[TV static drones]
[bright tone]
[overlapping chatter]
[orchestral music]
[glasses clinking]
♪ ♪
[overlapping voices, singing, trilling]
- ♪ There's something you can use ♪
♪ So don't say no, Mickey ♪
[Tony Basil's "Mickey" playing]
♪ So come on and give it to me any way you can ♪
♪ Any way you want to do it, I'll take it like a man ♪
♪ Oh, please, baby ♪
♪ Please don't leave me in the damp, Mickey ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Oh, Mickey, what a pity, you don't understand ♪
♪ You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand ♪
[conversing in Japanese]
[chatter, laughter]
[toasting in Japanese]
[overlapping chatter]
[laughter]
[pop music]
- [snoring]
[overlapping chatter]
- Hi, Steve.
Are you showing what I think you're showing today?
Are you showing today?
- No, no, no. I can't, uh,
not at the meetup, but it will be after the meetup.
There's gonna be a whole announcement party thing.
- Yeah, I have, like, a really tall upper body,
but I have really short legs in real life.
- I think I have, uh, I think-I think I have...
- It's a work in progress. These knives...
these knives are gonna be throwable.
[overlapping chatter]
- Shoot! Everyone's here.
[chatter quiets down]
- [whispers] There's Squid.
Hi, Squid.
- [softly] Squid!
- Yo, why is everybody all of a sudden being so quiet?
- Because you put up "quiet, please"!
- Cool. So hello.
Welcome to the community meetup.
This is an event we do once a week, every Sunday,
where you guys can show off the worlds you are creating
for VRChat
for just general feedback, to show off,
whatever you need.
If you have a world to show, please come up to the stage
and explain what it is you're going to show.
- First of all, there is a tutorial in the beginning.
- Uh...
- What is that?
- Do I need a driving license?
- [laughs] - No, not yet.
If you need to recover...
if you need to recover the car, you just respawn,
and you have a quick menu
where you can respawn the car that you own.
[inhales] I think that was everything.
[exhales slowly]
[inhales] Let's hope for the best.
- Whoo! - All right.
[cheers]
- Varneon, have you implemented ballistic explosions yet?
[giggles]
[indistinct chatter]
- You need to-- - Can...
Can somebody close the door for him?
- I can't believe that you cannot even close the door.
How small are you? - Can somebody close the door?
- Get taller!
See? People already driving!
- I can do it?
- Yeah.
- I'm gonna step on the gas.
- Yeah, there's the ignition.
- Okay. - All right.
All right, people. Are you ready?
- No, you need to put it in drive.
I think that's back with the... that's weird.
- Oh, my God. - Pfft.
- Clutch. [police siren wailing]
- How do I--
- Drive it in-- - That's reverse.
That's reverse. That's neutral.
- Behind.
Move it back. - That's reverse--behind?
It doesn't go forward. - Full throttle.
- Put it in gear.
[engine starts]
- There we go! - Okay, let's go!
Oh, my God, we cut them off!
[engine backfiring] People, sorry! Sorry!
[laughter]
- Welcome to Problemville. - All right.
[stammers] This a good time to--
I do not know how to drive a car in real life, so...
- Oh, no.
- This is gonna be a learning experience.
- We're all gonna die.
- You need to stay on the road.
- That's a good one. [laughter]
- All right, flip them off. Flip them off, flip them off.
Hey!
[car tires screech] - Watch out!
- ♪ Know the low rider ♪
- We're finding our rhythm. - Oh!
Good music back there.
both: ♪ Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo ♪
- ♪ Doo, doo, doo, doo ♪
- Can you stay on the road, please?
- I'm really just trying to learn here.
I'm really trying. - Have you learned something?
[laughter]
- Oh, my God.
- ♪ Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo ♪
♪ Doo, doo, doo-- ♪ [laughter]
♪ Ooh ♪
- Who wants to stop at McDonald's on the way home?
[laughter] - Mm-hmm.
- Oh, my God, dude. What is happening?
- ♪ Low rider ♪
♪ Drives a little slower ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Low rider ♪
♪ Is a real goer ♪
♪ ♪
[engine revving] - Uh-oh!
[tires screech] Aah!
- Oh! - Oh, no.
No, Chrissy, no!
- Oh, there's cars in front. I can't--
oh, frick! - No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
- Ooh. [tires squeal]
- Yeah, we're good. We're good, we're good.
We're good. All right.
♪ ♪
I don't think I'm gonna pass my test.
- Nah. - Nah, you're not.
- Don't forget how to play, G1.
- Which one's brake? Which one's brake?
- I can see everything. - Arrow! The arrow!
[crash] - Oh, shit.
Oh, oh.
- Okay. - We're moving.
- Whoo! Anyone else want to try driving?
- Yeah, sure.
- I think I had my fill.
- Oh, my God.
- That's a small issue.
[wheels rattling]
- I want you to raise your hand if you are new,
if this is your first or second class.
Raise that hand way up high.
Everyone, turn around and say "welcome."
Sign it like that.
Welcome.
Welcome!
Welcome to class.
So who's ready
to learn some winter holiday signs?
Yee! I'm really excited.
Okay, let me turn on my keyboard here.
All right, first and foremost...
Hmm, let me turn this off.
Whoo-hoo, Christmas!
Okay, we're gonna be having a C-hand,
if my index would do it.
C-hand.
We're gonna be having
a flat arm with our hand rested under our elbow,
and we're gonna go like this.
Christmas.
A good way to remember this is it's a whole day.
It's a whole day.
So here's the sun rising.
Christmas morning.
And then it sets again, and Christmas is over.
You're gonna be having open hands,
and then you're gonna be going in that shape of the menorah,
with those eight candles.
Cold.
Brr.
If you're all cold, what are you doing?
You're shivering.
Brr.
Oh, my gosh, it's cold.
In real life, you'd be showing with your expressions.
If it's really cold, you're like...[gasping].
You're sucking in your teeth. Ooh!
You're gonna show that with your face, right?
Or maybe you're shaking even more.
You're crouching down.
"Ah, it's so cold!"
Right?
The most important part of Christmas
or any other winter holiday.
It's not about the presents.
It's not about the stress.
It's not about the finals.
It's about family, and we're gonna make sure
that we're gonna be spreading that love, right?
I know that this year is very hard.
2020 has been kind of crazy.
Right now, it might be a very stressful time
for a lot of you guys,
but I want you to know,
even if you can't see your real-life family,
you have a family here, okay?
And I really want you guys to take away from this lesson
that we are a family here.
Cheese!
This one.
So she loves french fries.
