Also want a voice-changer for VRChat & Discord? Use code "PHIABUNNY" fpr 5% off Voicemod: www.voicemod.net/voicemod-partners/?fp_ref=phiabunny

I feel like we should do a reverse of this: I become a girl for a week. I absolutely love this concept.

"Im getting so frustrated, why won't people talk to me?" - welcome to the life of an average guy

Any girl who puts themselves in a guys shoes deserves respect, Norah was too good for this world, too pure

It was absolutely amazing working with you for this! The whole video was so well executed and the fact that no one clicked onto it until you told them shows just how convincing it really was. Thank you again so much! :D

Really created a personality crisis for science. Great job as always, Phia.

Funny how u got the raw guy experience just being a weirdo and not knowing how to talk to strangers and feeling constantly out of place lol it's just how alot of guys r when they can't meet that masculine expectation

To anyone interested I'd definitely suggest looking into a woman named Norah Vincent who is a writer who did a social experiment where she spent 18 months as a guy and by the end of it was miserable from the lie and seeing what men go through. To quote her directly she said "I really like being a woman I like it more now because I think it's more of a privilege." and ultimately gained more sympathy for men and said "Men are suffering. They have different problems than women have but they don't have it better. They need our sympathy, they need our love, and they need each other more than anything else. They need to be together." It's a pretty fascinating subject seeing the opposite gender be able to see what issues are had on the other side.

I’m actually amazed you got Voicemod to work so well. I’ve been trying to go the other way around and I always get a robotic sounding voice no matter what voice I try.

This video made me realize that some things guys experience isn’t just normal. I don’t even use eboy models and all these things happen all the time. I’ve become so used to people just walking away that this video was a reality check.

One thing I wondered about is in the early days of vrchat, when i wore male avatars no one really talked or interacted with me much, when i wore female avatars people were nicer and kinder, and typically more friendly. First time I also ever heard someone say they liked the sound of my voice. Also when i would be mute people seemed to be the kindest and nicest, but then once they heard I'm a guy, their interest and kindness goes way down.

1:40 An accurate description of 99.9% of the male player base.

HA! Take THAT Girls of VRChat! Now you know how the lads feel surrpounded by Gaifu's!

Grats on you for doing this, especially as a cis person. You didn't have to open yourself up to gender stress but you did anyway and that's admirable. It's a great test of both dysphoria and sexism. A lot of people aren't capable of talking about this without turning it into misogyny, but automatic hatred/distrust of men and automatic favoring/trust towards women is definitely real. I'm a trans guy, I grew up 22 years living as female, and when I socially transitioned, the entire world got cold towards me. At first I was happy I was no longer getting unwanted creepy and patronizing attention, but I also lost out on a lot of normal positive attention too. There is a healthy middle ground that neither men nor women are allowed to stand on. We should be working towards that. As they say, don't judge a book by its cover. People are people first, men and women second.

This was a very cool concept to see what it’s like to be a guy within VRChat. It really puts a perspective on how some dudes feel/act within VRChat. As a dude, I had plenty of experiences like you experienced and it’s super cool that you used a tool to completely hide your voice. This video for sure will get you somewhere, I can feel it!

As a trans person, watching you experience this experiment was extremely fascinating. It's interesting to hear you refer to your presentation as a guy as a "lie" and how you dissociated once you became "comfortable with the lie" because that's how I feel IRL when I'm not presenting my preferred gender. However, when I'm in VRChat and I can inhabit the body of my preferred gender; it's incredibly validating and comfortable and my brain just clicks into being confident and happy and my dysphoria vanishes. VRChat is a incredibly validating tool and it's built my confidence and conviction up a lot towards my IRL transition progress. It's also interesting to see other people experiment with the gender they're not and get a taste of that dissociative feeling that trans people feel every day. Phia, I think what you felt was a taste of dypshoria; and that's a really eye opening experience. It also gives credit that dysphoria is a valid and real sensation that anyone can feel.

