you can reload an avatar by changing into it. If you want to reload the avatar you are currently wearing, change into a different avatar and then change into the avatar you want to reload.
- Why was this not given a trial run with props instead? Adding another menu alongside stickers and emojis, called props, would be a great way to test and get feedback (it would also help with avatar optimization!).
- This system reiterates the issue of “you buy it, but you don’t own it”. Either give us the files so we can edit things we buy ourselves, or can it.
I will continue using other marketplaces which take less of a cut of creators’ pay and give me the actual asset files so I can create derivative works.
8 Likes
Something I would suggest adding is a way to publish variants of avatars that other people have made and list them under the same avatar listing as community variants. This would be helpful for popular base models, like the rex or novabeast. You would have to have the original avatar purchased, and then could pay extra for a community variant.
2 Likes
Meowello! Hope you are having a wonderful meowy day! :3
Few questions that pop in my head:
- How long will the avatars be supported once purchased?
- If a new VRChat update breaks an avatar, who fixes it?
- If the creator updates the original upload, does the buyer get the update? Can the buyer roll back the update, especially if the creator changed the avatar’s asthetics?
- Any plans to allow creators to expose texture/material slots so that buyers can upload custom textures without Unity? (I think this would be a game changing update!)
Waffles or pancakes?
42?
5 Likes
avatar marketplace looks so useless, like the reason of buying an avatar was that you can customize it, and with this marketplace idk how it can be customized
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Meowdy! More questions! :3
- Whats’s the creator income split? Still 50%?
- How will avatars be reviewed for pirated content, wether the avatar is pirated in full or part (i.e. hair accessory was pirated)?
- If someone steals my content and uploads it to the store, how do I take it down?
- What if the creator’s license to assets within the avatar are revoked while the asset is on the store; how would this be handled?
- Is there income sharing for projects with multiple creators or assets that have royalty fees?
- What happens to the buyers of stolen content? (No system is purrfect 3:)
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So, what’s the ETA on us plebes getting access? I have thought about selling avs for a long time but the third party nature of it kept me away, I would like to sell on the marketplace though.
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This feels like such a bad idea. Personally I will NEVER use this feature and have incentive 0 to buy virtual avatars when there’s so many free ones made by the community, but that 50% take and the uncertainty that you get files or not is just so silly that there’s no way I cant not say anything about it. Paywalling avatars as a “search feature”, not so sure about that.
8 Likes
Im sorry i will priotize owning the files im buying. You keeping the files of those purchase is anti competitive and also prevent customization of those models. You should inspire yourself from the 2 decade old second life.
4 Likes
See- this is a good idea! When done correctly.
Not including source files for any “purchased” avatars isn’t purchasing. that’s paywalling avatars. Avatar creators are now going to start pulling public demos for their bases and locking them behind the marketplace, and that hurts more than just the average joe. If security is that large of a concern, maybe coming up with some kind of official API that reads what bases an account has purchased can allow base creators to easily provide source files externally, outside of VRC for people who paid for the base in the app.
Also, because creators have no way of knowing easily who purchased their base, it means that if someone decides they want to step into Unity they now have to buy the base again.
All in all, solid groundwork for something, but right now a little hard to get behind with the glaring issues already. What’s being done about these? What’s the path forward? What changes are in place to make sure that this isn’t just paywalling public avatars?
4 Likes
I’m curious how this will relate to certain “ripped asset stores” online.
I’ve already seen nearly all of my created content made freely available to users on these sites (that will remain unnamed).
My point being, that if the first user to buy something on the avatar marketplace were to immediately rip and upload it, what can I do as a creator? What is my motivation to use the new Avatar Marketplace if these sites are not being kept in check by VRC staff?
I mean no offense, these are just my initial concerns.
3 Likes
Just posting here to say that we will be going through and answering questions, as we can. Right now, we’re compiling feedback to bring back to the team (and to get solid answers for folks). This takes a bit of time, though, so please don’t think we’re ignoring y’all.
Thanks for your patience!
5 Likes
I’m so happy to see this! Seriously, getting rid of all the 3rd party sites and letting makers sell directly is HUGE, and I see this helping both makers and anyone who doesn’t want to, or can’t deal with Unity.