Like always, she's eating them.
Whenever we do video calls,
she's always eating french fries, like, constantly.
And she also loves Starbucks,
and so, she added the two of those.
I think it's so funny because, like,
if I think of Nikki, I think of french fries and Starbucks.
[laughs] Like, that's her.
It's kind of hard to see,
but this is actually a picture of this person's panties.
It's Dummy, and, like,
there's just this old photo,
and then taken a photo of his skirt being lifted up.
And they're like, yeah, there you go.
There's your locker.
It makes no sense, and I love it.
[giggles]
[bird chirping]
So for me, personally,
I have a few different stuff going on.
I have something that's called auditory processing disorder,
and what that means is
if there's tons of sounds going on--
like three people talking at once,
and there's music or loud noises--
my brain just can't process it,
and it ends up sounding like a broken radio.
You know, sound comes in waves,
and it's supposed to hit your eardrum,
and it vibrates,
but for me, it just comes in,
and my right eardrum does not vibrate.
So it creates sort of like an echo chamber in my inner ear,
and it could be actually pretty painful.
So I am a teacher for Helping Hands.
Helping Hands is a sign language community
here in VRChat.
We have a lot of deaf members,
but it's not just for deaf people.
And it was established, like, late 2018.
Our goal is to not only educate people
about sign language and the deaf community
but also just to create an environment
where people can have fun, make friends.
And nowadays, we have about 2,000 members.
Each of our classes can hold up to 60 people at times,
which is an insane amount.
We have a class every single day of the week
for five different sign languages.
So this is one of our other classroom worlds
that we have here in Helping Hands.
We actually have several different worlds
for teaching ASL
and all of our other sign languages
for their respective teachers.
And this world is primarily used here by my friend Ray.
Do you want to introduce yourself?
[interpreting] Hello, everyone.
How are you?
I'm good.
I'm very happy to see you all again.
So I am a fully deaf person,
and I have been teaching here for a very long time--
since 2018.
And that's pretty much about me.
I love helping out everyone here
and seeing them learn and grow.
That's all.
[speaking as self] It was really hard for me
to sign in VR
because I've never done it before,
and it was a very big transition.
But Ray,
he was just so patient and understanding.
And he literally just sat there with me
and wrote words all over
and just sat there.
And we signed together each and every single word,
just learning how to adapt into VR.
And it was such a beautiful experience,
just seeing his kindness and patience.
And, you know, I started getting close to him.
And then, he introduced me to other members
until it is where it is today.
And, like, Ray is still a really big part of my life,
along with the others who were there at the beginning.
[Middle Eastern music]
- You can push your hip to the side, to the left side.
When you can't go anymore,
you're gonna start straightening this leg slowly
and bending this leg at the same time
to make this hip go down.
So here we go. Ready?
Starting with our right,
point and point
and point and point.
And one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
And point and point
and point and point.
Turn. Point, point.
Turn, point.
♪ ♪
Aw, that was very good. Good job.
You guys follow really well. You're keeping up.
And I think you're getting the hang of it.
I got VR in 2018.
And then I quickly got a full body
maybe like a couple of months later.
So about two years, but in real life,
I've been dancing since I was 11 years old.
Right, forward, left, back.
Try not to move your upper body.
Forward, left...
Belly dancing in VR is pretty easy
because the only parts of the body that you need, really,
are your knees and your hips and your arms,
which all track pretty well.
And I think my community is the only one
that does belly dance in particular.
In VRChat, you'll see a lot of hip-hop dancers,
a lot of lap dancers, a lot of pole dancers,
so I thought that I would bring my knowledge
and share that with others here.
♪ ♪
If I had 100% confidence
that I could make a living doing this in VR
and teach dance as a living in VR,
I totally would quit everything I'm doing
and do exactly that.
My love of dance and the ability to make my own hours--
why not? [chuckles]
And then I can inspire others to dance
just in the comfort of their own home.
Perfect.
Three, two, one.
[camera shutter clicks] Beautiful.
Good job, everybody. You guys did amazing today.
- Yes. Yeah. - Oh!
Oh, oh, oh!
[gasps] You did it. You did it.
I really want to have my classes
become a little bit bigger.
It's kind of dwindled down lately.
I have, like, maybe two continuing students,
which is better than nothing,
but it's so much more fun
when there's a lot of us getting together and dancing.
[overlapping chatter]
- That's right. [blows raspberry]
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You'll get a DM later. Don't worry about it.
- [chuckles] I'll get a DM?
Okay, a DM at, like, 1:00 a.m.
- Yeah, a happy birthday DM.
[laughter]
- Cheers. - Cheers!
all: Cheers!
- And I will definitely say
that I think each and every single one of us
loves each other.
So cheers. all: Cheers!
- What? - Oh, yeah.
No, I don't know what happened with that.
- If you go in here,
you'll see a very special thing.
This is where everyone gets their drinks
and gets drunk, every Friday.
Yes.
Yes, pretty much.
As you can see, there's a toaster on the counter
in that direction.
But, like, seriously.
Just in case you missed it.
[laughs]
Yeah, you could usually find him
there on the kitchen counter.
[strumming Vance Joy's "Riptide"]
- Right there? Am I kissing him?
- You're so hot.
[chuckles]
♪ ♪
It's been a while.
♪ ♪
♪ I was afraid of dentists and the dark ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations ♪
♪ Oh, all my friends are turning green ♪
♪ ♪
♪ You're the magician's assistant in their dreams ♪
[vocalizing]
♪ ♪
♪ And they come unstuck ♪
♪ Lady, running down to the riptide ♪
♪ Taken away to the dark side ♪
♪ I wanna be your left hand man ♪
♪ I love you when you're singing that song ♪
♪ And I got a lump in my throat ♪
♪ 'Cause you're gonna sing the words wrong ♪
♪ ♪
♪ There's a story that I think you'd like ♪
♪ ♪
♪ This guy decides to quit his job ♪
♪ And head to New York City ♪
♪ This cowboy is running from himself ♪
♪ ♪
Ah, it is Tugs.
I thought I recognized that voice.
[vocalizing]
♪ ♪
♪ And they come unstuck ♪
♪ ♪
Uh, I forgot the rest.
[laughter]
Yeah.
- It was beautiful.
- Whoo!
- Aah!
- Hold my hand!
We're gonna die!
Whoa! - Aah!
[carnival music]
- You can be who you've always wanted to be,
and you can, in a way, start over kind of thing,
'cause in real life, you have expectations,
that people feel that you need to act a certain way,
that you need to do things a certain way,
and you may or may not agree with those things
or want to be like that.
