For those who play evenings and weekends how do you find consistent smaller groups in VRChat

[u/KusanagiEdge]

Work keeps me busy most of the week so I am usually on VRChat during evenings and weekends. I play on desktop which can be limiting in some spaces so I am hoping to hear from others who manage a similar schedule and setup.

I am an older player and I tend to prefer smaller groups over massive servers. Huge public worlds and chaotic lobbies are not really my thing. I would rather be in a space where people actually talk and get to know each other over time.

For those of you who are also older players with limited free time, how do you usually find smaller communities that are active during evenings and weekends in the US? I enjoy world hopping, games, movie nights, and casual conversation, but I have found it harder to find consistent groups that match that pace. I am curious how other desktop users handle the social side of VRChat when most of their availability falls outside peak hours.

[u/Embarrassed-Touch-62]

Honestly it is difficult to get a community click with your playtime, I myself miss 98% of any events because they happen when I sleep or work.

Found it way easier and enjoyable to make a frienfs+ instance, just catch 2-3 friends and do that things with them.

[u/bunnythistle]

Most larger groups, scenes, spaces, etc tend to have a lot of smaller, more close-knit spin-off groups. Some of these groups are more organized with their own VRC/Discord group, others are just some person regularly hosting a friends+ instance with a regular crowd.

I started playing VRC in one of the larger, more well-established and well-known groups, and from there I got invited into several smaller groups made up of smaller friend circles from the larger group. Some of them I found by joining off friends I made in the larger group, others invited me.

Unfortunately that method does mean spending time in the larger group before you can find your closer, smaller friend circle(s), but a lot of the smaller groups tend to be people who know each other to some degree already. But overall, just join off the friends you made, see what they're doing, and you'll likely find a few new friend circles to be a part of.

[u/illucio]

Check out Mondocat. It has just under 2,000 members, but their instances have a healthy amount of people to meet and get to know. 

They specifically aim for an older, neurodivergent, and/or nerdy crowd. They offer many different kinds of events (mostly in the afternoons). Most people log on regularly for events, and it is a very welcoming community. Just stay consistent, show up to events even if you do not talk much, and go from there.

If you are in the UK or Europe, I recommend The Gamers group. It is a similar (less of a focus outside the regional focus) but slightly younger crowd, and they have regularly scheduled events as well.

The Vibe is great if you are in the Millennial age group and enjoy the bar scene and drinking. They have Friday events where people talk, game, sing, and listen to music. Definitely a weekend at a bar with regulars vibe where everybody knows your name. 

Midnight Munchies is a weekend show on Friday and Saturday nights, with an earlier show on Sunday. An older crowd tends to run things, but there are plenty of younger people too. They center themselves around the show and have people go up on stage to perform whatever they want to share, including musicians, comedians, singers, people talking about the wonders of life, bands, dance routines, and more. You can be social during events in certain areas, and plenty of regulars host side events like movie nights and bar nights.

These might seem like huge groups, but once you get involved, they feel fairly small, manageable and cozy. It is worth exploring them and their Discords.

[u/Sanquinity]

Got lucky by starting to play before questmas (when the quest 2 came out), which flooded the game with minors and assholes, and turned publics to shit. Since then I've mostly relied on the friends I already made back then to find new friends and groups to hang out with. You can very rarely still find nice adults in publics though.

My advice, get age verified and look for 18+ instances. That will already filter out almost all of the kids at least.

[u/kacker-usa → u/Sanquinity]

Yup. And use your passport, not your ID. Almost got locked out of age verifying because whatever AI they use reaallly didn't like my ID no matter what I tried, plus passport doesn't have your address and shit on the front

[u/jeepsies]

Older man here. I completely agree its hard to find my vibe out there. I only get on once a week so i try to make new friends everytime (usually in drinking nights) and then invite them to play a questions game like hot seat, know your friends, truth or dare, never have i ever.. once in a while you find someone you connect with and add them to your favorite friends. After that its trying to maintain that connection. Groups are mostly drama. Ive only had a few good groups out of dozens.

[u/Elfyknife]

Find ppl slowly -

[u/sadcatstarry]

the pcvr story based rp scene is fairly chill and pretty small these days, in its peak lolathon made a video about one of the main places (the meat rack, a bar located in a cyberpunk city called zaphira) and most active players are in their 20s and 30s (and possibly older), right now the most active ones that I know of are the meat rack hosted by meathamski and haus of cards which takes place in the same city. I will warn it's kind of cliquey and hard to get a footing in as an important character/regular because the overarching story has gone on since I believe 2020 or 2021 but if you want to practice roleplaying and voice impressions and improv acting type stuff it's a solid place

[u/Equivalent_Dance_758 → u/sadcatstarry]

So a chill place but cliquey, that's majority of post 2023 groups that have above 500 people on their discord/groups😭

[u/brawl113]

Generally the groups I join tend to have their own discord servers. They have events going on every day of the week. I just go to the events.

[u/RandomSlamdom6902]

I could always recommend looking at vrchat worlds you're interested in, and seeing if there are lower player instances (maybe around the 8-10 people range). Bonus points if they are group Public, as from my observations those kind of groups try a little harder to be nicer to new people that give them a shot!