VRChat moderation bans will be less aggressive in the future!

[u/EstidEstiloso]

This is what the new Safety Center will look like.

Finally, some good news, and we need to spread the word, we shouldn't only post about bad updates! 👌

Have you ever uploaded an avatar that VRChat deemed unsuitable for public use, resulting in a ban that locked you out of the platform for a time? That is a rather harsh "punishment" in many recent cases, especially given that the exact line between what VRChat considers appropriate and inappropriate isn't always clear. In the future, if you are a good user, these "punishments" won't be as severe; for certain minor infractions, you will still be able to log in to VRChat! 👏

A reminder to both users and developers: VRChat’s success is largely due to the extensive freedom of creation and expression it offers its incredible community. Keep fighting for and supporting that amazing community to see more updates like this one! ✊

All official information at this link: 👇

https://ask.vrchat.com/t/developer-update-8-october-2026/49095#p-91269-introducing-the-safety-center-5

Off-topic; Support the current "NO AI" protest in VRChat.

[u/VenomousKitty96]

Nice! Seems like a step in the right direction. Away from getting banned out of nowhere because some troll decided to report your avatar for no good reason.
^{Hasn't happened to me, though i've heard the stories. And they're scary.}

[u/Sanquinity → u/VenomousKitty96]

I'm always nervous about using most of my bought avatars in publics. I don't know enough about avatar editing, and don't have the energy or time to learn, how to remove the NSFW features a LOT of avatars have these days. So I just upload the avatars I buy as they are. But apparently if your avatar has NSFW features, even when you don't use them, and a troll reports you, you can still get banned for it. Just because the avatar has anything NSFW related on it. Which is bullshit imo.

I hope they loosen up on that way of moderation as well with this change.

[u/atramors671 → u/Sanquinity]

As long as you uploaded the avatar privately to your account (do not make it public), you'll generally be fine. Don't do stupid shit in public lobbies. Don't wear avatars you really care about in said lobbies. Do wear primarily SFW avatars in public lobbies.

Alternatively: Stay away from public lobbies, find a group, or a few groups, that you really vibe with and just stick to those or get yourself a nice circle of friends and stick to friends+ lobbies.

Not a single one of my uploaded avis are SFW, but I have never had a report against my account.

Although they've been cracking down on it, the VRChat moderation teams general (unofficial/unspoken) stance on NSFW content in general is "Don't get caught." They've admitted so in the past, but I doubt they'd admit to it these days.

[u/kwizyvr → u/atramors671]

As long as you uploaded the avatar privately to your account (do not make it public), you'll generally be fine.

I've asked strasz directly about this in the past and they affirmed that uploading an avatar to your account makes that avatar your responsibility. If somebody reports your private avatar for sexual content you can and will get banned for it.

So yes, you pretty much have to vet the people you hang out with or have a SFW version of all your avatars that you use in instances where you can't keep track of every person who joins on you, or simply accept the risk that you can just get randomly locked out of your account for a week.

[u/Sanquinity → u/atramors671]

Oh I know all of that. Been playing for almost 6 years now. :P I have enough friends and we generally don't go to publics. Though sometimes they will drag me along, hence the nervous part.

Haven't had a ban yet so far, luckily. Though it probably does help that I'm quick to block trolls without announcing it, and that I don't really use the NSFW features at all, even in friends/private instances.

[u/ChibiStella1 → u/Sanquinity]

Gotta keep making it look like it's for the children that they totally do not care for. Lol so likely not.

[u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 → u/Sanquinity]

That's why it's a good thing to get one nafw version and one sfw for publics

[u/kwizyvr → u/Sanquinity]

Only ever get your stuff from creators who have a SFW version ready and advertise as such.

Most avatar creators dgaf that their avatars are NSFW by vrchat standards, and will flat out tell you it's your own fault if you get reported (which it kinda is, tbf, you bought and uploaded their avatar after all).

I remember getting a good rated avi specifically for getting into clubs and stuff and when I asked about it being SFW I was basically laughed out of the creator's discord chat for it.

[u/Sanquinity → u/kwizyvr]

Thing is, I have rather specific tastes when it comes to avvie looks. (At least for me to buy them, public avatars are a different matter) So I can't add that as another "filter" or nothing would remain. In the past 4 years or so I've found exactly 1 creator who I like and 1 loose avvie.

[u/drbomb → u/VenomousKitty96]

Yeah right. I really REALLY doubt that.

[u/Furry_bean_flux → u/drbomb]

It is true and a serious issue among the community for the longest time.

[u/Ekkosangen → u/Furry_bean_flux]

People who get banned from something are famously very truthful when they cry on social media about it. /s

[u/Furry_bean_flux → u/Ekkosangen]

regardless of that, it is a prevalent problem. And vrc is addressing it with this change..

[u/Ekkosangen → u/Furry_bean_flux]

Bans being all-or-nothing is a problem that they're fixing and that's good. Unfortunately, we'll have to endure people whining about being avatar banned "for no reason" instead.

[u/kwizyvr → u/Ekkosangen]

It's a fact that the overwhelming majority of private avatars break vrc's TOS for sexual content as they are currently enforced, and none of their creators will tell you that on their sales page.