You come into VR, nobody knows who you are.
Nobody cares who you were.
They just know who you are now,
how you treat them, how you speak to them.
That's now you,
so you're free to be yourself, you know?
It's--it's just...
the person in front of me right now
is the person that I'm getting to know.
♪ ♪
- About a year ago,
I went to a K-pop class.
And me, Toaster,
and another dancer named Koreos
took this class together.
And I think that's--
oh, that's not the first time I met you.
- That's not when we met. - That was the second time.
That was when I got to interact with him for the first time.
- Yeah, that's when we had our own one-on-one kind of thing.
And ever since that day, ever since that class, um...
♪ ♪
It's very weird.
I had this feeling.
I always wanted to--
I was just drawn to her.
And every time I got on VR,
the first thing I, like, subconsciously would look for
is, is DustBunny online? Oh, she is.
I'm gonna see what she's up to first.
I was like I didn't care who else was online.
I didn't care what else I had planned.
I wanted to have that feeling again.
I've been a mute for two years.
I unmuted in August... - August.
- On the 9th,
and if I'm being completely honest,
it was because of her.
I didn't feel like I had enough anxiety
to keep me silent anymore,
and a lot, if not all of that, is because of her.
She gave me lots and lots of confidence,
and she made me feel comfortable in my own skin,
not just as Toaster but as me.
I've never been so sure of a decision in my life.
I'm very, very glad that I unmuted to you.
- And now, he can't stop talking.
[bumper cars whirring]
- [imitates bumper cars] Yow!
- [panting] - I'm on your booty!
- Aah! - [grunts]
[both grunt]
- Oh, no! - Oh, Jesus!
Why? [chuckles]
Ow!
- Oh, no!
- Oh, God.
[The Electric Swing Circus' "Bella Belle" playing]
♪ ♪
- One, two, three, four.
♪ ♪
- Also, make sure that you guys
have your volume around, like, 90.
I know that some people have been playing their music
and it's been pretty low,
but yeah, make sure that you have--
- 86 or higher.
- One dancer to a booth while you guys are dancing.
As we want to let those people in the booths know,
they are a part of the show too
and they are a part of the audience,
and we want to make them feel included as well.
If you guys do get injured, please, please tell us.
I'm here.
Jericho's here. Ida's here.
I'm trying to see who else. - Hello.
- Boi. Uh, Chloe's here.
Yeah, and Dragon--yes. - DragonHeart.
- There's a lot of people,
so I'm trying to go through all the admins.
- ♪ The girl is trouble, can you tell? ♪
♪ Oh, her name is Bella Belle ♪
♪ And one by one, the boys all yell ♪
♪ "Let me be your fella ♪
♪ 'Cause you're looking mighty swell, Belle" ♪
♪ ♪
- If anyone creeps you guys out--
- Listen, and if anyone creeps you guys out,
let us know right there.
Do not wait, okay?
Don't wait.
We pay attention to what is going on around the room,
and we are also pretty protective
of you guys as well too, so yes, please let us know.
All right?
But anyway, have fun.
And let me see. What time is it?
Okay, it's 1:50, so we are good to go on time.
- Because I'm pretty, pretty sure I am.
- And you're supposed to be out there now.
- Well, nobody said anything to me.
I've just been chilling. - Go. Go on.
- ♪ And one by one, the boys all yell ♪
♪ ♪
- [whistling] - Hell yeah!
- Whoo! Yeah!
- Hey! Let's go, Neko!
- Look at them. Meow!
Look at these kings and queens, y'all.
This beautiful queen over here, oh, my goodness.
Bodybuilder, mm!
Just saying. [laughter]
- Oh, okay. - She beautiful.
Look at her. Look at her.
Ugh! - Aw!
- Beautiful.
Give it up for IsYourBoi.
Ooh-whoo! Hell yeah!
- ♪ Maybe I should just jump ♪
♪ They tried to push me off the edge ♪
♪ They never knew that I could swim in the deep end ♪
♪ Now, I'm coming for their heads ♪
♪ Maybe I should just jump ♪
♪ ♪
[Nu Alkemi$t's "Lost with You" playing]
- ♪ So come on over, come and pick me up ♪
♪ Pick me up ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Driving down dark avenues ♪
♪ Dreaming of life with you ♪
♪ Got all our time to lose ♪
♪ My sky's on fire for you ♪
♪ Feels like we levitate ♪
♪ Looking at me that way ♪
[Uriah Heep's "Lady in Black" playing]
♪ ♪
- ♪ She came to me one morning ♪
♪ One lonely Sunday morning ♪
♪ Her long hair flowing ♪
♪ In the midwinter wind ♪ - Hell yeah.
- ♪ I know not how she found me ♪
♪ For in darkness, I was walking ♪
♪ And destruction lay around me ♪
♪ From a fight I could not win ♪
♪ ♪
- Whoo! Oh, my goodness.
- The duos are almost done.
Are you excited? How are you feeling?
- I'm nervous. I am very nervous.
- Ooh, okay. - Actually, Mason...
- Oh, I love it. - He picked the outfit.
[giggles]
This one, it comes off, so I can do a little whoo.
- This is pretty. I love the gold.
I love everything about it. This looks amazing.
- I love this outfit.
And it goes so well with tracking as well.
- Oh! - Mm-hmm.
Look at me. You're a beautiful queen.
You got this.
He is gonna be so excited for you to do this.
Oh, my goodness. You're gonna be amazing.
All right. Let's get out there.
Let's get out. Let's go.
Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! - Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay!
Whoo!
- So a little story here.
So on Wednesday, it will be a year
since I've been with this lovely guy right here.
So this is...
- Hell yeah. - Aw!
- Aw, that's gay!
- Aw. - Aw, that's great.
- So basically, this is just a little dance
to see how we met and stuff like that.
This will be our song as well.
Yeah, I don't know. - I'm gonna cry!
Congratulations. - Congratulations!
- It might not be the sexiest dance you have ever seen,
but it's gonna be a dance from my heart.
- It's gonna be your feels. - Aw.
- I actually want to watch it. - Right in the feels.
[laughter]
[Dan + Shay's "Speechless" playing]
- ♪ You say you'll be down in five ♪
♪ The smell of the perfume ♪
♪ Is floating down the stairs ♪
♪ You're fixing up your hair like you do ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I know that I'll be a mess ♪
♪ The second that I see you ♪
♪ You won't be surprised ♪
♪ That happens every time ♪
♪ It's nothing new ♪
♪ ♪
♪ It's always on a night like tonight ♪
♪ I thank God you can read my mind ♪
♪ Because when you look at me with those eyes ♪
♪ I'm speechless ♪
♪ Staring at you standing there in that dress ♪
♪ What it's doing to me ain't a secret ♪
♪ 'Cause watching you is all that I can do ♪
♪ I'm ♪
♪ Speechless ♪
♪ Oh, you know it, baby ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
- It's gonna be Wednesday, our year.
