A large number of people have come out saying VRChat has saved their lives - here's what it's like to experience the online meeting place of the 21st century

VRChat is a popular and free multiplayer online experience. It's only accessible via Steam, and only if you own a virtual reality headset - specifically, the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift - but despite its currently limited audience, VRChat is a transformative platform like nothing you've ever experienced. Calling it a video game would be a wild understatement.

In the simplest terms I can muster, VRChat is a surreal virtual meeting space that lets people socialize, attend events, take classes, create art, play games, perform for large crowds, and explore virtual environments - all from the comfort of their own homes.

In the same way that AOL and Yahoo chat rooms gave the world a peak into some of best and worst corners of the internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s, VRChat has become the new virtual Wild West in 2018.

Users claim to have found a community unparalleled by real life there, and a surprisingly large group of people have come out saying that VRChat has saved their lives, as they battle with mental health issues like loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Unfortunately, like other places on the internet, harassment, trolling and hacking are present here, too. 

Above all else, VRChat's rapid growth in users and functionality are unprecedented, and we are only just beginning to see its potential.

Here's what it's like to use VRChat: