The issue with Vrchat

I have over 300 hours logged on VRChat (PC version), and who knows how many additional hours as a guest. I used to be pretty addicted to playing it so much so that I wouldn't go outside for weeks, just to stay home and play. I’d wake up, play VRChat, eat at my PC, and continue playing until I was tired, usually around 5 a.m.

Obviously, I’m not like that anymore. I've uninstalled the app several times and occasionally go back to it, but during my time playing, I noticed something: I often felt lonely. Most of my time was spent in 1 on 1 games like "No Time to Talk," where you chat with someone for a minute and, if you enjoy the interaction, you press a button to extend the conversation by two minutes.

While I did enjoy games like "Murder" and similar experiences, social hangouts like "The Black Cat" made me feel isolated. It was difficult to approach people because they were already in groups. I thought it was just me, so I gradually spent less time playing.

I often joked with friends about the abundance of edaters on VRChat, but I never took the things happening in the game seriously. However, I noticed an alarming number of people on the platform who shouldn’t be there such as drug addicts, alcoholics, parents, and, most concerningly, children.

I’ve seen so many children exposed to things they should never witness, like nudity and inappropriate "dark humor." It makes me genuinely wonder where their parents are and whether they know what’s happening on these games. In my opinion, these parents are being irresponsible, and having had similar experiences as a child, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone today.

Because there are so many children on VRChat, it’s inevitable that some will encounter drug addicts and alcoholics, getting exposed to that kind of environment. Even for people who don't fall into these categories, addiction is still a concern. If I were more extroverted, I might have ended up like a lot of the people I met,addicted.

I’ve watched videos and met people who were clearly addicted to VRChat. One person I cared deeply about was a 19 or 20 year old man who was unhealthily obese, unemployed, a dropout, and living with his mother. He was obsessed with VRChat, playing it every day. For a while, I turned a blind eye, but I began to realize that many people I met in the game were in the same situation. They would always be online, no matter the time. It made me realize how many people essentially live their lives on VRChat, and that’s obviously not healthy.

Additionally, the game is full of creeps, weirdos, and even p3d0ph1l3s. I genuinely believe the best solution is for parents to actually pay attention to what their children are doing and research games like VRChat before allowing them to play.

And I meant it when I said "parents." A lot of parents don’t pay attention to their babies or kids, and instead, many seem to be peer-pressured into drinking or other activities. I genuinely feel pity for those children, as the people they should see as parental figures often end up neglecting them. If you're not sure you’re ready to give your full time and attention to your children, then you shouldn’t have any.

Obviously there are a lot more issues with this app but if I ever decide to write about it all it would take me days if not weeks