- I know.
I'm so proud of you guys. - I loved it.
- I fight with you all like brother and sister sometimes,
but I love you guys.
Y'all like family. - We love you.
That's the whole point of family.
You're meant to argue.
[chuckles] - [hums]
- But I'm glad.
You're a robot, so I'm gonna hug your robot neck,
but I love you. - Oh, hug my robot.
Well, hug me as a robot.
- I love you guys. - Mm-hmm.
- I'm so proud of y'all.
- Hopefully, like, I didn't glitch or anything like that,
or it was, like, laggy or anything.
[soft piano music]
- Oh, wow. That was lousy.
I...
- I mean...
I remember I did a move.
So when I dance, I slide a lot on my knees.
And, like, I was very new to dancing,
so I didn't know my play space area.
So I slid on my knees, and I slid right into a wall.
And my nose started bleeding while I was dancing,
so I was like, oh, no.
And it was in the middle of the song,
so once I did that slide, I was like, I can't stop.
I need to carry on dancing.
And then, when the song ended, I was like,
"I need to go for a quick moment.
"Nothing serious. It's just my nose is bleeding."
Don't take my steps.
[laughs]
Oh! - Stupid ball.
Okay, go ahead. Line up.
"What purpose does VRChat have in my life?"
Honestly, I think it has a very big purpose.
I can actually have the most stressful day at work,
come home,
relax for a little bit, hop on,
and, you know, those problems just stay in real life.
You know, I don't bring it to VR,
and I'm just able to enjoy myself.
I'm able to enjoy the game.
I'm able to enjoy time with her, with my friends.
And yeah, it's one of those things
that I'm very thankful with.
So yeah, VRChat is a very, very big part of my life.
- Yeah, I would say, for me, especially,
it was more of an escape.
When I first discovered VRChat,
I was in a very dark place in my life.
I'd just lost,
like, someone who was very, very important to me.
So I saw VRChat, and I was like,
I can't be myself in real life,
so I'll just be myself in VRChat,
which was very refreshing to me
that I can jump on, and no one knew what...
Like, when you lose someone in real life,
everyone's like, "Oh, I'm sorry for your loss,"
and, like, they compare you to the death, basically.
In VRChat, no one knew that my family died,
or no one knew that anything happened.
So I just got to forget, in a sense, that that happened,
and then I have fun in VRChat.
- Aw, that was so close.
- When I very first started having VR,
I was an alcoholic.
I was very much an alcoholic,
where I just didn't care what happened to me.
I just wanted to drink and have fun
and forget about what happened in real life.
So there was a situation
where I had to go to hospital about it,
and from that day on, I was like, I can't do this.
I can't drink anymore and stuff like that,
but I found it very, very hard to.
And what I found amazing
is that I didn't need to...
Like, when I was dancing, I didn't feel the need to drink.
I didn't feel the need to be like,
oh, I need to take a shot 'cause I'm not feeling
that amazing feeling that I normally feel,
because I did feel that feeling--
the adrenaline, I guess you could say--
by dancing.
If I felt that craving, I danced,
and it was--
it got me a much healthier lifestyle.
Ahem.
Ah-coo.
[clears throat]
- Damn, that shit too fast.
I knew I was gonna win. [chuckles]
- [gasps] You hear the cockiness?
The cockiness of it all? - No, no, no, no, no.
We are 5,000 miles apart, you know?
She lives in the U.K.,
I live in Miami, Florida,
yet we have this very, very strong bond
where we're able to be there for one another.
And, you know, we've discussed plenty of times
that it's gonna be a struggle,
it's gonna be hard,
but you know, we're gonna try our best to make it work.
And, you know, if it doesn't work, we tried our best,
but I don't want to lose her in my life.
She doesn't want to lose me either.
[overlapping chatter]
We always tease each other
in the sense that if we were to end up together,
when our grandbabies,
and we're old, and the grandbabies
give us that special little question,
"Hey, Grandpa, how did you meet Grandma?"
we're just gonna look at each other and be like,
"Well, your grandma was
"a virtual exotic dancer
in a game."
- What are you grabbing for?
- I didn't know where to go. I wasn't paying attention.
[pensive music]
♪ ♪
[conversing in Japanese]
[ding]
[laughter, chatter]
[glasses clinking]
[electronic dance music]
♪ ♪
- [singing in Japanese]
♪ ♪
- ♪ As we dance by the moonlight ♪
♪ Can't you see you're my delight? ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Lady, I just feel like ♪
- ♪ I won't get you out of my mind ♪
- Ten... - Ten...
all: Nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four,
three, two, one!
Happy New Year, Kool-Aid!
Whoo!
[laughter] - Oh, lookit!
He's in his own time zone.
- Happy New Year, Kool-Aid.
We love you so much.
Thank you for being my friend.
[excited chatter]
- That was it. That was it.
Like, two seconds ago. - Okay.
- It was two seconds ago. That was it.
We missed it. We missed it.
- Oh, no! We missed it!
- Happy new year.
- Happy new year, everybody.
- Okay, sorry. Sorry.
Like, my timer's not good.
We're gonna do a fake countdown
in ten, nine, eight, seven,
five, six--
[laughs]
Three, two, one!
Happy new year!
[cheers]
- Yee!
- We have FSP already giving us the soundtrack.
Thank you. Thank you.
♪ For auld lang syne ♪
This year has been really hard--
personally, in real life--
for a lot of reasons and for a lot of people.
It has isolated a lot of us
from not only the people that we care a lot about
but the people that we didn't even know we cared about.
So for me, I didn't know that I cared about, you know,
the random person that is my coworker five desks away.
I didn't know that I cared
about the person at the grocery store
that I just want to, like, be like,
"Hey, can you believe the calories in this granola bar?"
Like, all that little stuff.
I didn't believe I cared about the waitress
at the restaurant that we used to go out every week.
And I didn't believe I cared about my hairdresser.
Oh, I really care about my hairdresser.
I really care about my manicurist.
I hope they're doing well.
I really hope they're doing well,
and I hope they're back in business
when we all get a vaccine.
You don't want to see the state
of my nails and hair right now.
On top of all of that,
the thing that has kept me grounded
and the thing that has kept me sane
has been VR and the VRChat community.
