Hi there. VRChat has a section on Canny to discuss VRChat Plus feedback.

I actually ONLY found this forum, BECAUSE of a need to point out this very feature.

So, for anyone in the VRC Dev community who will read this, there's several important points to list:

Firstly, let me list my personal tier recommendations:

-FREE -- Just what it currently is

-$2.99/mo, no yearly discount: 50 favorites, badge

-$5.99/mo, 10% yearly discount (so like $65/yr): 75 favorites, badge, trust boost

-$9.99/mo, 16% discount ($100/yr): current VRC+, whole shebang

Additional tiers are fine, but I think these are the real ones to get people in the door.

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There's a few reasons I have for this, though, so let's start with the business logic:

-NOT EVERYONE CAN comfortably spend $100/yr or $10/mo on a single game. People in this category ALSO probably do not persistently use VRC. $10/mo subscriptions are usually used for large-scale, thick-server games. VRChat is more like a 'platform', than a game, and MUCH of the content is cached on user machines (thin-server, thick-client). Putting this large of a price tag is much more acceptable for "exclusive" types of games, things that you can largely guarantee hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of play per year, for each user. A good example is why I was never able to play WoW as a kid -- the monthlies were too much. Although VRC POTENTIALLY offers this level of play, most people will not have the full time (jobs and other engagements in the IRL).

-$5.99/mo was the price that DID get me into RuneScape, back when I played. This is a much more open-door price for a wide variety of games, whether server-heavy or not. It is within the range ($3.99-$7.99 per month), where it does not appear to be trying to ABSORB the user (whether or not it actually is), so less VRC-exclusive players are willing to pay the extra bump of cash. It's "not too much", or it's "just right" for an online game.

-$2.99/mo is a price for more casual players. While it offers SOME benefits, it is cheap enough that MOST people can choose, drop of a hat, to burn the $36 for a year's subscription. It's a bit more than "trial" tier. Offering this ensures AT LEAST SOME cash inflow from a LARGE percentage of the user base, even those who are far from exclusive to this game. It makes it clear you are NOT trying to drag them away from other communities (whether or not this is the intent).

-FREE tier: This is what VRC has been, up until now. You NEED a free tier, or you severely limit potential growth. On the other hand, the loss of the current free users will completely devalue the game itself, as it does not even have a real story or game mechanic to it -- it IS a chat hub, and the value of the entire system is in the ability to socialize and interact with others; loss of friends who can no longer pay the access fee will ruin that for the majority of the user base, costing the subscriptions of already-paying members.

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From the perspective of fellow Linux-users:

(NOTE: "Hack" is NOT used in the "crack" sense or "modifying game files" sense. It refers to tweaking WINE/Proton, here. I do NOT even use 3PS add-ons -- not that they'd work on Linux, anyway)

-VRChat breaks... constantly. Each update usually requires hacking around with Proton, WINE, or Lutris just to get the game to work. Alternatively, the newest version REQUIRES me to use the "Open BETA" option, or the screen won't even launch, regardless of other launch options or which version of SteamPlay I'm using. Install a bunch of side DLLs, etc. with ProtonTricks. You name it. Often, at least an hour or a couple hours of just guessing why it's not working, before it even loads up, again.

-VRChat STILL lacks a few KEY features on Linux. Namely, there's MASSIVE stability issues with the VR mode (I don't have a headset, so I've not personally experienced this, but I've read such cases), and the use of the youtube-dl executable for Windows through the various Unity media players do NOT work on Linux AT ALL. I have tried various symlinks, custom YTDL components, redoing the PATH variables, etc. Hacking Windows is awful enough; hacking a Windows emulation layer is just pure, unadulterated pain. I lose a LOT of the activity my friends try to get me into, because I can't watch movies or do karaoke with them. (No, I will NOT switch to Windows. And a Windows VM is bad enough, never mind trying to get GPU hardware passthrough, when I've already maxed my system's monitors, etc.)

