Editing VRChat Creator Economy (section)

=== The Pre-Economy: A Decade of Workarounds ===

Before the Creator Economy launched, VRChat's avatar and world economy was an entirely external, informal system. Creators sold avatar bases on '''Gumroad''', '''BOOTH''', and '''Jinxxy'''. Commissioners advertised on Twitter. World creators who wanted supporter perks had to set up Patreon campaigns, Discord roles, and manual avatar-swapping workflows to reward donors — all outside VRChat, all requiring users to navigate multiple platforms to give a creator money.

As [[VRChat Inc.]] described it at launch:

<blockquote>
"Creators within VRChat have to jump through a series of complicated, frustrating hoops if they want to make money from their creations... often requiring multiple external platforms and a lot of jank. For supporters, it means having to sign up for those same platforms… and then hope that the creator you're trying to support set everything up correctly. The end result is a mess."
</blockquote>

This informal economy had produced one of the most sophisticated user-generated avatar marketplaces in gaming — tens of millions of unique avatars, established creator careers, and species communities like those around [[The Rexouium]] and [[Mayu (Kemono Feline Avatar)|Mayu]] — all without a single dollar flowing through VRChat's platform. The Creator Economy is VRChat's attempt to offer a better native path, without forcing creators off the external platforms they already use.