One of the problems in VRChat right now is how hard it is to get in touch with your friends when you’re not in the same world.

As a VR social platform, it needs more ways to communicate seamlessly inside the game.

Right now, due to the lack of a messaging system, people use invites as a workaround, which is very inconvenient.

Users who play from a desktop can switch into Discord, but for VR users (especially standalone quest users), this is generally a poor experience, which is dragging them out of immersion.

It would be way more convenient if there were an in-game direct chat feature that would be cross-platform between pc, PCVR, Quest, mobile, and on the website.

Given the example of the popular direct messaging apps, you don't need to have your users' data, messages, etc., stored on your servers. It can be stored client-side on the user's devices. (Examples: WhatsApp, Viber)

Why is this important?

First of all, this is both convenient and immersive for players.

This is useful when your friends are in private instances.

This will help people stay in touch on the platform(especially with web integration).

This would be a good way for people to communicate when they don't want to share their other socials due to privacy concerns.

Idea for how the messaging system will operate:

VRChat doesn’t need voice calls or video chats. Simple, reliable text messaging that works between worlds.

There can be a tab in the main menu with existing chats or a user selection where you can start a new chat.

In my opinion, we can limit chat to friends only to eliminate spam. (Or make it customisable as Friends/Friends+/Everyone)

You can also use users' custom emojis/stickers in this chat system, which will make chats even more fun and interactive.

Also, this is a great feature to be able to have Group chat (as in vrchat groups), chat with the group admin, or group chat as a separate feature to add your friends in there.

This feature is crucial and expected for social platforms and will be a GREAT addition to VRChat.