GanQ_medamayaki
Hello VRChat Team,
Thank you always for your hard work on VRChat. I would like to share a small UI/UX suggestion that might help balance the transition to Impostors, maintain our community culture, and gently encourage users to optimize their avatars.
Perhaps, instead of forcing everyone to use Impostors or banning heavy avatars completely, it might be effective to use the concept of "click friction" to guide user behavior:
  1. Require 2 clicks for unoptimized/heavy avatars
If someone wants to see a heavy avatar, require them to click "Show" twice. This friction discourages users from casually loading heavy avatars, naturally reducing instance lag.
  1. Add a setting to "Auto-show Custom Fallbacks" (or require 1 click)
If a user has created a proper Custom Fallback, it would be wonderful if viewers could see it with an "Auto-show Custom Fallbacks" setting, or just 1 click. (I think this toggle could simply be added to the existing Avatar Optimization settings menu.)
  1. If there is no Custom Fallback (Only the automated Impostor exists)
If the creator has not set up a Custom Fallback, the official automated Impostor will be shown as usual. To view the original heavy avatar from this state, it would still require 2 clicks. This gives creators a stronger incentive to build their own optimized Custom Fallbacks.
  1. Restrict Custom Fallback creation strictly to "Excellent" rank
By requiring Custom Fallbacks to be "Excellent" on all platforms, it would suppress annoying fallbacks (e.g., those with excessively large bounding boxes or unnecessary PhysBones). While it is difficult to completely eliminate all malicious creations, this strict limit would serve as a strong deterrent.
Additionally, this keeps the UI simple for developers. Because all Custom Fallbacks would be guaranteed "Excellent," there is no need to change the current fallback icon UI (which simply shows the original avatar's performance rank in the bottom right corner).
  1. Regarding which performance ranks trigger the 2-click requirement
This system is intended to activate when an avatar is hidden by the viewer's existing Safety Settings, or when it is blocked by a future Performance-Limited Instance. In other words, the 2-click friction would apply whenever an avatar would traditionally be replaced by an Impostor under the current system.
  1. Regarding the difference in click counts between users
You may wonder whether it is acceptable for the same avatar to require 1 click for some viewers and 2 clicks for others, depending on individual Safety Settings. We believe this is within acceptable range for two reasons. First, since Safety Settings are implemented client-side, there is no server-side conflict — just as the current fallback system already behaves differently per user. Second, while a Custom Fallback that looks very different from the original avatar might cause some confusion, this was already a known tradeoff in the original fallback system, and restricting such creative choices would unnecessarily limit creator expression.
  1. Clear Visual Feedback via UI Icons
To make this system intuitive, the Nameplate icons and the "Show" (Eye) button should visually indicate the current state:
  • 0 Clicks (Impostor): Displays the traditional blue stick-figure Impostor icon. If the creator has NOT set up a Custom Fallback, a small warning mark should appear on this icon to indicate it is missing.
  • 1 Click (Fallback): The icon changes to the blue feather Fallback icon, with the original avatar's performance rank in the bottom right. The "Show" eye button turns Blue.
  • 2 Clicks (Original Avatar): The icon changes to the original performance rank. Before making this second click, the "Show" eye button turns Red to warn the viewer that loading the heavy avatar might cause lag.
I feel this could create a Win-Win situation for everyone:
  • For Creators: It gently rewards creators who optimize their avatars. If they make a good Custom Fallback, more people will actually see it without the hassle of clicking twice.
  • For Users: People don't have to look at low-quality Impostors if they don't want to. They can just enable the Custom Fallback setting with no risk of crashing. As mentioned in point 2, users can relax their settings to automatically display Custom Fallbacks from the start. People who frequently use heavy avatars privately or among friends will likely turn this setting on. However, this causes no performance issues, because if a Custom Fallback is not set, the lightweight automated Impostor will simply be displayed instead.
  • For VRChat: It naturally transitions the community towards optimization while keeping implementation costs relatively low. Until official Impostors become perfect in the future, this could act as a peaceful bridge.
I know the development team is very busy, but I would be very happy if you could consider this approach as one of the options. Thank you for reading!