VRChat Security
Today, there was a new announcement about the security of VRChat, and what the developers are doing to protect it. They announced a new system that they have been working on, called a trust system. I highly disagree with this choice.
I'll share the original post by the VRChat devs, and explain why I disagree. I would also love to hear what everyone else thinks about a system like this within a social game.
Trust Systems — Content Gating
Hello, VRChat! We’ve been working on some new “Trust” systems to help make VRChat a friendlier place. These systems will be used to help gate various features until users have proven themselves to be a friendly member of the community. One of the first parts of the Trust system is called “Content Gating”. This system is designed to reduce abusive or annoying behavior involving avatars or other content.Here’s generally how it works. When a user first creates a new VRChat account, they will be unable to upload custom content like worlds or avatars. After spending some time in the app and having positive interactions with other users, they will eventually receive in-app and email notifications that their account has access to world and avatar creation capability. This time may vary from user to user depending on various factors.
If the new user chooses to spend time in VRChat behaving badly or maliciously against other users, they may lose the capability to upload content. They will receive a notification in-app and via email that they have lost access to content uploading. If they spend more time in the app and follow the Community Guidelines, then they will eventually regain access to these systems. Again, this time may vary depending on various factors.
If a user does not have access to content uploading and they attempt to upload something via the SDK, they will receive an error. If they aren’t running the latest SDK, this error may not appear properly, but they still will be unable to upload content.
When the system launches, all VRChat account users will receive notifications indicating their status in the Content Gating system. If you believe there has been some error with the system, please feel free to contact us — however, VRChat will not help you sidestep or bypass the Content Gating system.
As an aside, VRChat staff and developers will not delve into the details of how any of the Trust systems work to any user. Development of the Trust systems will be an ongoing effort so that we can make VRChat a better place for all of our users.
Finally, as always, ensure that you are utilizing our Social features to defend yourself against users that you do not wish to interact with. Using Mute, Block, Vote Kick, and Safe Mode are the best way to keep yourself safe and secure.
For anyone who wants a TLDR version:
They are basically adding a system that will keep you from uploading any content (worlds and custom avatars) until you are considered "trusted" in the VRChat world. Trusted, as in not blocked by people, not kicked, not misbehaving in any ways that they decide to consider "misbehaving". So basically you get punished just for being a new user.
Here was my response to the post.
This seems like a stupid, quickly thrown together way to deal with the long term issue of security. The outline better show an intuitive trust system that won’t be punishing users that might not have done anything “wrong”. Like others said, these systems can often be easily abused, and are usually very flawed.
e.g. What if someone (maybe a streamer with lots of followers) simply disagrees with someone’s opinion, and sicks a bunch of people to block (or “report” if that’s going to be an option) someone who hasn’t really broken any rules. Suddenly, they are punished for having an opinion, not really breaking any rules. There is no system where they can appeal to a mod or even have proof to defend themselves.
I’m curious to see what you present to us, and I hope you are thinking of better long-term options for the security of VRChat.
I also added a comment under my post
I would also like to add, how does this help against hackers, broken SDKS, and some of the new hackers who even block the option to report them, block them, mute them, or interact with them at all? Their names don’t even appear in the room list. Like I said, this seems like a Band-Aid for a larger wound.
Here are some other comments:
I agree with both sides.
If they manage to make an intuitive trust system, that doesn't allow for abuse, I would love to see it better our VRChat experience. On the other hand, if it's the same old trust system with the usual exploits, they might as well trash it and go back to the drawing board. I've been kicked from rooms just for joining them before. I've also seen friends kick each other as a joke. Now, they might lose the ability to upload avatars just because of something like that? How can the system determine why you were kicked, and that it wasn't just because you joined a Knuckles room without a Knuckles avatar or something? There are sooo many flaws.
@GamersUnited is a brand new Steemit curation group for everything gaming! Whether you're a game dev, streamer, artist that loves gaming, game reviewer, or have any other form of gaming addiction - we want you!
I can well understand the basic idea behind this action. Sure, everyone who plays VRChat knows that we are talking about things that are absolutely not for children. However, I don't like the implementation of that at all and I don't think it will do any good.
What are the conditions to be activated for Custom Characters or Worlds?
This is not communicated clearly. I don't think it will affect existing accounts, or is it not clear from the article. If I suddenly couldn't be a penguin anymore, I'd be very frustrated. In addition, this new rule offers plenty of space to quickly deprive unpleasant worlds or characters of the possibility to show them.
You could also simply insert an age restriction when creating an account and when entering worlds that are not free of minors, insert a hint that you have to confirm. If your age in the account does not meet the requirements of the world you will not see them at all. Furthermore, you could include a similar function in characters, so that you don't see them moderately by default, if the age doesn't fit.
Of course, my ideas are easy to circumvent, but after all, the parents also have a responsibility. If you ask me, children under 14 have not lost anything in VRChat anyway.
"When the system launches, all VRChat account users will receive notifications indicating their status in the Content Gating system." So it will affect current accounts, probably based on your recent history.
Also, private rooms = no restrictions. You can be nude, or host a virtual sex toy part. whatever. It's private room only accessible by invite, so age shouldn't be a problem. But, yeah, if you're in a public room, don't do things that violate TOS, that's common sense. The age to play VRChat is 13 and up, the same as even having a Steam account.
This isn't mean to target underage content, it's made to discriminate based on the opinions of other people. You can get banned from uploading content just because a group decided to block/mute/kick you because they didn't want you around. Not necessarily because you did anything wrong.
They don't really say what the conditions are, and they said that they won't be releasing the details about the system. Personally, I feel that is bullshit. And they don't specify whether it will block stuff you already have uploaded.
I agree with you, I actually installed VR Chat few days ago (I think before this update.) And while the idea of solving the problem is a good thing, the way they do it can be easily abused and backfire.
This seems like a system that they would have to put in eventually. The amount of shitpost made in VRChat is immeasurable, so it was kindof expected for this to come unless you wanted VRChat to become like a weird VR 4chan. I personally don't agree with this either since i'm sure that many people will leave the game just for this and it will also extract some of the essence of the game for the people who play it currently.
In conclusion, I don't agree with this content gating system but I understand what they're doing. Someone has to put leashes and punishment unless you want the thing you created become a toxic hellhole. Maybe it's not the best anti shitposting measure that could be applied but it does look like what a half-assed solution would look like...
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Their heart is in the right place, but it seems like they're going about it the wrong way.
Having spent my time in several social circles (including 4chan), I've come to realize that content moderation is incredibly difficult if you only seek to block or exclude users. You're far better off lifting up and showcasing the good apples than trying to shove the bad in the corner. They'll still be there, and now they're pushing back...
I completely agree.
Well, not that this system will even affect the high tier hackers that run rampant on the game anyways. They will keep causing trouble until they are addressed. But, you can tell the hate for Knuckles only bred more Knuckles. hehe. So, the trust system blocks a user from uploading. Big deal? They can still play the game. Blocking troublesome users from simply uploading content doesn't change the fact that they are there haha.
You can kick toxic people, mute them, or block them. It's already easy to get rid of them. The only real toxicity problem is the hackers that we can't block or kick. That's what they should be focusing on. With the trust system, the wrong people are going to be punished. You will be punished just for being a new player.
They're basically saying fuck you to content creators for their game. "Oh, you have to earn your way to be able to make content for our game!" When the content creators are the only reason the game is popular.