In a game where you can literally be anything, from a pop cat to a bagel, there are still some very ingrained and strict gender norms at play. There are parts of VRC that are safe and welcoming for trans and non binary peeps, but there is also this space where if your voice or mannerisms don't match the eboy or egirl you're piloting, people lose their fricking minds. As someone who doesn't quite fit the binary in real life, it was actually difficult to find an avatar in VRC that felt "right" for me and how I wanted to express my gender identity in VR. So difficult, that I ended up just making one for myself. This of course doesn't mean that eboys and egirls don't have their place. I recognise how important some avatars are, especially for a trans person who might be dealing with gender dysphoria and how life saving VR can be. I also think VR is becoming this wonderful space where people can find joy in expressing themselves; regardless of what gender they might identify as in real life, and in ways that might not be possible due to cultural and social expectations. It is my hope that social games like VRC will continue to become a space where we not only gain a better understanding of other people and their lived experiences but where we are also given the opportunity to discover more about ourselves.

I've actually done this before, was a girl in VR for a month on an alt account. Made a lot if friends, way more than on my main account. I felt terrible after honestly cuz I was lying bout my identity

This reminds me a lot of a book I read in college, "Self-Made Man" - basically a lady tries your same experiment, but like 20+ years ago and IRL. It's a good read; she talks about some of the same mind-trips you do here.

This aspect of vrchat is so interesting to me. I am a Trans guy, not out in real life and feel miserable everyday. But when going into vrchat where all my friends know me as louca as a guy, I dont feel like I'm lying about my identity I just feel like I'm being myself, I feel more comfortable. It sucks when I start speaking though people immediately start doubting my gender identity

I appreciate how you are pushing the boundaries of how people think about VR and what's possible, not just technologically, but socially. This was very well done, like all your videos, and you being so candid about how you felt is a big part of that.

This is a great video, I always wondered what it would be like seeing the world from the other side of gender. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could make an entire video series on Virtual perception and how it influences people in VR. Not just gender identity but several different inputs

I love how vr gives us an opportunity to see the world from different perspectives in a very personal and intimate way

I'm a trans guy and you have no idea how jealous this made me lol. I've tried the free voicemod ftm voice changer and it literally just makes the voice deeper so it just sounds like a girl with an unnaturally deep voice and it sucks. Your voice was so good! Seriously, how did you do it? I need that juice girl! I'm trying to be a KZfaqr and live streamer and this would help SO MUCH on really dysphoric days until I can get voice training and or hormones.

I find it interesting that one would dissociate after only a couple days as the wrong gender. Being a trans woman has been difficult for me in many ways. And it is odd to see a cisgender person getting to see a small piece of it. Experiencing how easy it is to hide ones gender in social situations. And how potentially distressing it might be to do that long term. It isn't a comfortable thing to hide ones genuine self, and I think if more people understood that, they would be more kind when people come out as transgender.

Congrats you two! Being a couple while also both being independent KZfaqrs and cross-promoting each other's content is probably quite a challenge, but I for sure wish you two the best! You're my favorite VR KZfaqrs 🥰

Phia this was an awesome vid! As a trans person hearing your initial reaction to socializing as a guy was so interesting. I'm a trans man (guy assigned female at birth) and it reminded me of how I felt when I was successfully socializing with people as a girl. It felt nice to be accepted but I felt like I was lying and it put distance between me and others. Your feeling of dissociation kind of sounded like dysphoric dissociation though probably not exactly the same thing. Anyone ultimately I could never become comfortable interacting as a girl but I'm glad you were able to enjoy being both a girl and a boy :)

As a cis guy who plays as a girl in every game possible, including VR games, this was a super interesting video to me. It's always felt natural to me in the same way being a guy in real life has, although if asked about my gender I do always immediately say I'm male so that I'm not lying about it (obviously that would defeat the purpose of this experiment though). I've found playing as a woman in any online game to be way more freeing; while there are definitely some creeps, overall it's way easier to fit in and talk to people because so often when people see a guy the immediate reaction is some level of concern or fear that they're a creep (mainly when interacting with women). Basically I've found it way, way easier to have positive interactions when playing as a girl.

"changing gender roles is a fun game all on its own" welp, time to convince my partner to do something lol

Hi Phia, I'm a profession Dungeon Master for Dungeons & Dragons. I've spent over 4000 hours of session time being every single NPC every player has ever talked to. I've been the horrible villains, the homeless waif, the rich noble, the crazy cultist, the evil dragon... the good dragon... I've been character that were beloved, and characters that were despised by the players. I poured a part of my soul into each one, tried to imagine life as each one, what they want and what they feel. I know what you are feeling when you talk about disassociation. It can be uncomfortable, but as a Dungeon Master I'm creating worlds for my players-- I'm not lying about who I am-- if you enjoyed being someone else, and want to do it in a way that is fun and honest, try being a DM for a roleplaying game. :)

Maybe some day, we'll be able to switch bodies like we switch clothes and people can be happy with being whatever they wanna be for the day. The idea of such is the biggest reason I love an experience like this, showing us a small taste of what reality doesn't let us currently do at the moment.

