Mattha Busby's One-Night Stand with VRChat: A Response
Intro
It's not often I get a whiff of drama in my Bluesky feed, and my only source of this kinda goofballery is Shadow Wulf82 reposting a bunch of posts from this shitstorm, so I'm giving Shadow Wulf82 a shout-out. Go watch their streams. I'm not paid to shill them, it's just me giving thanks.
Now, I was astonished to see a bunch of people shitting on a particular Wired article detailing how crazy raves in VRC can get. Apparently the author of the article, Mattha Busby, left out a lot of information that was given to them by figures in the club scene like DietyAnubis of PSHQ and Ru of Kaleidosky and pretty much kept the sensationalist bits of the VRC clubbing experience, in particular the self-neglect people go under to have a really good fucking time.
Regarding Who Mattha Busby Is
But in order to properly take a dump on this article, it should first be understood that Mattha Busby is a writer who reports on outlandish stuff from all around the world. I mean, this guy writes about ayahuasca churches and fetish cruises and all sorts of crazy zany stuff that happens around the world. This is like, this guy's shtick.
In addition, it should be understood that Mattha Busby's occupation as a freelance writer means that he's getting paid to write articles. This also means that the articles that he writes are products created with intentional design, because I personally haven't seen any sort of successful articles that are completely unedited, stream-of-conciousness, and is basically pictures of chicken scratch and shorthand on pocket-sized journals. If there is a journalism site like that, please let me know because that'd be fuckin' hilarious.
So, in understanding that Mattha Busby is a guy who gets paid to make products featuring wacky and zany subcultures of human life, then it should also be understood that at the core of his writing process, the people and subjects that he writes about are raw materials, and that by spending time with the people inside that culture, writing notes, and compling notes into a lengthy article, he processes the raw materials and packages them into a product for the masses, who will henceforth be referred to as “normies” for the rest of this article.
To put it another way, Mattha Busby exploited a natural phenomenon—of people raving and doing drugs and gay sex—and sold it to normies for money. And when he was done with VR raves he didn't come back.
Even simpler, Mattha Busby objectified the people of VR and threw them away when he was done writing his little article.
The Article's Content
I'll give a little highlight reel of the article's main points, kinda like I'm a mama bird barfing up the article's contents so that it's easier for you to read.
It should be noted the article is aimed towards normies, written by a normie in denial, so this is supposed to be a little overview of the VRC rave scene in general.
Exaggerations And Other Things
The article opens with O'Rourke saying they partied for 60 hours straight.
“Armed with cannabis edibles, cocaine, ketamine, and booze, he partied for nearly 12 nights consecutively last August, during which time he claims to have raved for 60 hours—all without ever leaving his apartment.”
Saying O'Rourke was “armed” with drugs makes him sound like Agent 47 or something. Like, is O'Rourke storing all of these drugs in a tight leather briefcase or something? Does O'Rourke pull out a gun that shoots crack rocks and fireball shots into people's mouths? Because that'd be super badass. Somebody invent that, that'd be funny as hell.
Then it goes into something stupidly relatable:
“[He] often [stayed] up until 8 am, suited up in goggles and a full set of motion trackers.”
That's pussy shit, I one did an all-nighter and stayed up 'til 10 AM. That shit's nothing.
Anyways, the article continues with O'Rourke saying that VR is magical and you gotta consume in moderation. It continues that the idea of having a party from the comfort of your own home blew up during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It then has this absolutely wild claim:
“Once inside the VRChat metaverse, users—who describe it to WIRED as an immersive, futuristic utopia—can choose which “maps,” or parties, they wish to explore in the form of their avatars.”
I wouldn't consider a world where my limbs go haywire at any given moment a “utopia”. My perception of time and relativity becoming as choppy as a powerpoint slideshow depending on the amount of stuff I see in my eyes would also make virtual reality a very shitty paradise. But yeah, aside from ungodly technical issues, VR is pretty cool.
Economics of VR Clubs
The article moves on to mention that clubs across the US and UK are closing due to them not making a lot of money and noise regulations. The article forgets to mention that these clubs might also suffer from a bad case of being shitty places to party at.
“The infinite amount of space available on VR, plus the lack of regulation, allows creators to blissfully ignore the economic pressures that limit nightlife in many places today”
Economic pressures don't evaporate, they just transfer to other areas. There exists an economy of creatives exchanging goods and services to make club worlds, optimize them, avatar technicians you can pay to put fancy lights on your avatar.
Also, VRC isn't some regulation-less libertarian paradise, but it is incredibly laissez-faire in letting creators do what they wish.