I...I-I am not
going to mince words
when I say that VRChat has saved my life
and my sanity this year.
I would not have weathered this without you guys.
[overlapping chatter]
- Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four... - Guys, relax.
It's just a countdown. - Three, two, one.
- Happy new year! - You're just a countdown!
[cheering]
- Mwah-ha! - Yes, sir!
- Fuck 2020!
- 2021 is gonna rock us to the core!
Let's go! - Welcome to 2021!
[bright synth music]
Let's go!
♪ ♪
- And the avatars didn't work. Yeah.
- I don't want to try 'cause
I was gonna change into Fun Girl.
- That'd be crazy.
♪ ♪
- Who blew up these?
- Happy birthday!
♪ ♪
[gasps and cheers]
- Fuck, hang on. Wait, I gotta get confetti.
Where is it? - Oh, my God!
- Here it is.
- Aw, you're already emotional.
[laughter]
[fire crackling]
[engine stalls]
- [laughs] Oh, man!
Come on, Finn. - Jeez.
- That's great. - What are you doing to us?
Ready? - Oh, God.
Yeah, so ready. - Ready.
- So ready. - Yeah.
- Yep. - We're ready.
- I promise to stay in the car.
I'm in the Humvee anyway.
No one's gonna mess with me.
[dinosaur calling]
- Look at that. [footsteps thudding]
- [giggles] It's so good.
- That's so cool.
- Whoa! - This is so "Jurassic Park."
- Yes!
- He's gonna come down.
Kids already love dinosaurs, you know?
But, like, this is a whole other level of just--
- Like, can you imagine, like, just being in this?
- Yeah, exactly. - Like as a kid?
Like--
- Hey.
- Bye-bye. - Bye.
- All right. - Bye.
Bye, dinosaur.
- I don't recognize that it's been a year
since I've seen Kevin's IRL body.
[laughter]
- Sounds funny. - Or his IRL avatar.
[laughter]
- It's hard to imagine, I imagine,
like, for some folks to see how normal it is
for us to interact with these avatars.
Like, I don't even skip a beat anymore
interacting with, you know,
basically our, like, little space dogs.
Just boop the nose. Just boop the nose.
Boop. But yeah.
I don't know, it's such a fun thing
to be able to experience, you know, yourself
in different environments than you would normally go into.
You know, it may be at different heights
than you normally are, you know, different embodiments.
There's so many things you can do in VR
that form amazing and really meaningful memories.
- I wanted to be a--
an anime female character.
Someone may say, "Well, that's wrong
"'cause, like, you're a guy
"with a very long beard,
"very much not anything like that character.
Why would you even do that? That's lying to us."
Like, no.
No, no, no, this is my expression of myself.
- The ability to be lots of different avatars
allows us to see different aspects of ourselves
in a lot of different ways.
In my case, I am nonbinary,
and being in VRChat means
that I can run around as a space dog,
as a, uh, a deer,
as a Nargacuga,
as a--you know, like any number of different avatars
that I collect across different worlds
or that I make myself.
And it doesn't mean
that misgendering doesn't happen
or that assumptions aren't made about gender or sexuality,
because they do.
They certainly happen a lot,
but there's a little bit
of a sense of having...
just--just that...
just a little bit more control
over how you might represent yourself
and a little bit more fluidity
in representation
that is harder to achieve in real life
because of the expectations of society
and how people see you.
- I think the community is continuing
to figure out where it wants to go
and kind of grow and progress
and continue to have fun while also, you know,
recognizing that we have a responsibility
to make VR somewhere that everyone feels welcome
and somewhere that everyone can find a place
to hang out and grow and enjoy the social company of others.
[crickets chirping]
[engine starts]
- Yay!
Oh! Uh-oh!
Health.
How do you sign "health"?
Health.
Yes, yes.
Yes.
Health, health, or health.
Healthy. You have a Y at the end.
Healthy. "I'm strong. I'm healthy."
Mm-hmm, or health.
I feel like even communities
that aren't, like, made for mental health support
can still be a really big mental health support,
and I try really hard
to have that same sort of concept applied
in our community and with my classes,
where they can feel welcomed here.
They can feel safe here.
They can feel like they have a home.
I've always kind of had
this kind of, like, cloud of anxiety and depression
ever since I was really little,
but I think 2019
was after it had just been
like a snowball of like spiraling
further, further, further, further.
Even though I was trying hard
and I had my VR community to help me through it,
I ended up attempting suicide in the summer of 2019,
and, uh, I just--
It was that moment where I was in the hospital afterwards--
of course, my family had to figure it out,
'cause I was in the hospital--
and I couldn't cry.
I really wanted to cry,
but I couldn't until I started thinking
about the repercussions that my decision would have on people.
And I would start thinking about the fact
that I had so many people around me who loved me
that I didn't even realize
'cause I was, like, so deep in my own issues.
I sobbed
and I kind of made a promise to myself,
like, I'm not gonna do this again
and I'm actually gonna get better,
because there's so many people who care about me
and I have to be strong enough to one day repay that.
I was really lucky to find my sign language community
and discover the amazing people within it.
And I know that not everyone finds that community,
but just making friends here
is sometimes what saves people's lives
or what gets them up out of bed in the morning, you know?
- I won. - No, you did not.
- And I was like... - Yeah.
- You're so weak. - It's okay.
- I am not!
- Zap.
- Zop. - Zip.
- Zap.
- Zop. - Zip.
- Zap.
Don't forget: energy, expression, emotion.
Exaggerate it.
- [exclaims]
- You know, "Oh, my God!"
Really, but commit to it, guys.
- Yeah. - Okay, here we go.
Hands in. Let's go.
One, two, three, improv.
One, two, three.
all: Improv!
- Let's go! - Yeah!
[applause]
- Well, welcome to another live improv show in VRChat.
Y'all ready to have some fun?
[cheers and applause]
Yeah? All right.
Hell yeah, let's do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm Goblox.
I will be your host for the evening.
- For professional chicken--
what the hell is it?
- Interpretative chicken dancer.
- Interpretive chicken dancer.
I imagine that's going
to have a whole wide range of requirement,
so I'm very much looking forward
to seeing what it takes to be an interpretive chicken dancer.
Zircron, take it away.
- Mm!
[tapping rhythmically]
Bawk.
Now, I'm gonna give you a dance sequence,
and I'm gonna let you tell me what you think of it, okay?
[laughter]
- [grunting]
Thank you for having me.
[laughter]
- Only two months into our relationship,
Toaster came to fly out to me.
