We Met in Virtual Reality (2022) Movie Script
[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.
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, 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.
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.
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"?
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.
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.
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.
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 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, 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.
Quick, quick,
slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
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,
slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, quick,
slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, quick.
Make sure you guys are rocking.
Rock.
Rock, step together.
Rock,
step together.
Quick, slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, 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]
[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.
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, 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.
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.
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"?
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.
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.
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.
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 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, 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.
Quick, quick,
slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
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,
slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, quick,
slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, quick.
Make sure you guys are rocking.
Rock.
Rock, step together.
Rock,
step together.
Quick, slow.
Quick, quick, slow.
Quick, 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]