"To realize there might be certain perks you get from people solely based on the fact that you're a cute girl with no other reason." This is a surprise to people? How is this a surprise to people. There are entire movies based off this premise, books, comics. It's such an old premise it shows up in Shakespeare. This is why bars have ladies' nights. If they can attract the cute girls they know the guys will come. This is why mother's day is such a big deal but father's day barely gets mentioned. This one singular realization is massive, please don't overlook it as it helps shape a lot of western culture.

This concept is absolutely insane! Very clever idea, I feel it would be cool to try this and see how it affect my brain. I saw the title and was immediately intrigued. Good work as always! Keep it up!!

This 7:21 part sums up my My entire VRChat experience every time I have tried this game for the past 3 years, I can count on 1 hand the amount of people that have actually spoken to me, and not for want of trying... I now just don't bother, seems as though if your not dressed as an Egirl, or part of a group already, your pretty much ignored on every level.

This makes me think of that female writer who spent 18 months passing as a man (she wront "Self-Made Man"). Sadly she couldn't get over the trauma and took her own life. 😔 *Being male is hard.*

I was so excited for this video when you were talking about it on stream, loved hearing your thoughts then so I can't wait to watch this video to get really into it. Edit: Ayy nice sponsorship pog!

As a male myself I have experienced a lot of man hate from people when they find out I am a guy IRL, Like for example I was on a forum once but didn't have a gender selected in my profile and people was very nice and friendly and then later on when I went back and filled out my bio and selected male as my gender everyone's attitude changed and they started treating me like trash and they would even go as far as deleting my posts or muting me when I never had any problems before. they singled me out and eventually banned me. man hate is a real thing guys experience all the time, not just online but in real life also

Crazy cuz you just stumbled kinda into the life of a closeted trans person. That feeling of lying to ppl was a harsh reality for me personally before I came out. Very cool video and take on something like this, enjoyed it alot. To all my closeted trans folk your valid and loved. 😎👍🏾

Honestly I really like this experiment, it’s something I never thought about while playing VRchat, especially when my avatar is a girl. I’m not trans and I don’t have gender dysphoria of any kind, I’m just a guy that likes stereotypically girly stuff so it just felt immediately natural to me to play a girl avatar. I keep my voice and mannerisms the exact same but just the feeling of being able to look at my hands or see myself in the mirror, as small and even to me as strange as it is, it genuinely made me really happy and while I’m perfectly happy and comfortable with my gender and irl body, it just feels like when I’m able to see my avatar it’s like it allows me to do things or have an appearance that my irl self can’t. I don’t know if it’s the same concept but even though I keep my mannerisms the same I do notice that while I’m usually very quiet and almost hide in a corner persay irl, I’m a lot more outgoing and happily willing to start conversations with people but I’m not sure if that’s due to my avatar feeling more natural to me than my irl self or if it’s due to something else entirely

I absolutely love this. Midway through the video I just felt very validated in how a lot of your thoughts on the experiment are just an extension of the trans experience. Things like being disassociated, looking down and not being "you", starting to feel comfortable in your virtual skin after a while etc. Its really sombering!

It's rough out there sometimes when you're a guy, but there are always ways to manage. Just gotta keep your head up and remember that some people simply aren't worth your emotional energy.

"it was also a slap in the face to me too to realize there might be some stuff you get from people solely based on the fact that you are a cute girl" My good and young Phia... that's the oldest trick in the book in any MMORPG game! Back in the 2000 I used to play in several servers of Neverwinter Nights as a young lady, a girl or whatever to get random stuff from other players, or even the game masters would say I was a "great role player". Bonus points if you add a tragic backstory to your female character. Cheff kiss.

This video is definitely a good surface level look at the idea of gender being more of a social construct than anything else. Baby steps like this are what I think the world needs when going forward into a more accepting, and open society. Loved the video, keep up to good work!

