Editing Graham Gaylor (section)

=== Avatar Customization (March 16, 2014) ===

The decision that would define VRChat's entire culture was made early. On '''March 16, 2014''', co-founder Jesse Joudrey made his first public contributions to VRChat with version '''0.3.5''' — introducing the ability for users to upload and use custom avatars. This single feature, added less than two months after launch, planted the seed of the entire VRChat avatar economy, furry community, and creator ecosystem that VRCHistory documents.

Gaylor later shared early emails and internal documentation about these decisions with the Voices of VR podcast for historical documentation — one of the few times primary source material from VRChat's founding era has been made available publicly.