Worlds
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 are 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, 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.
Finding and joining worlds
When you launch VRChat, you will begin in your Home world, which is an Invite-only instance in the VRChat Home by default. Your Home world and instance type for your Home world 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 Quick Menu, there are a few different routes you can take to join a new world.
"Worlds" Quick Link / tab
Using the Quick Links tile for Worlds will take you to the main page, displaying VRCat's Variety Box, which features a random selection from various different world categories. On the left, you 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 you to the detailed menu page for that world, giving you 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.
When anywhere on the main menu, you can also get to this page by using the World tab at the bottom.
Search
From the Worlds page, you 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, you can also get to this page by using the Search tab at the bottom.
Portals
- Primary Page: Portals
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 effect 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 into the portal will transfer you to the associated world, but settings can be changed so that it requires user confirmation to prevent accidentally using them. Portals come in two varieties:
Static portals
Worlds themselves often have 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.
User placed portals
Users can place portals to a world instance using the menu. These appear the same as static portals, except they can be placed by the user anywhere in the world that is convenient and that the world allows (they can't be placed on users or on a spawn area), and they feature a countdown timer above them. Once the timer expires, the portal disappears.
Instance types
- Primary Page: Instance
There are many public and private environments of all genres that the user can explore. You may also create and join various community groups to meet other users with mutual interests. Users can choose to join a public instance, create a private instance to be alone, or invite friends after adding them. The type of privacy of created instances is up to the user, and follows under these various tiers:
- Public - Anyone can join.
- Friends+ - Your friends, their friends, and so on can join.
- Friends - Only your friends may join; friends of friends are excluded.
- Invite+ - Users and friends of users must request to join your instance unless you or an invited user's social status is set to "Join Me".
- Invite - Users must send a join request to join you unless your social status is set to "Join Me"; friends of friends are excluded.
- Group - An instance that only members of a group, or specific roles within that group can access.
- Group+ - An instance hosted by a group, in which friends of group members, friends of their friends, and so on, can join. Group+ instances may have appointed group moderators to manage an instance. Being a member of the hosting group is not required to join the instance.
- Group Public - A publicly listed instance, hosted by a group, to which anyone can join. Group Public instances may have appointed group moderators to manage an instance.
Regions
Whilst selecting an instance type, there are choices for varying regions to better optimize their experience. Choosing an instance closest to your location will see a decrease in ping, and ensure a more stable connection to the instance, preventing disconnections and lag.
Historically, VRChat ran solely on the U.S. West server. On June 16, 2021, two extra regions - Europe, and Japan were added to the platform in the 
Regions update[1] to distribute server load and offset increasing user count. On December 1, 2021, VRChat added the U.S. East[2] region, and renamed the current USA server to 'U.S. West'. Users are also encouraged to check VRChat's server status website or their VRChat Status account on social media for outages, or upon discovering issues when connecting to VRChat.
| Token | Region | Location |
|---|---|---|
| usw | U.S. West | San José |
| use | U.S. East | Washington D.C. |
| eu | Europe | Amsterdam |
| jp | Japan | Tokyo |
