[throwaway946513]

You don't have to have a VR headset or hardware in order to join people in VR chat. I've joined friends using a standard monitor with a keyboard and mouse.

Of course the name doesn't help, but it isn't impossible to join if you don't have one.

[herval]

I know, that's part of what I try to tell people :-) it does require a somewhat beefy desktop/laptop though, and most folks are used to doing everything on their phones these days

[Ralo]

It works on standalone quest hardware as well, but you'll be limited to the worlds you go to, and you will usually end up using people's "fallback" avatar.