Comment by wkat4242
7 hours ago
It's a big differentiator with horizon worlds I think. They have an in world builder so you don't have to learn unity.
On the other hand horizon is super restricted in what you can do, is way too heavily moderated and rubber tiled so it's not fun to be in there at all. VRChat is way better at finding the edge of what's possible. I've seen whole worlds from half Life 2 recreated etc.
VRChat has intriguing possibilities, but I always got the impression the underlying architecture and programming is too shoddy to really support the breadth of custom experiences people want to make. I tried various mini games or special worlds, and it was always incredibly jank and barely functional. It seemed more like problems stemming from instability or jankiness of the engine and API they were working with than anything else.
Granted, the last time I touched it was a few years ago. Unless they've done a major rewrite of the game I don't expect it to have improved all that much. Maybe I'm wrong.
The one thing I can add is that the VRC players I've played with don't care about it. They just want to be in a world and do things with their friends, even if it's janky or has bugs. It's already persistently novel, and if ones novel threshold ever dips too low or the bugs are too high, there's another world with different people just a tap away.
Yeah you describe it very well.
VRChat is not perfect, it has a lot of rough edges. But it's buzzing with activity. People enjoy themselves. Do sometimes weird stuff but not bother anyone. It's like the real world.
Horizons is a boring moderated infantile playground. I guess they're super worried some conservative senator's grandchild hears the F word there and is scarred for life. But in mitigating this they have eliminated any attraction to the whole product. Us adults, we need a little gritty. It's why we don't watch Kung Fu Panda when we're not with kids.
For example I found a few rooms where people go to sleep around others when they're lonely. Complete with a calming environment. I haven't seen anything like that in horizons. Just some attempts at mildly boring games and funhouses.
Also the furries have a home there which works fine. I've never seen anyone with 'anatomically correct' avatars in the wrong space. It works and they have fun. That's what it's all about, human connection.