It's interesting cuz some of the stuff you described feeling was actually stuff I used to feel as a trans person before I came out. Heavy dissociation from my body, a feeling like I was lying to people around me, and especially guilt any time I connected with a new person because I felt like they were becoming friends with a version of me that wasn't really "real". A woman, someone by another name, someone who I was only very good at pretending to be. That's a lot of what dysphoria felt like to me, because I distanced myself enough from my body that it didn't affect me anymore. But I just felt so bad that I was "fooling" people into being my friend. Of course in the end, I didn't really change as a person when I came out and my friends didn't feel betrayed, so that was a nice thing that doesn't always get to happen for trans people. But it's kind of crazy that you experienced the same thing in the opposite direction!! It's maybe the closest way a cis person can experience dysphoria so I'm glad it was only temporary for you 😅

Now you at least know how different people get treated based on gender alone

11:27 I'm a girl who usually makes male characters in mmos. I've watched thirsty dudes give my guy friends (using female characters) tons of free expensive gear, help them level, spam friend requests...

I know I'm not transgender bc I feel very weird in a male avatar, but I feel great in the neutral ones. The hyper sexual ones are a bit of a disconnect because it's very far removed to how I look irl

I always love seeing another video by you Phia. Thank you for trying out this experiment. VR related content is still early, and it's nice seeing people trying to push boundaries

"I'm starting to get oddly comfortable with lying... And being someone I'm not..." ~Welcome to VRChat.

A few days is not enough, you can take this further. Fiction authors say "the characters write themselves" and this is true in writing, role playing or identity fluidity and that character will develop in unforseen ways

You did a good job role playing him, found the soul of the character you were playing. I also love that you used majora mask day tracker it's amazing.

sasuke gucciha is both one of the hardest names ever and the corniest things I've ever heard

the 3 girls that said u gaslight say hi

“When have you ever looked down and not been you?” Girl I’m trans that’s me every day for the past seventeen years this is nothing new.

I, (14 male), got an oculus about nine months ago. I made an alt account that has a girl name. For the past nine months I have pretended to be a female in vr. I have let it go so far I actually don’t know how to stop it without breaking many hearts. Please give me advice. Edit: I don’t use a voice changer, I have a natural voice.

Good video, as a trans woman still mid-transition, one of the biggest reasons I'm saving up for an Index at the moment is to be able to play around with this kind of expression, ESPECIALLY because I am competent enough with Blender to make my own personal models.

This was an incredible video, really interesting how it can shift your sense of reality and start having some effects between vr and irl.

This has been me for the entire time I've been a VRChat user. Yumi came into being on 14th Jan 2019 and I always use this avatar. I'm a straight, 53 year old male. I often get asked if I'm trans but I'm not. I don't lie to anyone. I am a smol anime fox girl 'trap'. It's hilarious when I do the real voice reveal and no, I don't use Voicemod. But Yumi is Yumi. She's not me but she also is. And as a mental health supporter, people warm to her and open up to her much more easily than they might to with an old man. I'm very comfortable with my dual personality. Everyone should experiment with it. It's said that you can't know someone unless you've walked a mile in their shoes. How about walking a hundred miles in their body?

One of the things I really hate about being a guy is that people who don't know you will literally see you as a potential threat by default. Sadly we live in a world where people just have no choice but be on their toes when you, a stranger guy is trying to approach them to strike up a conversation, or coincidentally walking in the same direction as someone else in a dark alley. I hate the real predators and the scumbags who made this a reality. And if you are in a heteronormative relationship, be your partner whatever gender, if you are the one perceived as the traditionally masculine one, and something's going down, an argument, whatever, it is just "probably your fault" or that you are the aggressor anyways and if there was a victim in that situation, it's your partner and it can never be you. I am a transguy by the way and I started coming out and transitioning at 21, so I have had my share of experiencing the world through female presenting people's eyes as well and over all, I feel like if everyone else had to spend some time (couple years) living as their opposite gender as well, and I mean by truly immersing themselves just like how Phia did in this video, the world would be much more empathetic and perhaps we could finally tear the beast that is the social constructed genders down for good and start treating people as individuals and not as the so-called-gender that they intentionally or unintentionally represent.

As a trans girl I have experienced a lot of this first hand, obviously in reverse but the differences of how you are treated is clear. I always hated being treated as a guy. I didn't know how to make friends like that, it seems hard.

i just wanna note that one of my friends uses one of the models u used as his main for a long ass time and i always make fun of him for it bc the name of the avi is "bucket" (short for bucket hat) and the moment i saw it i immediately was like "OMG BUCKET MY FAVORITE BOI!!!!" i love both my friend and the avatar for that reason and that reason only.

