The Avatars for Everyone Jam is Live!

Written By Tupper
A blue background with a cutout of an unknown avatar, flanked by a sentient hotdog and a bunny man. The unknown avatar has a question mark on it, and the text "Your Avatar Here" is above it, with an arrow pointing to it.

The Default Avatar Row: home to such VRChat classics as Mr. Funk, a Hot Dog, and of course, the most beloved avatar of all time, the Brush. If you’ve ever daydreamed about your handiwork being added to these hallowed ranks, well, we’ve got good news for you: we’re having an Avatar Jam!

(Alternatively, if you have nightmares about being trapped in a public lobby swarmed by legions of your own creations… well, okay maybe we don’t have great news for you, but read on!)

That’s right! The Default Avatar Row is getting a little long in the tooth, and we thought it would be a great idea to refresh it with submissions from the community. If you’re an avatar creator, now’s your shot to get your work in front of the entire VRChat community!

Here’s how it’ll work: submissions for the Avatars for Everyone Jam will open today, March 10th. They’ll remain open until April 3rd. On April 7th, we’ll announce the winners, who will then have their avatars added to the Default Row.

Likewise, the top 10 entrants will receive a year’s worth of VRChat Plus!

So, what sort of avatars are we looking for?

In short, we’re looking for avatars that are both Quest and PC compatible (and have feature parity between both versions!), inclusive, performant, published using SDK3, and are completely original.

And you know, look good. They gotta have style, you know?

Avatars for Everyone Scoring

Our judges will be scoring the submissions according to a few rating categories. As mentioned above, the top 10 entrants will have their avatars added to the default row and will receive a year subscription to VRChat Plus (although it’s worth mentioning, we might be adding more than those 10 winners to the row).

We’ll be sharing these scores with users via email – so make sure the email address your VRChat account is registered under is up-to-date. These will likely go out once judging is complete and the winners have been selected.

And as one final note, while the scores will be used to help find the absolute best entries, the judges will have the final say for who qualifies via group discussion. That means that the top 10 might not exactly reflect the scores, but it should be pretty close!

With the exception of the Pass / Fail category, you can earn a maximum of 5 points in each of the following categories:

  • Pass / Fail: The first category is binary – there’s no scoring here. You either make it, or you don’t. Simply put, this category is about following the rules. Does your avatar have a Medium or better performance ranking on both PC and Quest? Is it published on both PC and Quest? Does it use SDK3? Does it abide by the ToS? Does it accurately describe any third-party assets in the submission? Is it mentioning any websites or storefronts that we don’t approve of?

    Essentially, make sure you check the Rules and Conditions below to ensure you make it past this category!

  • Performance Ranking: Avatars will receive points based on their performance ranking. Medium avatars will receive 1 point. Good avatars will receive 3 points. Excellent avatars will receive 5 points. If an avatar has a different ranking between PC and Quest, we’ll use the lower of the two scores.

  • Aesthetics: How creative, unique, or interesting is the avatar? Do its meshes, materials, and UVs look good in a variety of scenarios?

  • Inclusivity: Does the avatar appeal to a niche audience, or might it be enjoyed by folks with a diversity of interests, body types, genders, cultural backgrounds, or experiences? For this category, we’ll be considering both the type and design of the avatar, as well as its customizability.

  • Use of Avatar Tech: How well does the avatar make use of the various AV3 features? Does it use PhysBones, Contacts, Expression Menus, Visemes, Eye Control? Does it look good with full-body tracking? Do the interactions and features make sense, or are they just thrown in to check a box?

  • Parity Between Quest & PC Versions: Creators might have to remove or change some advanced features to make the Quest version of their avatar. How much do they have to sacrifice? Are they able to find workarounds? Is the Quest avatar just as expressive as the PC one?

As mentioned above, don’t just read through the scoring guidelines – make sure you thoroughly read through the Rules and Conditions below. Likewise, if you’re entering the Jam, make sure you read over the official legal rules. If you don’t follow the rules, your submission won’t be accepted!

Rules and Conditions

Avatar Stuff

  • The submitted avatar should be around 152cm (~5'0") to 180cm (~6'0").

  • The avatar must have both a PC and Quest version.

  • The avatar must be built with Avatars SDK 3.0.

  • The avatar must abide by the Terms of Service.

  • When submitting the avatar, you must accurately describe any third-party assets that you used.

  • You may not directly mention storefront sites on/in the avatar or in its name, description, or thumbnail (like Booth, Gumroad, etc). It is okay to mention VRChat Groups, Discord, or Twitter.

Licensing Stuff

  • The avatar submitted should be an original avatar. It should also be aesthetically unique and different from our current featured avatars.

  • If the avatar submitted is derived from some other content, the original license must permit modification, redistribution, and use in a commercial application. You must provide a link to the original content, including its license.

Submissions for this event are now open! You can submit your avatar on the Avatars for Everyone jam page. We’ll close submissions on April 3rd, 2023 at noon!

Good luck – we can’t wait to see what you come up with!

 

For press or media inquiries, please contact press@vrchat.com

We’re hiring! Check out open positions on our site

Tupper
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