VRChat now in Oculus Rift app store

VRChat — an application that adds multi-user support, directional audio and gestures to 3D environments — is now available through the Oculus Rift app store.

Unlike OpenSim, it doesn’t support in-world content creation. Instead, it requires that the environments and avatars be created inside the Unity 3D engine. And while it allows avatars to teleport from one world to another — within the VRChat application — it’s missing avatar inventories and the social aspects of virtual worlds such as friend lists, groups, and messages.

In addition, while Unity 3D itself runs in a browser via a plugin, VR Chat requires a standalone software download.

However, the software is still very new and it’s entirely possible that the social features will soon be added, and the choice of pre-made environments and avatars is bound to grow as well.

If VRChat also adds a store where users can buy pre-made environments andÂ buildings or furniture for those environments, as well as new outfits and avatars, then it could evolve into a usable general-purpose platform for the metaverse.

Watch a video about VR Chat below, or read more about it at VR Focus.

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Maria Korolov

Hypergrid Business editor and publisher Maria Korolov is a science fiction novelist. During the day, Maria Korolov is an award-winning freelance technology journalist who covers artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise virtual reality. See her Amazon author page here and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and check out her latest videos on the Maria Korolov YouTube channel. Email her at maria@hypergridbusiness.com. Her first virtual world novella, Krim Times, made the Amazon best-seller list in its category. Her second novella, The Lost King of Krim, is out now. She is also the publisher of MetaStellar, a new online magazine of speculative fiction.