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.”

    • @[email protected]
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      83 months ago

      “Bro, did you know Meta is totally cool with trans people? Can I have your email and a photo of your driver’s license?”

    • @mindbleach
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      13 months ago

      There is no such thing.

      … and to the extent people pretend an embodied chatroom is what the word must mean, the chatroom named after that joke is not the one preferred by trans users, since free control of your self-image is kinda fucking important.

    • ISometimesAdmin
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      13 months ago

      Yeah, I doubt any of my trans friends would have been satisfied with an avatar over transitioning in real life. And they did.

  • @FellowEnt
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    73 months ago

    I can attest to this, embodying a different gender/species/whatever in VR and playing in the mirror is a powerful thing.

  • @[email protected]
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    43 months ago

    It seems that this is surprisingly one of the big uses for the Apple Vision Pro since it has VR chat and some of the best eye and face tracking out there in an easy to use package.