Bro everyone on vr thinks I’m a boy but I’m a girl on vr 😭

Hi! New VRChat user here, and I found the cheat code. If you can do a passable German accent, just go and grab a TF2 Medic avatar and head to a 2Fort server, and just hard RP the medic. Everyone will literally flock around you to the point where it can become overwhelming.

vrchat has caused identity crisis for me so many times. we need more videos like this . thank you so much

I'm a trans-woman, and going into VR has been life changing for me, i just choose not to talk because of my voice (VoiceMod should work on quest 2!) But your feeling of disassociation is similar to how I feel in real life instead of VR, mine is just the opposite of yours.

but thats the thing about vr chat... you can be yourself... and this "you" doesnt have to be like you irl at all. keep in mind many of the people that are "real" just wear a mask while they are in irl... because they wouldnt be accepted the way they are... your a girl irl but hate it? just be a male online! why is this version of "you" less you then you actually are. yes you played a role in this experiment... but for those that play the role of for example a girl irl while feeling like a dude... thats the reality

As a Trans Person i've been struggling with this alot. The Thing is my voice isnt convincing I Sound and act like a Girl.I am me and I am a Guy but I feel sad because evereyone thinks I am a Girl :/

Nobody gives a shit about any regular man unless you are exceptionally social and funny. VRchat is a reminder of that

4:50 Him roasting your eboy avatar when I've seen that eboy avatar several times over the weekend myself... Great video Phia.

4:04 - Nah, that's what I expect would happen to me too. As a man. Just naturally awkward and anxious; not needing to swap genders to not know how to interact with people naturally. - I feel that the experience of people finding you creepy is the most accurate aspect of the experience of being a male.

RIP that part where we were going to go ham as fellow eboys to my friends though.

I just wanna say, this video was an incredible insight on how I found my identity (transgender tomboy). From femboy to tomboy, it's been an incredible journey. I'm one of the girls but I also often am throwing back drinks and partying with the boys. It's a duality that encapsulates my identity perfectly. There's so many layers to people and this experiment...feels comforting. Seeing your brain challenge itself and your feelings clash is what I believe many go through when trying to figure out their own identity, albeit with different circumstances for every person out there. Thank you for this video. VRChat has been a major stepping stone in finding my identity and the friends I've made who accept me for who I am, whether or not I'm hanging with the boys or if I'm one of the girls, it feels like home

In this video phia discovers being "1 of the boys" is fun People naturally give girls the benifit of the doubt And that lying about who you are is challenging on an emotional level and a technical level Overall.... Even in a world where you can be anyone and anything, people will still give you more shit if your girly and people will ignore you more if your more like a boy. In other words phia learned if your a boy YOU NEED THE BOYS to have any kind of social life or a cute girlfriend. A dude by himself will get nowhere just because he is a dude, a girl by herself will get a swarm of people in a matter of minutes wanting to talk and give them avatars

Laughs in "I've been a girl in VRchat since I made my account"

I see a lot of people saying they want to see the reverse of this video. Guy becomes girl. And then a swarm of people saying thats normal vrchat.... And the fact most guys would rather be seen as women really tells you a lot by itself about how society treats men and women so differently that almost unanimously by all men can agree women have it better socially just because there girls

I could never do this for the simple fact that I can’t wear a female avatar without feeling a weird sort of disgust towards myself, and the thought that always comes to mind is “this isn’t me”. A lot of the time I feel more comfortable with the body of a machine than that of a human

Honestly, I feel this was not explored close enough. This is a good expiroment on the deeply isolating and alienating social boundaries placed on men are. That we are just used to, which is just room temperature to us. I feel it is easier to take the cold shoulders and iffy posturing on just your mere presence, before you even say hi. When at the end of the day, it isn't your lived in experience. You can just take off the VR goggles and return to living a social life on relative easy mode. When that is in the back of your mind the whole time, that you can just "escape" this. But keep in mind, despite getting a taste of what it is like as a guy. You were still on a social application. That is the best case scenario for socializing in a male form. Meanwhile, guys put on the goggles to escape the reality of lowkey trying to sell people on being comfortable with thier presence. There is this unfair rep all guys face to being judged by our worst examples.There are negative connotation to the masculine gender. Like all the half joking preconcieved notions these people had about you. (9:58) Or how that guy got "teritorial" around his gf. You have to navigate all these mountians of anxieties of your mere presences before you even get your foot into the door. It is a constant and endless up hill battle to be accepted. So guys take on female avatars to experience what it is like have a warm reception to your presence for once. To have people care about your emotions, ACTUALLY care about your well being and if you are having a good time. It is so spiritaully healing as a dude. That such a superficial change in our appearance can change so much of how people interact, how they treat you, or even choose to engage with you. We are placed into this box when we're born. It is all we know. But once we taste it, it is unmistakable on what we've been deprieved of all our lives. A box, a life sentence, that we can only find repreive from in VRchat. Kinda feels like VRchat will always be that little more profound to guys for that reason.

