Background and Current Issues (Risks to be Resolved) Under the current specifications of VRChat (such as the Group Public instance system), there is a critical blind spot that prevents world creators and administrators from stopping organized and malicious harassment by bad actors (trolls). No matter how strictly a world administration enforces moderation (such as bans) within their own instances, trolls can deliberately create a lawless environment out of the administrators' reach simply by "launching their own separate Group Public instances for that same world." The following severe damages are actually occurring as a result: Indiscriminate full-screen projection of sexually explicit videos (forced visual harassment). The use of avatars and gimmicks that generate disruptive noise or cause the application to crash Placement and drawing of hate speech, discriminatory language, and symbols. Defamation and dissemination of false information targeting specific individuals or organizations. Organized swarming and verbal abuse directed at world creators and administrators. Two Major Risks to Platform Operations Contradiction with the "Zero-Tolerance Policy" When the aforementioned acts are committed in spaces accessible to an unspecified number of general users, such as Public or Group Public instances, unrelated third parties become victims. If minors are exposed to this, it directly contradicts VRChat’s own core policy of "zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation and abuse." Negative Impact on BtoB Strategy and Corporate Participation An environment where such harassment and violations of public order are easily left unchecked significantly hinders the participation of corporations, governments, and educational institutions (the expansion of the metaverse business). This leads to a degradation of the entire platform's brand image and creates a breeding ground for economic loss. Proposed Solutions: Devolution of Authority to World Creators (Three New Features) To address the current reality where official moderation cannot keep up, we propose granting world creators a "graduated authority to restrict instance creation," enabling rapid and flexible responses. (1) "Default Instance Configuration" Specification for Worlds A feature that allows world creators (or their official groups) to specify and restrict the baseline instance settings allowed for their world. By implementing this across multiple worlds, creators can share a common ban list (moderation data from trusted groups) to stop trolls at the threshold. (2) "Allowed Groups (Whitelist)" Setting for Worlds A mechanism that grants the authority to create and use instances only to groups whose safety has been verified and who comply with the world's regulations and guidelines. (3) "Banned Groups (Blacklist / BAN Group)" Setting for Worlds A feature that allows world creators to designate specific malicious groups that act as breeding grounds for harassment, completely prohibiting them from creating any instances for that specific world. Benefits and Expected Effects of This Proposal Reduction of the Burden on Official Operations (Decentralized Autonomous Moderation) Communities will be able to respond swiftly without waiting for official moderation intervention. Furthermore, this reduces the need for VRChat moderation to intervene in or arbitrate interpersonal disputes, leading to a direct reduction in operational costs. Advanced Balancing of "Diversity" and "Safety" This proposal does not restrict user freedom. Even with these restrictions in place, private and semi-private instances such as Invite(+), Friend(+), and Group(+) can still be created freely. It does not block access to the world itself; it merely controls access privileges to spaces where an unspecified number of unrelated players could be dragged into harmful situations. Conclusion This proposal represents the most realistic and optimal solution to maximize the balance between "the freedom of the platform" and "the safety and dignity of general users." To realize a metaverse environment where creators can provide content with peace of mind and general players can spend their time safely with their dignity protected, we sincerely urge you to consider implementing these features. https://note.com/byebye_hojorin/n/n9849495e1d44
