PAWS vr community magazine -July '23-

“Who is Hightopp?”

“What is PAWS?”

Learn about your DJ’s!

JULY

What is PAWS?

We cover Safe for work topics only and do interviews for those in the VR community as a whole.

–Hightopp

We are a magazine that shows off the other side of the world, the virtual reality world, where people can be whoever they want and express themselves. You can be a furry, A videogame character, a TV show character, and more in virtual reality. We mainly cover the furry community but do smaller articles on the other communities in VR and sub-communities. VR's capabilities and possibilities are powerful and can change lives socially and mentally.

Photo by Hightopp

Who is Hightopp?

Hello, I am Hightopp, the owner and director of The Spotty Paw Inn and the owner and chief editor of PAWS Magazine.

I wanted to start doing this for the virtual reality community because there are a lot of great creators and people who deserve to be known and recognized for their passions and hard work. I noticed how unfair it was for others to do more and not have an eye batted at them for what they created or have done for the VR community.

Writing has always been a passion of mine, and supporting those creators for what they create for the community and what they can bring to the table makes me happy. Being a part of a community growing slowly and giving recognition is essential for success.

What isThe Spotty Paw Inn?

The Spotty Paw Inn is a Theatrical Cabaret that brings a different form of entertainment to the VR community. We mostly have Clubs in VR that blast loud music with people dancing and enjoying themselves. Not to shame on them for what they are good at doing but for those who would rather watch a live theater performance with friends should be an option.

The best way to see it is an opportunity to give those a second chance, A light at the end of the tunnel to reinvent themselves, and a chance for people to become the best version of themselves, and a moment to be in the spotlight on stage. We are an 18+ server, and we run events with other 18+ servers that are safe for work (SFW). If you feel like this is the place for you, we welcome you with open arms and into a fun-loving community where you can express true beauty from the heart, without shame, and notions of gender don't apply.

Photo by Remydurr

The creative community

The creative community for VR is vast and extends pretty far, You can ﬁnd someone to do anything for you in VR for a price or for free. These talented creators make their way up in the community by providing services that the people want. Some create avatars and others create worlds, Many of them use programs like Blender and Unity to make sure these worlds, avatars and assets are functional and are comfortable to the user. With this being known many of them do take pride in their work and almost always reach out to help those who have issue with the products.

With the creative community expanding and sharing their skills, Paws magazine has taken the time to interview artists and creators for the VR community. This includes Liindy,Jasper and Corny.

What got you into the creative community for VRChat?Talk about your journey and when you started and what would you recommend for someone who wants to get into the community?

“I got into avatar creation (more specifically asset creation) from simply wanting a lot of stuff for my avatar, usually effects, weapons and all that. My issue was that I actually could not really find anyone who could make what I wanted, so I begun learning, making and developing my skills until I reached a point where I was confident enough that I wanted to start selling what I made. If you want to get into creation, the best way is really just to start creating stuff, begin simple, learn the basics. Every day I learn new things even now.”

-Liindy

“I started socializing in VRChat way back in 2018, the game was amazing, I loved seeing all the creative people making avatars and worlds for the platform! With my prior experience in 3D modeling I started making personal worlds in VRChat for myself and friends. The experience seeing your own models in VR was game changing for me, it made me quickly decide that I would focus my career on VR ready assets. I’ve spent countless hours in VRChat making things and socializing before I started freelancing as a 3D graphics designer for VRChat, to be honest I wish I’ve started sooner. Being creative in VRChat has been the best thing I’ve ever done. The creative community has been so kind and supportive. If you ever get stuck on something you can always rely on anyone for help! A good tip in case you’re interested in making things either it be for VRChat or something else, the two things I highly recommend starting off with is to hang around the right people and to do research on the subject by reading documentations, articles and watching YouTube videos and soon enough with enough time and dedication you can make some amazing things.”

-Jasper

-Jasper

Name: Corny3D

“I started out teaching someone who had no idea how to use blender, while I also had no idea how to use blender. I didn't want to admit it, even to myself. It's not like I was scamming my friend, it was all free, I just genuinely couldn't admit to myself that I didn't know. I just assumed that I had all the answers. But as time goes by you realize you don't know the answer to simple things, but you can't let the facade up, so mid teaching this guy I just looked up the answers and pretended I knew all along. Eventually I told him, but he was okay with it considering it was all free and he now has a job in the business.That was for about a year. I kept modelling afterwards, and decided to quit my job at Gamestop. Of course, also, because I couldn't admit that I was bad at modelling. I made so little money from commissions, and that made me more angry than sad. Which fueled my spite into beating my head against this wall to try and become better. Every model was a failure, but in my delusions they were all success's. Each time no one bought my stuff I told myself "alright, I'll make you have no choice". Which makes no sense. What psycho does that? I had to have been modelling for 12-16 hours a day every day for 2 years. My stomach won't forgive me for that. Eventually the lies became truth. I was decent at modelling after a certain point, and was teaching a lot more people how to model.Afriend of mine decided to make a furry to make money. My ego and spite kicked in again, and I said "I can make one faster and better, and sell more". I lost terribly. But the model ended up making 5k sales, and is still selling today. I just kept on "faking" it. Refusing to admit it to myself that I was bad, became better anyways (through practice) and eventually succeeded. Well, not really succeeding but I guess fully independent is winning. Given my delusions success maybe it's best I keep saying "i'm winning"As far as advice for someone who wants to get into the creative community, I am awful at that. I think I would be much more successful if I was better at that. I don't really know any other successful avatar creators other than a few, one of which works for vrchat now.The other just does patreon. I just showed up to the avatar creator meetups as much as possible to talk to them, and it worked? Just go where creators go. Comment where they comment. If you build it, they will show up. If you want to get good at 3D modelling, there's so many tutorials out there. I'm 100% self taught from youtube videos.There's going to be a point where you're face down on the ground, crying your eyes out, feeling hopeless. Feeling like there's no reason to keep going.And if you can push passed that, then you're going to be good.”