But of course, we knew when he was gonna come visit me,
and we went to a airport world...
And reenacted
what we think it might be like to meet up in real life,
like, what we're gonna do when we see each other.
We pretended that he'd come out of the airport
and then I'm like over there
like, you know, like, super excited.
And then, we'd give a big ol' hug and stuff.
- The feeling I had when I landed--
that last plane,
and it was dark, and I was in her town--
I was just like...
[breathing heavily]
I had to remember to breathe, literally,
'cause I felt, like, lightheaded.
I was so nervous.
And we're on the phone, and I'm walking out,
and she's like, "Come here. Come to this one,"
you know, like 7B or something like that.
So I start walking.
And then, she's like, "Oh, God, I see you,"
and then hangs up.
And I'm like, oh, no!
And then, I just hear...
[running footsteps]
[laughter] In the parking lot.
And she tries to run behind the pillar,
but all I see is this goofball running across the parking lot
in this beautiful red dress,
and my heart sank
'cause I was like, that's definitely her.
Nobody would be as goofy as that.
- Wearing a red dress. [laughs]
- Wearing a red dress, like, just beautiful
but just running behind a pillar in the parking lot.
That was the only time. - Yeah.
- And I stayed there for two weeks.
And then I had to go back, sadly.
And with COVID, she's not even allowed to come here.
Like, my country will not let her in.
Nobody's allowed in.
We're the only ones allowed out,
and even coming back is iffy,
so it's really tough right now.
So with a long-distance relationship,
having VR is a gamechanger.
I don't think we'd be as close as we are,
and I don't think we would have gotten as close.
I don't know if we'd even have hit it off like we did
because I would act a different way.
She probably acts a different way
to, like, someone new that you meet, you know?
Now that our feelings, you know, are very, very surefire
and I know that I love her
and I know that I want to, you know, keep being with her
and making this work and eventually, you know,
not have to rely on VR one day.
100% in the future,
as soon as it's available,
I'm going to her, she's coming to me.
I miss her more than anything. - No way around it.
- Yeah, you know, just after two weeks,
you know, I know I belong with her.
I need to have her in my life,
more than just VR.
[Perfume Genius' "Without You" playing]
♪ ♪
- ♪ It's the strangest feeling ♪
♪ Unknown even ♪
♪ Almost good ♪
♪ ♪
♪ It's a blurry shape ♪
♪ It's a jumbled tape ♪
♪ Of sound ♪
♪ ♪
♪ It's enough, not too loud ♪
♪ Just enough to find a trace ♪
♪ ♪
♪ It's enough in the mirror ♪
♪ I can almost find your face ♪
♪ ♪
♪ You know it's been such a long, long time ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Without you ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Without you ♪
♪ ♪
♪ It's the strangest feeling ♪
♪ Unknown even ♪
♪ Almost good ♪
♪ With the dark still swinging ♪
♪ So long chasing ♪
♪ Satisfaction's a lowly thing ♪
♪ Or so she tells me ♪
♪ Underneath the feeling ♪
♪ I'm feeling something ♪
♪ When the center falls out ♪
♪ At least I'll have the spring ♪
♪ You know it's been such a long, long time ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Without you ♪
[waves rushing]
- 'Cause we finished Dragon's main one.
We did that.
We've got yours coming up, which I am--
sculpted all the assets on it.
It's my first time sculpting all the clothes on it.
Your head's finished, which is on your wedding one.
That's done.
- That one... - I'm so sorry.
You've been so busy. - My most work.
Yeah, thank you. - Are you proud of it?
Are you happy with it? - Oh, yeah.
No, of course. I love it.
The good thing about, like, me and you
is I find you very similar to myself,
so whenever I make something for you,
I have a feeling you will like it.
And you're just very appreciative.
Anything I do, anything I say,
you put it on a pedestal.
You're like, "Thank you so much."
Like, honestly it means the absolute world to me,
and I'm so happy that I'm your go-to avatar creator.
But--sorry.
- You're gonna make me cry just for that.
[laughter]
Oh, no. - We're in for a treat today.
- I'm about to cry just to that.
All right. - All right.
- Hello?
- You all good? - I'm--I'm good.
I'm good. - We're walking?
Yeah, we're walking.
Whoo!
[chuckles]
- I'm nervous. I'm scared.
- You should be. - All right, all right.
All right, we're gonna look. - Yeah?
- In three, two...
- Come a little bit forward. No, come here.
Forward a little bit. Keep coming forward.
In the middle, in the middle. - All right.
- There we go. - All right.
- You ready? - I'll look forward.
In one, two, three. - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- [gasps]
- Ooh.
[laughter]
- [sobbing]
- I told you. I told you.
- Give me a second.
- Like you've never seen before.
- Take it all in, every feature.
- And you wanted blue eyes.
I love blue eyes. - Yeah, I changed it up.
I bumped into them.
- Head up, and then...
And then, spin. - Yas, queen.
Spin it.
This is like a total, like, new model for you.
- Yeah, this is like completely different,
even the base, the head--
the only thing that stayed the same was the horns.
- Yeah, which of course, you're gotta get the tail,
but I didn't want to put it on this model.
There was no way I was gonna be able to work out
how to do a tail with a dress.
I was like, I have to leave it. - Yeah.
- We tested her out in the world as well.
She matches beautifully, so you'll be perfect.
She's ready to go when you are.
- And then, in the middle, is a hot dog.
- I have never tried a croissant hot dog.
Oh, oh.
We're ready. - We're going.
[birds chirping]
- Oh, I think it's supposed to be, like, a blackboard,
so you can grab the ends and stuff right there.
- I did this, ASL, and then the assistive lessons.
- Okay, thank you. Thank you.
I appreciate it, you guys.
[laughs]
I know it's, uh, awkward and weird.
This is my first time teaching here.
I'm trying my best being a sub for Ray,
so bear with me, okay?
Next sign, there's two signs for this.
You could either sign it like this.
You point to your head-- point to your head--
and you pull the thought out of your head
and you mix it all up, 'cause you're confused.
You pull that thought out of your head, and you mix it.
You're all confused.
You get all your thoughts all jumbled.
Cry.
Cry, cry, cry, cry.
Show your tears, or if you're really crying.
"Oh, I'm crying a lot." Crying.
This is tons and tons of tears, or just a little bit of tears.
Cry, cry, cry.
Okay. How do I pronounce your name?
TheThirdR?
- Yes. - Mm-hmm.
- Hello. - Hello!
- How do I sign "similar"?
- Mm. Mm, that's a good question.
So same, the sign for same is like this.
