# of times I said “2.0 content creators” in this blog post: 5
Greetings! No this blog is not dead. I’ve been on hiatus for 4-5 months now and I’m back to hopefully get back to posting again. And what better thing to start posting with than more BS from the VRChat devs, huh?
Going by the title, you either fall in one of five categories.
1. “Ehh, 3.0 is better.” -This post is for you
2. “..Wait WHAT?! They’re going to DO WHAT?!” -This post is for you
3. “I upload avatars, but I’ve never heard of this.” -This post is for you
4. “I’m no content creator. Why would this apply to me?” -This post is for you
5. “I’m confused. What are you talking about?” -This post is not for you (but you’re welcome to read it anyway)
Simply put for the people who have probably never even heard of VRChat, since its launch back in late 2017, players were able to upload their own custom (or public) avatar, as well as worlds. I won’t give an explanation of my struggles uploading my first avatar, but the system has remained unchanged since. This era is called “2.0”, due to the fact it uses the same triggers and script system it’s currently using in SDK 2.0, since Unity 5.6 (the first Unity version I used).
Last year, changes were on the horizon in the form of ‘Udon’ and ‘Avatars 3.0’– the future of VRChat content creation. Avatars 3.0, feeling similar to 2.0 except for one major change; layers taking over a single Animator Override Controller. This system is quite powerful, giving more freedom of control to do more complicated stuff (such as having an actual custom sitting animation as an example). The problem is it’s very hard to learn compared to 2.0.
The documentation for 2.0 is literally everywhere on YouTube, from uploading your first custom avatar to setting up a basic toggle animation (for pulling a gun out or whatever you wish to do). You can even find documentation from 2018 relating to this.
3.0’s documentation.. not so much. Plus getting help from the VRChat Discord? Hah.. have fun waiting days for a response. This has gotten so bad that Kovo of all people taught me how to use it, as noone came to his aid.. he self taught himself.
Two weeks ago, VRChat released a dev stream explaining the reasoning behind all the hiccups with the game during multiple weekends in a row, claiming “your VRC+ money went to hiring new developers!” As much as I want to call BS.. I cannot as I have no proof.
As the stream was nearing its end, they talked about the future of VRChat. Unity 2019 will be the new Unity version we’ll be using. When, dunno. But likely early 2022.
What is concerning, is it seems they want to push players into using 3.0 and ditching 2.0. Now change is good for all of us, but it’s not for long term 2.0 users (like myself and several others). One major player is the horror master himself, OfficialSayon. His worlds use 2.0 scripting to provide scares and frights for anyone willing to join his many worlds. So if VRChat decides to say “you 2.0 content creators need to get with the times and update your work to 3.0!”, this will have disastrous consequences.. hell, 90% of VRChat’s content uses 2.0, including VRChat’s homeworld and Hub world.
This isn’t just an unwillingness to upgrade to 3.0, it’s like I said before– 2.0 is easier to learn.
Before I continue, let me make something clear: if they get rid of 2.0, worlds and avatars that use the system will NOT immediately die. But when another VRChat update comes around that could break something (and it’s your world and/or avatar(s)).. guess what? You can’t fix them!! Without 2.0 existing, there’s nothing you can do about it. Months if not years of effort, will be lost.
Sayon himself explained the issue to the VRChat devs in hopes to have any sort of backwards compatibility when the Unity 2019 upgrade releases.
And what was their response to it? They will let us know if there are any issues/problems with older content “that we don’t plan on addressing/fixing upon upgrade”.
That you don’t plan on addressing/fixing…? What does that tell you? Limited to no support to 2.0 content in the future, sounds like to me. They add on that “VRCSDK2 is ‘considered deprecated’ for creation.” The term ‘deprecated’ (in tech terms) simply means one thing has replaced another. But instead of getting rid of the original thing, they’ll keep it around with backwards compatibility. In VRChat’s case, it’s “unknown at this time”.
Feels like to me they’re saying “look.. if you don’t want your stuff to break, take this time to move to 3.0.” Not everyone can (and/or wants to).
So if you’re a loyal 2.0 content creator, I’d be very concerned for the future of your work.
But hope is not lost.. not yet. For friends of OfficialSayon have launched a special Discord server that will be used as a petition, in hopes VRChat will understand that they will be throwing 2.0 content creators under the bus if they continue this route.
But even if you’re not a content creator. Say you simply enjoy the Huggi Dungeon Series. If they remove 2.0 and something breaks one of Sayon’s worlds, he won’t be able to fix it.
How does this make you feel, knowing your favorite content creator is powerless to do anything (thanks to this)? Angry? Wanting to quit? I don’t blame you. That’s why this is just as important to you as it is to all 2.0 content creators.
But really, it’s up to you of how you see this. This may not even phase you, and you’d be willing to jump on the 3.0 bandwagon. By all means do it, there’s nothing stopping you.
However if you feel “this injustice will not go unpunished”, please consider clicking here to join the Discord community, and feel free to express your support for either your own work or the work of 2.0 content creators. Every message counts, as they hope to get 15,000 signatures. Maybe then VRChat will listen.
Or then again, maybe we’re forced to either go with 3.0 or move to ChilloutVR. Let’s hope that doesn’t come to fruition.