The mute VRChat experience

So, if you're here, you likely already know at least a bit about what VRChat is, but if not, let me pick you up. VRChat is a social platform that can be played both on flatscreen and while in VR. It is powered mostly by user generated content such as worlds and avatars. Being such a platform, there are many cultures forming in and around VRChat with even some more niche scenes starting here, it's part of internet culture, just a different branch (fuck do I know how to explain this lmao).

Just like in real life, or other social platforms on the internet like Discord or Bluesky or whatever, the way we communicate differs for everyone. Most people in VRChat communicate just by talking through their microphone, which is sent through their Avatar, their "presence" in virtual space. Additionally, if you are in VR, things like body language and gestures also play into communication, I am no communications expert, but I'm sure I don't have to explain to you how communication works.

There are however people who primarily use communication methods that are not voice. People may be mute due to social anxiety, lack of hardware or disabilities. So naturally we are at a disadvantage.

If you haven't gotten it yet, I am one of those mutes

About being mute in VRChat.

If you play VRChat you probably are aware of the Chatbox feature. You select an option in a menu, and you get a virtual keyboard which you can type messages in. This message then gets displayed over your avatar for a short time.

This feature was added just over 2 years ago on a patch in August 2022. Before that? Some avatars had built in pens or keyboards, some worlds in VRC has pens which we used. But beyond that? That's it. Oh right, maybe you had software for TTS that can be routed through a virtual audio cable or similar

we will touch on that shortly

Oh, yeah! I forgot to mention, but for a long while the default was that only your friend's Chatbox was shown. So unless people knew to manually enable your Chatbox in public lobbies, you're cooked!

Current date, Chatbox works pretty well. It is shown to anyone by default so all they have to do is look up or listen to the little 'bop' sound it makes when you finish writing. There is also an option to show what you are writing as you type it, which is pretty handy, I just personally don't use it. The Chatbox can also be controlled by OSC, which basically lets other 3rd party software send messages for you. This is awesome for things like subtitles or translations thanks to software like VRCT, which can take what you say or write and translate it to other languages! I use this a lot as I am quite active in the more eastern VRChat scene, so why not give it a little shoutout!

GitHub - misyaguziya/VRCT: VRCT(VRChat Chatbox Translator & Transcription)

VRCT(VRChat Chatbox Translator & Transcription). Contribute to misyaguziya/VRCT development by creating an account on GitHub.

Now, with all that said, you will probably think: "Hey, this is a pretty neat accessibility tool and the software integration is sick! Surely no one is abusing the Chatbox feature, right?"

Foreshadowing is a narrative device in which suggestions or warnings about events to come are drop-

The conundrum.

People for some reason really like seeking attention, or displaying things they do like in Discord rich presence. Now imagine if VRChat had something like a status, except bigger and always visible. Oh, hey! Chatbox can do that! Let me use software to constantly show things like a little text, the music I listen to and if I feel bored - my CPU or RAM usage for everyone to see over my avatar (for whatever reason) using the Chatbox. The same Chatbox that is a vital accessibility tool to other people

Personally, I would love to constantly know what you're listening to and seeing your RAM usage is super useful for knowing if you might be lagging out! I would love to see this over people, yk, like, talking? Communicating? (obviously sarcasm) This is so annoying, I'm going to put it into a meme format to let you know how I personally feel if someone in a convo misuses Chatbox.

You notice how the big bird is talking, screaming over the small bird, just trying to communicate? This is essentially what it feels like. People doing this are using screen space that is used by mute people to communicate. So what can you do about them? You can hide their Chatbox client side, I guess, but not everyone is going to do that. Your message you have been typing for like 30 seconds to respond to a question? Covered up by Lyrics and RAM usage.

I have not heard this personally, but I can imagine there is a chance that people who get annoyed by people using this disable Chatbox for everyone (including mutes) client-side OR still have it on "friends only" because the patch that made the default "everyone" didn't affect them for some reason. So if I try to talk to someone, I might as well just do nothing and look at them weirdly.

Using OSC to display non-communicative, arbitrary information on Chatbox is inherently hostile to disabled people. It is essentially abusing an accessibility tool for your own personal gratification. Please don't do this.

This goes without saying, but if you don't use your voice due to simple shy-ness or not having a proper mic or some other reason. That's still totally valid.

Now, you would think most people understand that this is wrong. Well you're wrong! When I visit public or group public events, I frequently see at least a handful of people using Chatbox to display whatever. I have mentioned this in one community I have been pretty active in recently and while there are agreements that this is an issue, there seemingly (from my perspective) was no willingness to address this by making a rule prohibiting this. Even if the instances are Group+, the minimum would be to make the people active in the group know "hey, this sucks, please don't do it".

If you are that group I have mentioned, no hate, still love you guys <3. I just wish this was taken a bit more seriously as it makes it difficult for people like me to be social at a, you know, social event

How do I combat this?

At the moment, I am using software that I can type into which takes my input through a TTS and outputs it through my mic in VRChat through a virtual audio cable as well as to my Chatbox via OSC. That way people can hear what I say which makes me more present in conversations, which is by itself another issue because typing while others are talking is already quite the worse social experience™️, as well as putting it over my head because sometimes the TTS pronounces words weirdly, or the synthesized nature of the voice makes it harder to understand anyway.
I will not mention this software as while it is helpful for my case, it also has functions for the aforementioned Chatbox abuse and directly advertises that as primary functions. And I just can not support that.

Coming to the end of this, what can you do to make this better?

Spread awareness!

Do you manage a community? Make a rule preventing Chatbox abuse!

Are you part of a community? Mention this to Staff so they can make a rule!

Do you just kinda exist in VRChat? Pay attention to mute people! Engage with them! (at least I feel very seen if people proactively talk to me)

Check your settings for showing Chatbox! You can increase the length for how long it is displayed, as well as enable a sound to play whenever someone sends a message through Chatbox!

If this read like absolute dog water I apologize, this is very emotions driven and is also my first time doing long format posts. I hope you got something out of this, share it around if you want, ask questions if you have some. I'll gladly answer!

Thank you for reading!
🪶 Bird out.