[MivLives]

I can only speak for myself. I used to play Second Life when I was a teenager. A lot. What it was is less of a game. There was no grinding, no objective, and more of a chat room with a built in 3d modeler and scripting language. Everyone I played with grew up either ended up as a programmer or a 3d modeler of some stripe.

And I see the same sorta energy in people playing VR chat today.

What I think you miss as the usecase here is people who aren't quite happy with their identity, or are and choose a different more extreme representation. The difference between being yourself and being a fox for example.

Plenty of people in the world today are lonely, and online connection is what fills the void. They don't have kids, dogs, or spouses. They're a sixteen year old in the middle of nowhere, or a socially anxious programmer living in a shoe box.

[CodeGlitch]

Been there and done that. Ended up as a game dev with zero social skills when it came to relationships. I was deeply unhappy about that situation.

It wasn't until years later I (somehow) managed to form a relationship with someone - who is now my wife and mother of my child - that I'm far, far happier. From my experience, VR and Second Life et al are not the answer. Getting out there and experiencing life reaps far more benefits.

> aren't quite happy with their identity,

I found the best thing to do is find like-minded people IRL.