Until these issues are fixed, or a native Linux version is available (Unity and UnityHub DO work on Linux, so I'm not sure how much code you'd actually have to change for a native Linux version...), it's not really justifiable to pay more than a very modest sum, because we can't EVEN get the full set of BASE features.

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The last question to ask is: What is the intended future goal of VRChat?

I see an update like this, and I have to ask, "Is VRC eventually going to become pay-to-play ONLY???" This is a concerning thing, as I referenced in the first section. If F2P was dropped, VRC will become very difficult to maintain, as MOST of the user base would quit. But is there an alternative?

It almost seems dangerous to even post the idea, but IF VRC ever did choose to go that route, at the risk of losing MANY members, there would HAVE to be a minimal "Access Tier", or the majority of the entire platform would just stop, which would be an AWFUL shame.

If such a tier, say $0.99/mo or something, were offered, it validates the entirety of the above arguments: TIERED P2P IS NECESSARY. Even if the lowest tier becomes a bare minimum price.

Again, however, the concern this brings me is that going a FULL P2P route WILL destroy the majority of the community. However, if VRC needs to make more money, offering at least a mid-tier (say $5.99/mo [or $5/mo, as suggested by others]) and a low-tier ($2.99/mo) would ensure VRC can pay the bills, make a good bit of extra profit, and NOT be asking players to break the bank. It also ensures that AT LEAST MANY MORE players will be willing to pay SOMETHING, which will easily offset keeping the free tier that currently exists.

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Heck, even as a Linux user, I honestly would have dropped $24-36 the other day, when I logged in again and found out, had that been an option. But I cannot justify $100 for the year -- it's just too much, and I already don't get the full experience, since no native Linux version.

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I hope this was a good and objective way to look at tiered-P2P, and I do hope VRC considers the lower tiers as options. I also hope they do NOT ever go COMPLETELY P2P, because that will ruin the community -- hopefully, the creation of VRC+ was NOT a test for that.

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POSTSCRIPT:

I also want to say that the other user-recommended ultra-premium memberships are certainly good options. However, might I offer another thought, not DIRECTLY related to tiered-P2P?

Add-on payments for additional avatar favorites -- as the additional avatars are a LARGE part of why people would be willing to pay, perhaps there can be a separate subscription, ASIDE tiers (if any), that simply allows users to pay like $0.99/mo for each of an additional 50 avatar slots (75 for the first set, though, to round things out)? So users who ONLY want a tonne of avatars could pay the $10/mo anyway, to store up like 600 avatars XD XD

I would totally go for something like $5/mo. or $50/yr. without a doubt. This hypothetical second tier could drop a lot of the perks and I'd be happy. In particular, I only care about profile pictures and the extended favorites list.

Everything else is nice, but I don't want to use it. Under normal cases, the typical argument would be "well then just don't use it", but when the fact that I'm still paying for it comes into the spotlight, things kind of get into gray area territory.

I absolutely wish to support VRChat - I have been playing it for about 5 years now, and think that the ability to return the favor is awesome - but even with my part time job, I look at $10/mo. or $100/yr. and go "ehhh". I don't want to pay that much. It just feels like too much for me.

I think a great frame of reference is Discord Nitro. I don't pay for full Nitro in favor of their Classic subscription, because all that matters to me is the profile picture and cross-server emojis. The boosts and other fancy features are extra and I really don't care for them, so the fact that I can skip paying for them is something I enjoy.

I feel like this would help a lot. I just cancelled my sub because I can't justify paying $10/m for what features it gives you. I don't have a whole lot of time to play vrc, but I love hopping on when I can and want to support. $5 I can def do. Think we need some news about pricing or add a BUNCH of new features ASAP.

4.99 would be a great tier for 50 favorites and an icon, maybe the higher tier could come with a selection of unique avatars that artists get paid to make for the game?

I guessed this was coming months back and I thought 4.99 would be a perfect price just like with discord, but 9.99 seems too steep, especially for us unemployed folks.

VRC+(50fav avatar) 5$ Plan

premium (100 fav avatar) 10$ Plan&Premium Only Instance

new future testing.

I like the sound of that~

Sounds good to me!