Wow… I believe I actually met you randomly at one point as him… never knew

As a guy it’s always getting into fights/arguments in vr chat lmao

“Why won’t people talk to me?” God I’d love for people to not talk to me where do I sign up lmao

This was interesting! Fun seeing how your experiences kinda mirrored mine, to some extent, trying to get into the community. I kinda stopped playing VRchat because of the Day 1 and Day 4 experience you described. VRchat was one of the places I kinda tried experimenting really hard with being *myself* and what I’ve mainly found is people like me much more when I pretend not to be. It’s just another place where I’ve gotta put on a mask if I want people to like me, and I’ve got enough of that in the real world.

8:52 the longer you wear a mask the harder it becomes to remember your own face.

This mulan reboot is crazy (in all seriousness this was a very interesting experiment)

4:44 ''bruv ive seen that avatar like 8 times today bro cmon'' - person with an avatar you see in literally every vrchat lobby lmao

Super interesting video, had the exact opposite outcome than I was expecting. Definitely not wise to lie to yourself, VRChat and VR avatars are an interesting psychological tool but can cause some unnecessary dissociation if you spend too much time in them. This might be your best video yet, really makes you think without forcing a particular narrative or viewpoint.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I definitely did not expect to see a lot of aspects of being trans... The dissociation, identity crises, feeling like you're lying, feeling like what people like of you is not *you*. I felt all this back when I was in the closet, and I still do. (Luckily I have some amazing friends who immediately accepted the "new" real me.) Looking into a mirror and seeing someone that is supposedly you, but doesn't feel like the real you is... well lets stop that sentence there. This was an amazing video and it was very interesting to see someone else's perspective of being someone else, and I'll probably refer to it when someone asks me what it's like "being trans".

Yes being a girl has a lot of perks on vr and irl

im non-binary and VRC was part of the reason i realized i wasnt cis. funnily enough it was because i was in an alphonse elric avatar and some people couldnt tell what gender i was due to my voice + the avi, so they referred to me as they/them and i was like "hol up that feels good..." so yippeee now im non-binary thanks VRC!! i wanna try and get my sister whos trans into VRC to help her feel gender euphoria

This was certainly interesting. In normal games you can perform this same thing, but in VR Chat type systems it seems to be a more personal mirror of yourself. Voice changing is one thing, but movements (especially with full body trackers which I am so jealous of), attitude, etc. You aren't just typing or taking a moment to type, or even just voice changing in Discord/Teamspeak/Ventrillo/etc. Honestly, I never thought of VR as a bastion for trans and other groups, but it really makes sense. On a non-super thoughtful watching, I always find it interesting when people become "guys" and see life is weirder/harder. Like the one person who went undercover as a guy in real life and found out that all the guys she hung out with bragged about and loved their wives and were hard workers. Even something like this where it's found out that just nobody cares to talk to you most of the time (even in real life), or are hyper aggressive until they get to know you. Heck, in real life you might have approached that girl and gotten maced by her. :p But all in all, really, I'd be curious to see this same thing done in other VR communities. It also makes me curious about how LGBT folk handle VR in general. For those going for re-assignment surgery, VR could fill a gap in the processing and testing that is required. The social aspect, as a guy who is generally ignored in VR chat :p, never occurred to me that it could actually have honest therapy type situations.

LOL what I had no idea it was you? hahahaha. I still got you on my friendslist from the day you joined Chroah and complimented my voice. You totally got me, Kudos to you I can't stop smiling, thank you for this!

OMG Never knew you and Thrill were a couple but have I thought about it before, how two Random VR Celebs could become a couple hahah Especially after seeing you guys travel to VR Conventions together. Kudos! Love you both.