I think optionally including source files is pretty huge though. As someone who knows their way around Unity and likes to tinker, this unfortunately makes most of this a “no thank you” for me. I’d rather find it on a 3rd party site so I can make tweaks in the future. Please consider this!
honestly i don’t really see the purpose of this considering what tools we have already for avatars?? i understand the hassle of finding avatars that suit you but i don’t see how the avatar marketplace can make that any better, considering most of the features this will provide were already a thing at avatar search worlds such as prismic’s ;;
i understand it’s appeal for people unfamiliar with unity, as it gives an easy way to get an avatar that suits you but we aren’t even paying for the avatar itself or the ability to edit it, rather something that just gives us the ability to use it?? which is kind of strange imo
also, i think this is going to cause a problem down the line where most public avatars will be privated and sold on the marketplace, which will be extremely disappointing to see if it works out that way
tldr: it feels a bit late to add this in to the game considering the things available at this moment. why should we feel the need to switch from what we have now if we won’t really own the avatars or already have avatar search and websites that let us support creators, other than the fact it wouldn’t be through a third-party?
4 Likes
So not only are we prevented from including source files, but we can’t even tell people where to find them?
Don’t encourage users to purchase your content on another platform so they can gain access to source files.
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I think Avatar Marketplace is a great idea! But the execution is not so great based on FAQ.
The big one:
As a game designer, this is a BIG NONO: You should never think about what’s best for the user without knowing your community before making this decision. 80- 90% of the community modifies their avatars to tailor their identity. Unless VRChat makes an Avatar Creator, this is a bad idea. Solution: Allow the user to import their bought avatar from the Avatar SDK to be modified only if the avatar creator allows it.
Other than that, everything on the FAQ seems okay.
I do have a question regarding the link to the Marketplace. Will there be an avatar pedestal that can be linked to your Avatar on Avatar Marketplace, events like Vket or Avatar Museum? So users can either try it on or buy it on the spot.
Thankfully, any smart creator won’t join in on this. They can literally do the same thing on other platforms (and already do) for a much better profit, where they actually do give buyers access to the source files. And on that note, any creator who doesn’t already have paid content even more than likely won’t start doing it because of this.
9 Likes
I think that this system is a pretty neat idea, even if it needs some work. I do have a few thoughts tho.
Why not make a system where you can buy an avatar base from a creator, and then separately buy clothing for it from other people? Systems like VRCFury prove that doing this in a way that’s super simple for users and creators is doable, and has already been done.
Same goes for items. Again with the VRCFury example: all of this is doable and already being done!
And now for the thing I’m most concerned about: performance. The system basically ensures that avatars with the most amount of features, toys and outfits get sold and used the most. That sounds well and good, but this is terrible for performance! A system like what I or Ericbazinga (here) proposed would solve this issue.
Just please make sure you have some stricter performance limits for avatars in the Marketplace than in general. If someone doesn’t know how to upload an avatar in unity, they definitely don’t know why it’s a bad thing if the cool new avatar they buy uses 500mb of VRAM, half a milion polys, a grab pass and 80 Materials. How could it, look at how many features it has!
3 Likes
To add on to this: the Avatar AddOn model also makes revenue shares fairer for everyone. It makes sure that the creator of the base, of the clothing and of the accessories and items each get paid their share.
It also makes the avatar more optimized (you can just load in the current outfit and unload any others, like it’s already done with different avatars) and it makes everything infinitely more customizable. Saw a cool jacket? Add it from the marketplace! Avatar missing GoGoLoco? Add it from the marketplace! Want one of Liindy’s or Pointless’s cool assets, easily and immediately? Add it from the marketplace!
(Just make sure that free items are also allowed on there. Please.)
2 Likes
That’s actually a really good discussion to have. Should the creator of a base get a cut of sales for clothes/accessories made for that base?
On the one hand, the creator likely didn’t work on the accessory outside of making the base it’s meant for. On the other, those assets are built off the base model and likely use parts from it, like weight painting data. Either way, I don’t enjoy the idea of an already 50% cut being cut further and discouraging clothes asset availability in the Avatar Marketplace in the process.
Regardless, this is a discussion best left to those who actually do make avatars.
1 Like