You have a "Y" hand. You're showing same.
So you're connecting.
But if you want to say they're kind of--
you can say they're the same, they're similar,
or you could use this.
This means "also."
Does that make sense? Yeah, they're separate.
Separate, yeah. - Thank you.
- You don't have to go over all of them,
but like different signs for, like, sexual orientation.
So, like, bisexual. - Oh, like queer signs?
- Yeah, like queer signs.
Yeah, like, in your class, or just, like--
- Yeah, I could do a quick one real quick.
Sure, yeah. - Thanks.
- We'll just go through a few.
Yeah, well, one--one that's good to know is "queer."
It's literally a rainbow.
Rainbow.
That's how you sign rainbow or queer.
Queer.
And then one of my favorite signs overall is this sign.
And this sign means trans.
And the reason why I love it so much
is it means beautiful heart and change of heart.
So instead of signing beautiful--beautiful--
you're doing that same hand movement,
but on your chest.
Yep, yep.
So your heart is pure and beautiful, just like that.
And that means trans.
[wind whooshing]
[leaves rustling]
- [interpreting] I really have no idea.
It's, like...
it's kind of hard for me to understand.
But I was just so focused on my work,
focused on my students,
focused on my social life,
focused on everything else in my life.
I got a phone call.
And you know, of course, me being deaf, I couldn't hear.
But I was still able to feel my phone vibrating.
I took off my VR headset, and I saw that the call
was from my mother.
I was like, "Oh," you know, "what's up?"
I really didn't know what was going on.
When I answered the call, I was able to see.
My mother explained that my brother had passed away.
And I asked if he had passed from coronavirus,
and she said no.
And see, my brother has a problem.
He has a lot of depression.
And he struggled for a long time in his life.
I asked what was wrong, what had happened.
I was concerned over everything.
There was one problem in particular that...
He had--[sputters]
he had committed suicide.
And he had ended up taking his own life.
And it was a really big surprise for me.
I was really, really surprised.
I-I couldn't express my feelings.
I didn't know what happened.
And my mom also had no idea what had happened.
It was my first time experiencing this.
I don't know what to say, really.
I just felt helpless.
I realized that people actually planned
to surprise me with flowers in my Helping Hands community.
Uh...
they wanted to support me
because of my loss of my brother.
And they were very sincere in telling me
that they really loved me.
And they understood the love of my brother, as well,
and the pain that I must have been going through.
All of the people in the community, I just--
I love so much.
They're such incredible people.
And I had a box of flowers arrive to my door.
My mom was so surprised as well.
She's like, "Who sent this to you?"
And I said, "It was Helping Hands."
And she was so happy as well.
My mom just felt-- I don't know.
She was so emotional, you know.
[speaking as self] Hearing that your mother
also enjoyed it,
it makes it completely worth it.
And I'm really happy that you were able to get that
and feel a little bit better.
So yeah, I hope that you can see
just how many people love you.
You're-- you're very, very valued.
You're very valid and just loved
in this community, yeah.
[gentle music]
[interpreting] We can come together and support each other
through our community,
whether it's Helping Hands or anything.
And I really hope that the people who are deaf
and come here to this community,
or students, or anyone--
I hope that they can receive help
from our Deaf community here.
And I really want them to know that they're loved.
I really love all of you.
This community means a lot to me.
And I want people to know that they can come to VRChat
and feel that same love.
♪ ♪
[stirring music]
♪ ♪
[insects chirping]
[blades whirring]
[upbeat dance music]
♪ ♪
[soft piano playing "Claire de Lune"]
♪ ♪
["Claire de Lune" continues]
♪ ♪
- Yeah. - There we go.
Let's go. - Thank you.
- Okay. So who else are we missing?
- I don't think Blood can make it either.
- All right.
- Get the right side. - Oh, God.
Collider. [laughs] Agh!
- The bone man walking down the aisle.
[overlapping chatter] - Me neither, me neither.
- The last one I went to was my VR daughter's one.
- Do you want the groom-- bridesmaids now?
- Because the...
- [laughs]
- It's frontier... - I love the design.
I know people say like it's too flashy,
but, like, I don't know.
It's just...
- I think it suits you. - Perfect.
- I threw up.
Don't get me wrong. I threw up.
I did. I did. I'll admit that.
- "Oh, oh, I wasn't nervous."
Oh, I wasn't--oh, I threw up."
- I'll admit that. I did.
I was thinking about it.
I was doing my vows.
And I was like, "Oh, crap. Okay."
And then I went.
- I don't know.
And I'm questioning everything--
- Is this better?
- Stalling. - Do I still look like I'm--
- That's what it is. - Sorry.
Excuse me. Sorry.
- Oh, my God, late-- - [laughs]
- He was here. He had to reload.
- Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
If I could ask everybody to go ahead and do something
that is going to feel very, very unnatural
with the technology that you have on,
and that is stand, okay?
Have you ever tried standing before
in your little VR bodies?
There you go.
Take a stand.
[hip-hop music]
♪ ♪
- Yeah, right over here.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- Damn!
[swelling violin music]
♪ ♪
- Oh! - God.
- [laughs] - Oh, my God, I love you.
[laughter]
- Oh!
- Go!
[laughs]
- Since the day we met,
I've seen and heard so much about you,
from the way you can sing
every single note to a Disney song 'cause--
[audio drops] Lord Jesus,
you show that talent every time we watch a Disney movie.
To the way you snore when I wake up
every morning to go to work.
But all jokes aside, you have no idea how fond I am of you.
As we move forward and plan our lives together,
our homes in London and in America,
I know we will face many challenges.
But always know this.
No matter if it's 5,000 or 1 mile
that we have between us,
I'll always be there for you 200%.
- For richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health,
to love, to cherish, until death do you part.
- I do.
- Mr. DragonHeart.
- I do.
- [laughs] - Aww!
- Ladies and gentlemen,
I pronounce IsYourBoi and DragonHeart
to be married until the rest of time.
Congratulations to you and everyone else
who viewed this beautiful moment.
- All right. [giggling] You ready?
- You may now kiss the bride. - Up, up, up, up, up.
We'll practice.
[cheering]
[whistling and applause]
- All right. Ladies and gentlemen,
do you guys want to take a seat,
and anybody wants to come up?
- It was so nice seeing her
so happy with someone.
[sobbing]
I'm so glad that she found someone
that just completes her.
And it makes me really happy.
So thank you for that.
Oh, Boi. [laughs]
- God, it was like--
- Ooh.
I have known you for years, so--
and you have been through everything with me.