In fact, I'll link such regulations here. Here's VRC's TOS: https://hello.vrchat.com/legal
Here's its Community Guidelines: https://hello.vrchat.com/community-guidelines
And here's it's Creator Guidelines: https://hello.vrchat.com/creator-guidelines
And of course, the various club rules and stuff that pertain to each individual venue. Some require ID verification, others require you to set your status to “Ask Me” and/or “Do Not Disturb”, or setting it to orange and red respectively. But yeah, we have a dickload of rules here.
VR Costs and Wait Times
“VR venues don’t charge for entry, so the main cost is hardware, which can exceed $5,000 with a high-quality gaming PC and full-body tracking devices, although a simpler setup with just a Meta Quest headset can be procured for as little as $350.”
I'm pretty sure you gotta pay for tickets to go to places like Furality, but yeah sure buddy.
But yes, buying powerful enough computers to run these worlds on, buying equipment like headsets, full-body tracking sets, and even DJ decks are real things you can pay for to have a good experience in VR. Don't even get me started on the electrical bills you'd have to pay to keep your equipment up and running though.
“There are, however, often long lines to get into the most popular virtual club nights, since they are all capped to 80 people each due to the limits of the software on the VRChat platform, which is available through host Steam.”
Very true. Shout-out to BOAT in particular, because BOAT's been guilty of this shit for a hot minute. I'm on late-night and I see BOAT having like a 200+ queue and I'm just like “You know what? I'm not gonna bother waiting for this long.” It can be discouraging, but if you aren't a pussy like me and also have a dickload of friends like I do, then you can ride out the queue.
O'Rourke's Prediction
The article then does profiles of folks in the scene. Looping back to O'Rourke, the article mentions that he runs the Euro-Corp venue—which honestly, they should've just mentioned that shit at the beginning of the article because I thought O'Rourke was a regular joe in VRC—and he says this:
“He says he is putting in so many hours—almost 1,800 at the time of writing—because he feels now is the 'high-water-mark moment' for the scene. 'When people look back in 10 or 20 years, they’ll say now was its peak. That’s why I’m partying so hard.'”
I'm calling dibs on this decade being called “The Second Roaring 20's”, and this decade's themed parties will have everyone'll dress up in e-boy/e-girl/e-bitch and fursuits at parties a century from now. I'm fucking calling it. Please, that'd be so funny.
Then the article goes into O'Rourke detailing heroic doeses of shrooms and ketamine, and then shifts to Heelix, who apparently is in their 60's, has 5,000 hours in VR, and is a DJ. Heelix sounds like such a cool fucking person. I highkey wanna ask them if they ever went to crazy clubs during the Cold War period, because I heard the ones in East Germany went crazy. Heelix then says a friend got stomach pumped, to which I hope that friend's okay and stuff, that sounds incredibly rough.
IRL DJs Suck Ass
The article shifts focus onto LGBTQ folks in VR rave scenes. Of particular note is Ru of Kaleidosky highlighting how VR not only led her to build a club and also play in Japan, but also that she gets sexually assaulted far less often. Ideally that shit shouldn't happen, but the fact it happens far less in VR should be an indicator on how terrible IRL clubbing can be for folks like us.
Of course, the infamous quote that's been making the rounds:
“Go listen to your local people, and then come to any random club in VR; you’re going to be shocked that your local DJs suck ass.” – Ru
As a fellow transfem Ohioan, I can confirm that DJs in Ohio suck ass. Case in point: I swung up by No Class to party at one of their Sapphic Nights and I was appalled by just how mediocre the mixes were. At best, they were okay. But I remember being on the dance floor when DJ C-Star was on and my god her shit was hot GARBAGE. Some mixes and transitions were so atrocious I wondered if she went on the stage drunk. Some song picks gave me such hard whiplash I hallucinated J.K. Simmons yelling at me for screwing up my drum routine. It's like I have to take drugs to enjoy that shit.
And like, I burnt a couple gallons of gas travelling to and from the party and also paid $10 at the door for music the equivalent of an dog's unwashed water bowl.
Meanwhile, I can stay home in my bedroom, get my electronics set up and BOOM I'm in a venue with DJ Wall-E putting on the best music and mixes I've heard in my LIFE, to the point where I'm feeling so good it's like I'm floating, as if I'm coming up to Jesus and St. Peter at the gates of heaven, only to catch a glimpse of the catgirls shaking ass in the corner of the club, and the sight alone brands me such a sinner I'm sent on a first-class ticket to hell faster than Lil Nas X went down that stripper pole onto Daddy Satan's lap. And then I take my headset off and go to bed. Like nothing happened. And I was sober the entire time.
So, OBVIOUSLY I'm going to pick the second option because it's cheaper and way more efficient and fun. Simple as.
