalls, the aurora borealis recreated a dozen different ways, endless fantastical homes and apartments and villages. Two different versions of Orgrimmar! (That’s a word, Google spell check.) I gather that numerous graphic design artists use it as a portfolio for their work. It’s just endlessly gorgeous and interesting. That need to see what’s over the next hill or around the next corner never stops. With thousands of free avatars to find, or new favorite places. And the occasional nice person.

The people are hit-or-miss, also like WoW. lol But I like that you can avoid most of the trolls and children by avoiding Quest-compatible worlds. For someone like myself, with horrendous social anxiety, it’s great.

I thought it would be a slog to play 20-25 hours to get past the rank of “visitor”. Har har. I haven’t noticed the passage of time for two days now. My dinner yesterday was a Bumble Bee tuna salad kit that I keep up here, (in my “office” on the third floor), just for such emergencies, as it often happens with GW2.

But this is like the first time I played WoW. It’s ridiculous.

Autistic hyperfixation as a dietary aid?

And Zuckerberg actually thinks his Horizon Worlds sterile, dystopian, hellscape can compete with that?? I think in the end, he’ll try to buy it, and either destroy it, or monetize it. So see while it exists, folks. It’s the virtual wild west, and it can’t last forever.

So I guess this is my five star review, from my overstimulated brain, for VR Chat. It ‘s amazing. I’m bidding on Quest 2’s on Ebay, (to tether to the computers, obviously. We’ll have none of that Quest-only-crap), so Don can join me on this fun-to-the-point-of-neglecting-myself adventure.

Oh, the cats eat regardless. No matter what, I never forget that. They’re the top priority in my life. Crazy cat lady rule number one.

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And I am legitimately sorry that I’m so rarely here. The people on my friends list are genuinely important to me. I’m not kidding. I’m just ungodly fricking awful at managing my time. I’ve had “Prosebox!” on my To-Do List for over a month. cry

Now I must eat. Salmon sandwich at the desk so I can watch videos about VR Chat while I eat Ugh. I really am basically twelve.

Look forward to, (or dread), my next update with screenshots that no one wants to see.