You've been through marriage,
almost divorce, a child.
Boi, you were the first person that I sent a picture to
after I gave birth to my son.
The connection I feel with you,
I've never felt with anyone before.
[sobbing]
I might have met you in virtual reality,
but you are my real-life friend.
And I love you so much.
And congratulations to you two.
- I love you too. - Okay, I'm gonna go now.
[allegro violin music]
♪ ♪
- Mah! [laughs]
- DragonHeart and IsYourBoi.
Well, now, pretty much, they're married, you know.
And-- - You're stuck with me.
- You know, it's-- pretty much, yeah!
It's just-- we're just going to continue
to have a lot of incredible adventures together.
You know, this is just a milestone
in our relationship, where it's quite a...
Our way of showing each other that,
"Hey, you know what?
We waited a year and five months."
You know, it's not about, "Oh, my God,"
we started dating two weeks,
and then, "Oh, my God, let's have a VRChat wedding
just for the meme of it."
- The way I saw this wedding is that we promised to each other
that we are going to see each other.
We are going to get married in the future, is basically--
and it's basically a guarantee for us
that we are moving forward with our lives,
for getting ready for our real lives.
And I feel like that's what the wedding mainly is,
is us committing and going--
definitely doing this. - Yeah.
- It's the exact same as waltz.
It's just, the timing's different.
So you still have the same box step.
You still have the same turn.
The timing goes like this.
So followers, we're going to start on our right leg.
Leaders, on your left, going forward.
Followers, going back.
In position, we have slow, quick, quick.
Slow, quick, quick.
Slow.
If you want to get extra spicy,
you can add a little bit of hip swaying.
So if you take my belly-dance class,
you can kind of move your hips in the direction you're going.
So right, left, right, left, right, left.
That's for your hips.
Okay, this is the salsa basic for followers.
[salsa music]
- Okay. - Oh, okay.
- Okay, ready?
You're going to go back on this foot first.
- And three, two, one, go.
- Quick, quick, slow.
And then go forward on this foot.
Quick, quick, slow.
Yep.
Quick, quick, slow.
- Pull your eyes up here.
- Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Rock, step together.
[singing in Spanish]
♪ ♪
- Quick, slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, quick.
Make sure you guys are rocking.
Rock.
Rock, step together.
Quick, slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Whoo! Good job!
- Bravo. Clap, clap, clap, clap.
- High five.
- Everybody give yourselves a round of applause.
High-five your partner.
[camera shutter snaps]
Yeah, I think they [murmurs, laughs].
Bravo.
Good job, you guys.
- Hey, nice work!
- Thank you.
Very nice work, yes.
- High five, FrostBuns.
- I think my ballroom class was probably
the most successful to me.
And I posted this video on Twitter.
My tweet got over 32,000 views
and, like, 400 likes.
So this was a big deal to me,
because people all over the Internet,
all over the world,
were paying attention to what I posted
and saying that it was, like, genius,
that it was like
a first-time-ever kind of thing.
So I felt like, for the first time,
me teaching dance in VR, I actually did something.
I changed something,
and I motivated people to learn to dance.
And I even got new students from that.
So it was amazing.
The last time I got to see Toaster was in October.
And I think in November,
shortly after he came to visit me in America,
Canada closed off its borders, and so did America.
And it's been this long up until now,
which is August,
that I will get to see him again.
Because on August 9th, the Canadian government
opened its borders.
So I decided to get a ticket as soon as possible,
'cause I miss him so much.
So I am gonna fly out there in about nine days from now
and see him--see him again.
So now I get to go through the nerves
that he went through when he came to visit me.
[laughs]
I'm super excited. I'm so nervous though.
- I'm excited. - But mostly, I'm just excited.
Yeah. - Mm-hmm.
I'm nervous.
The closer it gets, the more nervous I get.
But the closer you get-- - Why are you nervous?
What are you nervous about?
- Why am I nervous? - Yeah.
- Because I'm nervous for the time
that you have to go back.
- Oh. - I don't want you to leave.
- [laughs]
- You're like under-- - This is a little bit--
- You gotta scooch back a bit.
You were good. - Like this?
I have my Kindle.
I have--like, listen to a brain freeze playlist.
- Mm-hmm. Get all the nostalgia songs in.
- Yeah, get all the nostalgic songs.
It'll be interesting to see how people are traveling
with their masks on and stuff.
- Yeah.
- Are you going to just pick me up...
- You're so clingy. - And take me home?
Are we going anywhere? - No, you'll probably be
starving, for one. - Well, I thought we were
gonna go to Tim Hortons and get a Timbit and donut.
- Yeah.
And it-- - Right?
- [laughs]
Yeah. - Okay.
[plane engines winding down]
[crickets chirping]
[water lapping softly]
- What I found through my experiences
with relationships in VR is that sometimes
not being able to touch or feel the person that you love,
in a way, gives you much more appreciation
for them as a person.
You fall in love purely with their personality.
The--the one that I love the most in my life in VR,
I met them, and I didn't even see their face.
I didn't know anything about them
besides just their pure personality, you know.
I get to know them as a person, as who they are,
instead of, oh, they smell nice,
or ooh, their hair is nice,
or ooh, you know, whatever.
Anything like this, it's subjective.
When you're in VR,
you just see a person purely as they are.
And you know, that's not to say that people
don't hide who they are
or pretend to be somebody they're not.
But I feel that, through my experiences,
I've connected with people so much deeper in VR
just because people are so open
and true to themselves, you know.
The circumstance and how you meet somebody--
it doesn't define your relationship at all,
because you can't control that.
You can't control who you were born to.
You can't control
what circumstance your family is,
or how you meet the people around you.
But you can control how you react
and how you want to continue a relationship
with these people.
And I think that's why I value
VR relationships so much,
just because it is so raw and beautiful and true.
And I wish more people would see that
and be more open to it.
Because I feel like a lot of people
are close-minded to that, which is a shame.
But yeah, I respect that nonetheless.
[laughs]
[engine revving]
I wish the clouds would move.
I'm not, like, floating
or, like, half in the ground, am I?
[dog whines]
Yeah, but I'm actually just sitting in my living room.
[laughs] I'm enjoying this beach scenery,
but I'm just in my living room, on the carpet.
Yeah, it's a carpet.
This is my carpet floor right now.
Here's my sofa. I, uh, sink into it.
[crickets chirping]
[water lapping softly]
Trying to see if I could see any shapes in the clouds.
I can't. [laughs]
[soft jazz music]
♪ ♪
[leaves rustling]
[jazz music continues]
♪ ♪
[bright tone]