The future of VR

With VR getting better and better with each year it will forever be a growing community. Newcomers and the old generation of VR will bring us closer to it. Something many people do not consider is the fact that we are in Phase 2 of VR capabilities. With the Vest, Full body tracking and more, We are getting closer to hitting the peak of VR and bringing it to Reality. Phase 1 started out with the first VR headset only having a handful of games and activities you could play. Now,You have adventure games that are CO-OP, Horror Games and Social games. More variety and more for the people to pick and choose what they would like to play. With new headsets and new playstyles of gaming VR is one of the more unique playstyles consisting more than just a simple mouse click and button press.There will be more articles on this in future magazine covers so stay tuned for that.

Music makers galore

While exploring VRChat,You can normally find big time clubs that host big music events via their discord.These parties usually have a live DJ that connects their sets to the program in the world to perform their live music and mixing.You can meet a variety of people and event meet the Dj’s that play that night to make it to their other sets. If you enjoy live music and clubbing even if its not real life. I recommend it to everyone! Experience it at some point and check it out!

On the next few pages I interviewed a few DJs and asked them to give their input on certain topics.This might help you and inspire you to be a Dj or show interest in this hobby or for some careers as the DJ community is a very open armed one, One that is very willing to teach and to guide new people entering this community.

What sparked your passion for music? Talk about how you became a VR DJ, Overall if you are comfortable how much did everything with your equipment cost? What genre do you play?

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into this passion?

I was able to Get a interview with the DJ Venix and asked them a round of questions that's listed on page 10, Here is what they has to say “Personally music has always been a passion for me since day one,The live action and seeing people party and go wild has been my drive. When I am mixing I always make sure to use a deck and but you can start with a controller that's as low as 200$.” I further then asked about their response when DJ JK.9 reached out to them and they stated “I was honestly touched and found it really nice that I was able to inspire someone to follow a passion I had, It was a good motivator and I was able to teach them the ropes”

Overall, Dj Venix is a kindhearted young and talented DJ on VR that is always willing to lend others a helping hand in the community to teach and get newbies comfortable. I asked then if they get stage anxiety and they said “I dont normally get anxiety when I am on stage because I tune out and get lost in the music, Watching others dance and enjoy the good vibes and dont overthink”

DJ VENIX

“If you are starting out and have social anxiety like I do, Usually collab with other djs helps with issues like that.Being comfortable and being able to match the energy with the crowd is key to being a good Dj. There are a few times where my PC couldn't handle the world and crash me but just have to roll with what you got! Don't feel pressured to buy the most expensive decks but set a goal to save up for it to continue your passion”

This right here folks is a DJ who has a heart of gold and is also somewhat fresh to the community, My friend DJ K.9 really gets into the music to the point of getting on the table and screaming.You can feel the energy go wild when they get on stage. Here is what they had to say when I interviewed them.

“It started back when I was 3 years old, ever since I heard my dad sing this one song and at such a young age it stuck with me. Music in general has always been a burning passion for me when I grew up. I went to a few band camps and it led to me joining a actual band as the drummer. Ever since I saw my friend DJVenix and a bunch of others successfully become Djs, I talked to her for some tips and she helped me start my first set.I thought it was a okay set to start with but once I got feedback I would say id rate it at least a 9/10. I usually play dark trap/aggressive funk, On my debut night the whole crowd was hyped and that was back in April of 2023. I use this program called Audacity which is free!As a good starting point for mixing and making sets from 30min-1hour long it's definitely something good for people starting out. It's good to get help from others in this community to help get your feet in the water,You could do a collab and get comfortable with the dj community and open for feedback.”

DJ K.9

Last but definitely not least we have DJ Vixy,The partner of Dj Venny and well known for their music and their kindness. Talking to them was like talking to a mother figure who was direct but had a caring tone, Here’s what they had to say.”Music has always been a passion for me since I was a child, Being in the car with my parents and what not, I would get lost with music and it just led to being a VR DJ. I became a VR DJ one of my friends Wolfie and I saw them performing and I thought “I could do that” So I did the learning and did the work to get where I am now. I use a actual deck for recordings and mixing and the starter setup its around 500$,This includes the deck and software and you wont really go over that.” I asked how they felt about stage fright and they stated “I never get stage fright, I get lost with the music and hang with the crowd while I am on stage since my genre isTempo raw style but my sub genres are Dubstep and metal.”They also had some thoughts on newcomers for the community as they stated “If you wanna get into VR DJing, Dont get disappointed if you have a bad transition because everyone makes mistakes and there is always room for growth and dont feel pressured to get a deck. Feedback is always good and I still get feedback even now from friends and dont ever take it as discouragement because having musical ears listen is always a nice helping hand”

DJ Vixytheyeen

Photo Gallery

The next few pages of this months issue is a photo collection showing the worlds and moments in VR captured in that second.These photos are a mix of mine and my photographer Remydur. If you would like some of your photography work shown please do not be shy and reach out, I will gladly speak to you and let you have a opportunity to show it off! Since this is the first issue of this month. I will be more than happy than to let you plan ahead for the next upcoming ones. With that being said here are some photos taken from these moments in time.

This month’s issue is short but over time it will grow more and more with more content and more pages, So be patient for the time being. Next issue for August will be a big one so be prepared for it,Thank you for reading and look forward for more from PAWS VR community Magazine.