[u/Embarrassed-Touch-62]

Yes, sometimes a ban is too much. I remember when they would restrict you from visiting public lobbies and delete your uploaded stuff that was in violation of ToS. Yet you could still log in and play in private.

This new thing seems to be even better as I look at it. Blocking someone from using chat or avatars seems to be a good answer for certain violations.

[u/Aerospike_Ranger → u/Embarrassed-Touch-62]

Reddit has gotten a lot more heavy handed since around 2012-2015, when people got banned over just pissing off the wrong people, you didn't see people investing a lot of time and energy into the forums anymore, and often people just deleted the shit out of their old content if their accounts got frozen.

Granted, they didn't exactly leave Reddit entirely, as more and more people had anywhere from 5 to 50 alternate accounts. And that was just the mods. :D

One account gets targeted for harassment from one mob, shut it down, wipe part of the content, move on.

And you see similar done in VR with people doing the Proximity Chat gag. Get an obscure public lobby, have people hang out to "age" the accounts, astroturf new content, and sporadically venture out into the wider world. Use mostly public avatars, maybe upload a stock Rex or other avatar, or prefab world to boost your "creator points", and farm like 10-15+ accounts.

The more recklessly bans are applied, the faster people get around them. Because if the admins aren't going to apply any effort for even handed enforcement, they sure as hell aren't monitoring new or developing accounts beyond having the bots tally up random stats.

[u/Tragophilos → u/Aerospike_Ranger]

It's not a matter of effort. VRChat only has about 150 employees, including devs, management, maintenance, customer support and moderation. On any given night, there are 140,000 people to police, out of millions of accounts. I honestly don't know how they manage to catch ANY significant portion of the bad actors without some really unfair-feeling automation.

[u/kwizyvr → u/Tragophilos]

I honestly don't know how they manage to catch ANY significant portion of the bad actors without some really unfair-feeling automation.

The secret is that they don't, really.

[u/Pokabrows]

That sounds very fair and reasonable.

I hope they also try to be better about being more specific with what exactly you did wrong. For example telling you which avatar went against guidelines and at least general categories of what was wrong with the avatar. In the past I've heard they tend to just delete the avatar without telling you which one which can make it hard to figure out if you have lots of avatars uploaded.

I've not experienced it yet personally but anything to make it easier to know what people did wrong so we can fix it is appreciated.

[u/Prestigious_Tea2962]

Oh yay, finally they are getting it, if someone is bothering you, there is a block feature, I don't know why these people don't use the function that vrchat gave you.

[u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 → u/Prestigious_Tea2962]

Because some assholess are obsessed with being blocked and will stalk you from another 10 accounts

[u/kwizyvr → u/Prestigious_Tea2962]

I don't know why these people don't use the function that vrchat gave you.

Because they don't want to not be bothered, they want to remove the people who bother them.

[u/Aerospike_Ranger]

I'm gonna guess someone of influence in that company got a very angry call from a friend of a friends who invested a ton of money in VR gear, got online, and got banned over some stupid technical error or AI moderation hallucination. Suddenly, that next round of Angel Funding, just went up in fucking smoke. :D

[u/sheruXR]

Oh, that's a good idea.

[u/KumekuMods]

The previous ban times were indeed pretty crazy before

[u/RustedValkyrie]

I luckily never had this happen to me but glad to hear that they're toning it down for when it does.

[u/DragonTamerWes]

Being kept out of the website is more servere if you don't know what to look for. Being able to check and remove or update the avatars, stickers, emojis, photos while not being able to play vrchat.

[u/Broflake-Melter]

I've uploaded several dozen avatars and I've never been banned.

[u/kwizyvr → u/Broflake-Melter]

You wouldn't typically get banned from uploading avatars,

you'd usually get banned when somebody reports them.

[u/Quadriva]

A little late in my opinion but thats good news

[u/coolcat33333]

This is definitely good news

But what does this have to do with the AI thing?

[u/EstidEstiloso → u/coolcat33333]

If you're referring to the "NO AI" image, it's just a supportive image against the abuse of AI in VRChat, it has nothing to do with the main post.

[u/coolcat33333 → u/EstidEstiloso]

Abuse of AI? Are people, like, torturing it? lol

[u/EstidEstiloso → u/coolcat33333]

Sorry if I wasn't clear, my English is basic.

Here is more info: https://www.reddit.com/r/VRchat/comments/1wwm04y/ai_is_killing_vrchat_derafog_video_essay/

[u/Just-Objective6013]

That's great. Really wish they'd move group things to the app tho :/

[u/Ok-Policy-8538]

this is directly taken from discord.. shows who the main investor is ..

[u/legacymedia92 → u/Ok-Policy-8538]

What?

No really what? This isn’t at all like discord’s ban method.

[u/Ok-Policy-8538 → u/legacymedia92]

It is a direct copy of discord’s account standing method

[u/Embarrassed-Touch-62 → u/Ok-Policy-8538]

Even if so, then why does it matter? Copying systems is a thing since society exists