Worlds
See also Instances for further information.
Worlds are the virtual spaces inhabited by users on VRChat. They are the locations wherein users can interact with each other, the environment, and other features and mechanics. Worlds are created by members of the community, and uploaded as either public or private using the VRChat SDK, intended for others to join. Worlds must be uploaded for each platform to be compatible for users of that platform to join.
There's a variety of world types covering topics ranging from social hangouts, games, to avatar showcases, scenic views, and more. Each world can have multiple sessions running at the same time, referred to as instances, which have a global region they're linked to, a maximum user capacity set by the world author, and an instance type that controls who can join and moderate the world instance.
Discovering and joining worlds
When a user launch VRChat for the first time, they will spawn in VRChat Default Home, set as an Invite-only instance. Users can change their home world to any world they want from the world page. A user's home world and instance type can be changed at any time. One can also choose to log into the VRChat website or use the main page of VRChat on Mobile to browse worlds, and launch VRChat.
When opening the menus, there are a few different routes one can take to join a new world, or instance.
"Worlds" Quick Link / tab
When opening the Quick Menu, using the Quick Links button for Worlds will take the user to the Main Menu, which by default, displays VRCat's Variety Box, and features a random selection from various different world categories. When anywhere on the Main Menu, users can also get to this page by using the World tab at the bottom.
On the left of the World tab, one can select a specific world category such as "Trending", "Avatar Worlds - Trending", "Games - Active", "New & Noteworthy", etc. This can be useful for quickly finding popular worlds in different categories. Clicking on a world tile here will take users to the detailed menu page for that world, giving the user options to select an existing instance to join or to create a new one, and to either join directly or drop a world portal. Each world is represented with a thumbnail, giving insight into its contents.
Recently visited, and favorite worlds
When in the World tab, there is a collapsed dropdown titled My Worlds, which contain any worlds uploaded, recently visited or favorited by the user.
Search
From the Worlds page, users can use the "Search" feature to search for a specific world by title, description, tag, author, etc. These can also be sorted by Relevance, Last Updated, and Popular.
When anywhere on the Main Menu, users can also get to another page to search for worlds by using the Search tab at the bottom. Using search tab will suggest another variety of different search terms for discovering worlds, sorted into two different categories: Recommended Searches, and Quick World Searches. Quick World Searches can be shuffled to spot different search terms.
Portals
See also Portals for further information.
Portals provide a quick way for users to access a specific world and instance, without having to individually find it through the menu. The portal will display the world image inside of itself, and it will usually have the title above alongside other details such as user capacity and region. By default, walking forward into a portal, will transfer the user to the associated world, but Settings can be changed so that it requires user input (Portal Prompt), to prevent accidental travel. Portals come in two varieties:
Static portals
Worlds may contain 'static portals' that they feature to serve as a link to other worlds. These are part of the world, and as such, usually stay there permanently, ready for people to interact with. If a user walks through a static portal, a countdown, starting from thirty will begin, to which any following user can proceed into the same instance until the countdown expires.
User-placed portals
Users can place portals to a world instance, by searching for a world in the World tab, then choosing New Instance, followed by the instance type, and finalized with Drop Portal. Portals can be placed down on most surfaces in the world, except near the designated spawn point(s). These appear the same as static portals, except the countdown timer initiates when the portal is dropped by the user, starting at thirty seconds. The timer can be extended, by having more users enter the portal. Once the timer expires, the portal disappears.
Creating and uploading worlds
In order to create and upload a VRChat world, a user must have reached the "User" trust rank.
To get started with creating your world, download the VRChat Creator Companion, which will help with the installation of the latest compatible version of Unity for VRChat, and install the VRChat SDK into a world project.
See also
Trivia
- The very first VRChat world was a café; an updated version was uploaded on January 16th, 2024, for VRChat's 10th anniversary.[1]