Now, the article goes into more detail into a user named Luna, and it details how she managed to find love with Benji after going through a journey of partying. I find this pretty cool because it's basically the magic of being in Social VR. Though the development of an IRL experience from the VR scene is contrasted with folks who get sucked into the VR rave scene and just have their relationships digital.
It then details on how folks get hooked on the scene, but the only thing the article shows for it are some quotes from Maria Balaet, who does neurological research over at Imperial College London, about how having bad trips in VR is “probably” worse than IRL, without any further account from folks who've had bad trips IRL and VR who can compare them from anecdotal experience. No studies linked for this section, by the way.
The Article Falls Apart
It then goes into a brief overview of ERP in VR. If you know, you know, and a link to PHIA explaining how Floonarbing™ was in the article as well. Another brief mention of how making porn and adult content is technically not allowed in VRC but honestly the enforcement of that rule is so lax that I'm not gonna bother explaining it.
The article mentions PSHQ—out of all the places they could have fucking picked—as the prime example of a sex-positive club. From what I recall, PSHQ hasn't been a sex-focused club for a couple years now, but I could be an idiot and got that messed up. Diety, if you're reading this and are pissed off at how I screwed up the history, feel free to spank me and call me a naughty little bean as punishment. I'll understand. Hopefully.
The article continues on how VRC has age verification and that one time Zeus Tipado of the University of Maastricht got kicked out of an instance because him and others didn't comply with the host's Epstein-ass request to strip right then and there while watching television—the host sounds like a fucking dickhead, yikes!—and at this point I'm wondering how the hell any of these points are stringing together and shit. Sounds like a bunch of factoids and experiences rolled up into a hodge-podge article or somethin.
The article continues to mention that VRC has panic buttons, logs, and other stuff that can be done to report incidents that Tipado experienced, but to be honest after seeing jack shit being done about the incidents that I personally reported I'm starting to think that the VRC reporting system is something of a PR tool so they don't get sued or whatever. But that's more of the staff's problem, what do I know of how they moderate?
Then the article concludes and offers a glimpse of hope that maybe this VR stuff can lead to an IRL revival of clubs by highlighting how Shelter hosted events in New York and stuff, which is a positive note at first until you read about whatever BotBrandon did at ShelterCon L.A. and then oop! Then it might not be the best representation of how VR can have a positive connection to IRL. Shoutout again to Shadow Wulf82, because if they hadn't reposted that quetewopeiryru00 thread three weeks ago (at the time of writing) then I wouldn't have seen anything there either. Yikes!
The VR Community Responds
Posted below is perhaps the most generous response to Mattha Busby's article, written by geoidvrc:
Of particular emphasis:
“[This] kind of reads like a sensationalist targeted piece – I know your focus from your other WIRED articles lean heavy on drugs, but this is a spotlight on a few people of a subcommunity of a much bigger space. To someone who's never played VRChat or is just dipping their toes in, wouldn't a piece like this scare them off a bit?
My point is, point out vices, yes, but also paint a picture of what the platform is, too – I was a “Hardcore VR Raver”, on account of my amassed hours and social connections, and I never found myself doing any of the things in this article. We kind of have a wonderful thing going on; spend some more time with us, and get a feel for what our space really is?” >– geoidvrc
“Spend more time with us” can be read as “Please talk to us like actual human beings.”, because as mentioned earlier, the inherent mode of interaction Mattha Busby had with VRC denizens was objectification and exploitation.
For example, DietyAnubis here wasn't too happy with how Busby made the article:
And has even made moves to name the event after the article's infamous title “60-Hour Dance Sessions, Simulated Sex, and Ketamine”:
Also now folks are going to be wary about how journalists and other folk's intentions are going to be because that's how much of a dogshit article you wrote:
Oh god and there's more:
Djlonelypoint brings up a good point here:
So, Busby, it's safe to say your article wasn't well recieved and everyone's dunking on it.
Conclusion
I tend to see various online communities as nations in the digital world. Yes, I'm calling every single person in Social VR culture as part of a nation, because if you walk into Social VR you're figuratively stepping into a completely different culture filled with its own values, ideals, and ways of living that are different from many places IRL, even more different from other virtual spaces like MMOs. This means that there's a degree of assimilation and acculturation an outsider must go through in order to properly respect the thousands of denizens that make up Social VR.
I'll end this article with a particular thread by JustJaime in it's entirety:
https://bsky.app/profile/jaimens.com/post/3lohh3ryk5k2a
“You want to write about our spaces? Do the work. Put on the headset, come to the clubs, actually hang out with us as people rather than just your research project, and then maybe we'll let you quote us.” – JustJamie
Now if you'll excuse me, I must consume ketamine for 60 hours and rave all night, because I'm sure I can figure out the secret to femboy pregnancy this time. I think.
- Viperonbull (they/them)