At 8:00 It just reminded me of when I was going through my gender crisis 💀

Every time she says sasuke guchiha i start laughing...even tho a sad or chill music is playing and she's like this character is a real character with thoughts and emotions...i'm laughing my ass off

Interesting topic. Not unique to VR, but VR significantly strengthens the effects. First time I ever experienced this was when I wanted to go surprise a close friend with joke account on an old MMORPG. Thinking of ways to surprise them, I decided to make a female character since I never did that. So upon trying to level it up to get to my friend's level before I start chatting with my friend. People kept on showering me with compliments, and almost every guy I ran into was giving me free items. This just blew my mind when this happened. Stuff like this would happen in future games. Usually by playing classes in games where you can only be one gender. Of course, even before video games, anyone that heard my voice on the phone always assumed I was a girl, so I do feel that people legitimately thought I was a girl whenever people thought I was a girl online. I have not tried to be a girl in VR yet so maybe that'll be something to try for fun sometime. Though uh, a few people have mistaken me for a girl already anyways, sooooo might not be as big of a change as it would be for other people. I gotta get back into voice acting stuffs though so I can pull it off more easily. (Also while my voice is kinda soft now, it used to be soooo much softer and I miss it being super soft.) Just being the avatar and your perception of what the avatar is can influence how you behave. Here's some things other people or myself have noticed about when I use certain avatars since I'm incredibly sensitive to VR stuff. I don't generally use human avatars because for some reason a lot of them trigger the uncanny valley for me because my subconscious mind is like "this is human, but it doesn't look like human in real life, but we are in a world that acts like real world, something isn't right!". So I tend to use robots and furry avatars: Protogens usually make me more energetic. Also I tend to smile a lot. Maybe because they are always smiling, or I just really like the way their face looks. I will say I've noticed that my face usually subconsciously tries to mimic whatever avatar I'm using. Midnight Lycanroc or Hobkins make me be a bit more sassy Rikkors (big fluffy bird things) usually make me more relaxed and calm. Of course, I'm generally a relaxed and calm person in general, all of these avatars just influence me to be a little different. So when I am the rikkor, I'm generally at my most calm/relaxed. I'm sure there's other examples, but that's just off the top of my head and there's probably other things that happen that I'm not noticing. First time I ever noticed myself doing things differently based on avatars was getting into a very pink avatar and it effected my emotions strongly and for some reason I felt like flirting which I never do. I don't think I ever had that strong of a change ever since, but I did find that very interesting. So yeah, avatars can influence how you behave and such. I've also seen people go through changes of how they view their gender when they try using avatars of the opposite gender. However, for most people I attribute that more to them looking for a change, rather then letting the avatars influence them to come to that conclusion. Gotta remember correlation does not always equal causation after all. Once again, don't need VR for this to happen but it makes it significantly stronger. I did say perception of an avatar for a reason because there are some studies about giving someone a white lab coat. One group of people being told they are scientists, the other half being told they are artists. Then they go about solving their problems in very different ways. So even if you have the same avatar as someone else, it could influence you in a different way than someone else. I've taught people how to play video games enough to definitely know that people are very much influenced by how a character looks. It always amuses me when someone picks a character, fails with them, then picks "another characters' and does well. This other character being identical in gameplay because they are a skin. However, because the character seems more aggressive/defensive or whatever to fit how you are supposed to play the game made them play the way they are supposed to because they were trying to do what they perceive the character should be doing.

This inspires me to explore my feminine side in VRChat. I get frustrated sometimes with trying to present in real life because of things beyond my control such as beard stubble, my voice, my hairline, my facial structure, etc. But VR is a whole other ballpark.

I used the male voice changer that made females sound like corpse pretty much, and within like the first day i already made 10 friends, which on the normal basis without the voice changer i can maybe make one or two friends if im lucky. voices mean a lot more in this game than they should

this my favorite video from this channel its very interesting

0:13 "I'm getting so frustrated, why won't people talk to me" Welcome to a man's life where nobody gives a f about you. You may suffer from loneliness, depression and suicide... People would be like "meh ... stuff happens" and move on with their lives.

that momento i see "why dont talk to me " is my existence on IRL

It's like method acting, for me after playing a part it's like pull out apart of you. My hardest was playing a character that was opposite of my likes and personality. It took months to "fix" the thoughts and perceptions. I am glad I tried to be that character for musical and plays.