An “Invisible” Online Status
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Sonicgott
It would be beneficial for us to have a social status set to “invisible,” where we would be seen as offline, and, just like the red DND status, we could only join in on others when requesting.
Sometimes we need moments to ourselves, and sometimes other people don’t understand that red means “I’m busy.” Aside from also preventing services from Discord reporting that we’re in VRChat.
Say we’re working on world projects, debugging, streaming, having private moments with close friends, I believe the ability to be invisible and appear as offline would help further the security and personal well being of some players.
For a few of us who are introverted, some people will bug you despite being red, and it can be irritating. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s that we need to get some stuff done.
I understand that there are potentially negatives to this, but I feel the positives will outweigh those by quite a bit.
Invisible statuses have been seen in other messaging services in the past, such as ICQ and others.
I’d ask that you consider it. If this has already been suggested, let me know,
Justin “Sonicgott” Reese
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Kannako
i hope this gets added soon ^_^
DarkSwordsman
To try and formalize my thoughts into a single statement on why I think this feature does not belong on VRChat:
Discord is a communication utility. Being online just means the channel is open. You can sit idle in it the same way a phone sits in your pocket, and "invisible" makes sense there because non-use is a real state. VRChat isn't that. It's a co-presence platform, which means being online is being in the space with other people. There's no idle. Entering VRChat is the activity.
That's why the status colors exist, and why they're the right tool. They let you scope your availability without lying about your presence. Blue/green: you're out in public, approachable. Orange: around but not looking for company. Red: effectively home with the door shut. An "invisible" mode tries to manufacture something that has no real-world analog: being in a space while also not being in it. The actual needs people bring up (decompressing, avoiding drama, exploring alone, working on avatars) are already covered by orange and red. The real problem is people not respecting those signals, and that's a cultural fix, not a structural one. Adding invisible mode trades a fixable cultural problem for a permanent structural one that makes presence unreliable for everyone.
Rivera․
lowkey coming into the comments section in the big 2026 to say that is probably the worst requested feature that would probably set mankind back to the stone age (we cant communicate with each other)
RC-Bif
Just use Red Status + "AFK" or "avatar work". Works fine.....
If your "friends" have an issue with that, you need to reconsider your relationship.
Adding an invisible status will only make VRC more anti-social and encourage people to be shut-ins.
TomSjö
RC-Bif And?
DarkSwordsman
I still am personally against this feature. The feature is rooted in insecurity. I would suggest people be more honest with their friends and weed out bad actors in their lives. It's the only true path forward.
__Ray
People arguing this would make the game a ghost town and make people more "anti-social" make no sense. How would this be functionally different than being on red? If you're on red all the time, you're already not receiving invites, not receiving requests, completely inaccessible by your friends.... So what's the difference? What makes being on red more "social" than being on invisible?
The simple answer is that there is no difference. The only difference between being on red and being on invisible is that
you get to monitor whether or not I'm online
. That's creepy!The reason why invisible status should be implemented is because all VRChat users should be afforded a basic level of privacy. It's not always someone elses business to know if I'm online for a wide variety of reasons that
I shouldn't have to justify
. Invisible status is something that is super common in games and social platforms. It's there for a reason!Please, please devs, implement this into VRChat. I know there are a lot of comments in opposition, but the amount of likes on this request trounces them by a massive margin. The comments in opposition hardly have a lot of likes on them either. Please don't let a loud minority trounce on peoples privacy. Thank you.
DarkSwordsman
__Ray If you are worried about any friends you have being creepy, you can remove and block them.
I genuinely think every problem people have with not having an invisible status can be solved with both:
a) removing those friends
b) making a second VRChat account
__Ray
DarkSwordsman
It's not just about creepy friends, the creepiness comes from the idea that anyone can see my online status in a situation I wouldn't want them to. This has implications and nuance beyond just people being intentionally creepy. But yes, if someone were actually creepy, it's actually a net good to give people more options to deal with that, even if blocking them is more optimal. If "block everyone who gives you issues" was sacred advice that always worked, we would no longer have social issues. That's not the world we live in.
Also, making a second VRChat account is actually an asinine suggestion. In order to have privacy online I have to go through the process of making a second account? Logging out and back in with a terrible VR keyboard, losing my existing Inventory, VRC+, Friends List, Age Verification (which you can't simultaneously verify on an alt account by the way) etc? If this is the option players are expected to perform, might I suggest we just cut the BS and add invisibility status for everyone? Seems much simpler...
As I mentioned before, there is no functional difference between always being on red and being invisible, so people should have the option to be invisible. Everyone should have basic options for privacy, none of us should have to justify that to anyone else. It's genuinely eyebrow raising how so many people obsessively want to see if their friends are online, even if said friends don't want to interact with them. Especially considering how VRC already has problems with bad actors, to put it mildly.
DarkSwordsman
__Ray "the creepiness comes from the idea that anyone can see my online status in a situation I wouldn't want them to. This has implications and nuance beyond just people being intentionally creepy."
Can you give an example? Because I honestly have no idea what scenario you'd have to really need this feature.
Doͥdgͣyͫ
DarkSwordsmanor this feature. a simple quality of life button, thats it, just like how we got red status in the first place.
Doͥdgͣyͫ
DarkSwordsmanexample. someone with many alts wants to creep you, if they see you online.
DarkSwordsman
Doͥdgͣyͫ Why would you have someone with multiple alts friended like that in the first place?
Sure, it may seem like a QoL feature for an individual, but in the broader scheme of things, it would socially degrade the platform more than it already is.
ArtGhostt
I'm not opposed to this idea. Furthermore, I think the Red status should just be the Invisible status and people should have the choice to be on it.
However, I'm afraid that many people on Orange will switch to Invis instead, as it could seem more enticing. It kind of incentivizes people to be more antisocial and to avoid talking to others. Your friends list will appear somewhat inactive.
I want the opposite! I want the platform to incentivize people to meet others. I want people to feel like it's also okay to talk to their friends right now.
Just a small concern I have.
Kannako
The toxicity levels of this reply section are off the charts and imo prove how needed of a feature this really is.
DarkSwordsman
Kannako Frankly the only real toxicity I am seeing is from people who are wanting this feature.
madcaker
DarkSwordsman Hun, you're picking fights with people who commented days or even over a year ago in my case. You are a tar pit.
Kannako
DarkSwordsman stop replying to every msg like a madman. this is a simple request for an invisible feature, perferably one where people can still request to join, I think we need a more friend management options, the invisibility option is simply to give people peace of mind.
DarkSwordsman
Kannako you should say the same to @madcaker. Only reason I started replying is because of them.
Peace of mind in my opinion does not outweigh all of the downsides to this.
I genuinely feel like anyone who desires this invisible feature does not have a good relationship with their friends and should seek new friends. There are more downsides than there are benefits.
Hallow O' Kin
Respectfully, a bad, bad idea for a social game, arguably different in context to Discord, which isn't a game platform. Becomes the new Orange, and now you don't even know if you can request to join that one person who never quite seems to be online...
EvolvedAnt
Invisible mode, the perfect, least friction, way to cheat in VRC relationships. This surely won't be abused... At least the current method of having an alt account has friction that makes it less likely to be used. No thanks.
Friends that bug friends when they use DND, even after expressing to them that you don't appreciate being bothered about using DND, aren't good friends at all, and the entire platform shouldn't need to suffer as a whole just because some people are too timid to call friends out when they try to shame or bug you over utilizing DND.
I've had zero issue with using DND with a custom status message so people know to leave me alone if I need away time.
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