Recent reviews by Cerlis

tl;dr, VRChat hasn't changed, new users won't notice anything wrong. Some existing
users are upset they can no longer use their rule-breaking modded clients, and so
they're raising hell over it.


To explain the current situation from my (admittedly biased) perspective:
VRChat recently added Easy Anti-Cheat to help deal with excessive security issues
caused by modded clients. People have complained for years about the lack of security
and what malicious purposes modded clients can be used for (crashing players,
stealing avatars, straight up stalking), and now people are complaining that there
IS security, simply because it's not perfect.

There are some legitimate complaints in there. Some people REQUIRE modded clients
to use VRChat due to disabilities, and in that regard, this update is a tragedy.
However, the VRChat team claims to be focusing on implementing accessibility
features to offset some of the ones that were lost.

Now, what does this mean for new users? Well, in most cases, pretty much nothing.
I started VRChat in late 2019, and never felt the need to use a modded client.
VRChat is not "dead" without the QoL features modded clients brought, it never
needed them, people are just overly attached to their comforts. A new user
won't notice anything missing in the slightest.


As for the concerns about Easy Anti-Cheat, I am no expert in this regard, so
take what I'm writing here on with an entire handful of salt. With that out of
the way, the concerns tend to revolve around performance, privacy, and practicality.

To start with, it's half true that VRChat already had performance issues, and that
Easy Anti-Cheat would only add to that. However, I can confidently state that
VRChat's performance is EXTREMELY reliant on the users themselves. If you're
hanging out in a beautifully detailed, albeit poorly optimized world, around
other users with poorly optimized avatars, there's obviously going to be a severe
performance hit. That's just the nature of community content, not everything will
be perfectly optimized. On the other hand, there are plenty of fantastic worlds
and avatars that have brilliant optimization. There's also safety settings to
turn down heavy effects from other users, or completely hide their unoptimized
avatars. People like to point at the worst examples and pretend they're the standard.

As for privacy, this is where my knowledge gets really muddy. I cannot make an
educated argument here for either side, but what I can do is list off many of
the popular games that already use Easy Anti-Cheat:

7 Days to Die
Apex Legends
Battlefield 2042
Chivalry 2
Far Cry 5
For Honor
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Lost Ark
New World
Outriders
Paladins
Rust
The Division 2
War Thunder
Watch Dogs 2

If you play any of these games, you already use Easy Anti-Cheat. If you wanted to
avoid it entirely, you'll likely have a lot more cleaning to do than just VRChat.
That being said, it's nothing new. Just about EVERY company wants your information.
Easy Anti-Cheat isn't unique in this regard, there's a million other programs that
will do this. I believe this is common knowledge by now.

It is a simple fact that if you want to spend time on the internet, which
was created for the express purpose of connecting people and sharing information,
you're going to end up connecting to people, and sharing information. It is up to
each individual to choose where they want to draw the line, if what they gain is
worth what they lose in privacy.


Lastly, there are a lot of claims that Easy Anti-Cheat is pointless, because it's
easy to get around. Yet, if that were the case... why is any of this an issue? As
usual, the truth rests somewhere in the middle.

Yes, it is possible to get around Easy Anti-Cheat if that is your goal. It is by no
means a silver bullet. The people who make these clients will not be stopped outright,
nor will the most determined users of these clients. However, what it CAN do is deter
many of the client-users who don't know what they're doing. Easy Anti-Cheat has not
only made the process more complicated, but also far riskier. Knowing that there's
more to stop you than a few user reports and crossed fingers goes a long way.

To make a comparison, this appears to me a bit like trying to say "The police can't
catch everyone, so why bother catching anyone?" While it is true that the police will
not catch everyone, they also don't need to. Simply existing is a strong enough
deterrent to make a noticeable impact.


In summary, VRChat is still VRChat. For most users, you can still hang out with your
friends, meet new people, explore countless worlds, all exactly the same as you could
beforehand. Your home, your getaway, isn't going anywhere.

The only tragedy in all this is the loss of accessibility features. For those who
relied on clients to play VRChat, try to hang in there. With any luck, you'll be back
with us soon.