Category: Sansar (General)

InZOI: A Two-Part Look at the New Life Simulation Game, Focusing on Avatar Customization

You might remember that I said I had had a hard drive crash on my Windows desktop PC in May of 2025, which (among other things) put my Valve Index PCVR headset out of commission until recently. Well, another casualty of that hard drive crash was some software which I had installed a week or so earlier, a life simulation game called InZOI, by a South Korean video game company called KRAFTON. Think of the Sims, but with some truly breathtaking graphics and avatar customization tools (as you’ll see).

I wanted to share my experience with you, even though I would not classify InZOI as a metaverse platform, because I think I can see a vision where some of the features of this life simulation game could potentially lend themselves towards a next-generation metaverse.

So, I had started writing a blogpost about my initial experiences with InZOI in April 2025, but it wasn’t until yesterday (Sunday, August 30th, 2026) that I finally got around to reinstalling the client software on my hard drive.

First, I’m going to share with you the original text I wrote in April 2025 (plus screen captures), then I’m going to finally finish the post I had started 16 months ago, showing you the avatar customization features (which is what had intrigued me enough to purchase and install the software in the first place). Finally, I’m going to wrap this up by explaining why I don’t like InZOI, and why I’m probably not going to be playing it (or talking about it on my blog) very much.

Still with me? Okay, let’s dive in.

Part One (Originally Written April 2025)

As a librarian, it’s hard not to like a game with an opening sequence set in a library!
The graphics in inZOI are pretty impressive! Here, my avatar wanders around the beach in Bliss Bay.
My ZOI avatar catches some virtual rays on the beach in Bliss Bay, The lighting is among the best I have seen in any virtual world, but you will need a good graphics card to see it in the best way!

I first heard about InZOI last year, via some excited chatter among the Second Life user community who were creating some amazingly lifelike avatars using a time-limited test period of the new game’s much-vaunted character creator module. Here’s a half-hour YouTube video giving you a rundown of how it worked as of late 2024:

Well, after a second demo period earlier this year, InZOI finally became available for purchase via the Early Release program on Steam two weeks ago, and since my Windows desktop computer met all the recommended hardware requirements, I decided to buy it now. The game is still in beta, with a limited feature set, and it’s buggy in places, but I was especially curious to put the character creator software to the test, to see what kind of avatars I could create, and I also wanted to wander around and explore the worlds which were already available.

Now, before we get started, I want to make it clear that I am not really into life simulation games per se. You might not know this, but there is already a vibrant subculture within Second Life, where avatars purchase, use, and follow life simulation systems sold under various brand names (e.g. MyStory), which mean that your avatar feels thirsty, hungry, dirty, tired, the need to go to the bathroom, etc. And, of course, the entire line of Sims life simulation games have been quite popular since their first release back in 2000 (predating Second Life by three years).

I want to point out that there is a key difference between a metaverse platform like Second Life or Sansar (we’ll get back to Sansar in a minute) and a life simulation game like the Sims or InZOI. In a metaverse, you usually can join for free and then pay as you go, shopping for avatar customization items like skins, hair, and clothing. In a life simulation game, you pay up-front for the game, which includes a broad range of built-in avatar customization options to get you started. (Of course, both types of virtual world usually offer an in-world marketplace, where players buy and sell user-created content with each other.)

Avatars in InZOI are called ZOIs, and you can create not only yourself, but also a entire family of characters that you can interact with.

Part Two (Written August 2026)

Okay, today I want to focus on the avatar customization features in InZOI, which I found to be rather impressive. I will assume that, in the intervening 16 months, that a few bug fixes and updates have added a bit more polish to these avatar (erm, ZOI) customization features.

You create and customize your ZOI using the Character Studio, which allows you to start by selecting a preset (the round buttons on the right hand side of the screen), and other characteristics such as age (on the left side of the screen):

You have your choice of six different ages to choose from.

You can also pan, zoom, and rotate your ZOI to get a better look at him:

I noticed some interesting parallels between 2025/2026-era InZOI and 2017/2018-era Sansar (a social VR platform which you can still visit today). To my mind, at least, Sansar walked so InZOI could run. Here’s what the facial customization features in Sansar look like:

THIS IS SANSAR, NOT INZOI! Sansar screen shot: direct face manipulation

Sansar allows you to select the entire head, or just specific sections of the head/face, and then use the mouse to push and pull (translate, rotate, and scale) areas to completely customize the head of your avatar. Here’s a short video of what the face/head customization features look like (and, as I said, if you’re interested, you can download and install Sansar yourself and play around with it; you can run the client software without a VR headset, on your Windows desktop PC).

THIS IS SANSAR, NOT INZOI! Sansar’s head/face customization tools in action.

Now, compare Sansar’s tools with how InZOI has approached the problem: instead of giving you the translate, rotate, and scale options, you simply click on the white dots and drag on parts of the head and face to adjust them. (Also note the much higher level of detail in the avatar, erm, ZOI. We’ve come a long way from 2017, baby!!)

Head and facial adjustments in InZOI’s Character Studio

And, there are a similar set of drag-and-drop features and some sliders to customize your ZOI’s body shape (Sadly, the plug was essentially pulled on Sansar before the next planned step, a similar sort of body modification, could be coded.)

A look at the body customization options in InZOI’s Character Studio

Now, imagine a metaverse platform with InZOI’s level of avatar customization. Can you see the vision? (C’mon, work with me, people!! 😉)

To wrap up, I am going to talk a bit about why I am not a fan of life simulation games like the Sims and InZOI. A key difference between a life simulation game such as InZOI, and a metaverse platform like Sansar or Second Life, is that in the former, everybody else you encounter is an NPC; there are no other real players steering ZOIs in your game! InZOI is a solitary pursuit, whereas true metaverse platforms like Second Life can be a highly social experience if you wish it to be.

Another thing I dislike about life simulation games like InZOI is that they are, by definition, games, with all the built-in limitations that games possess. Yes, you can design and build your dream house and furnish it—but only in carefully-controlled and corralled, predefined cities (you have three to choose from in InZOI at present, although I expect they will expand this over time). You do not have the blank, three-dimensional creative canvas which a true metaverse platform offers you, to be wild and crazy and build whatever you can dream of.

Many years ago, I played the Sims for something like a week, quickly got bored, and quit. I much prefer using Second Life for my creative expression, and as a temporary escape from nasty, painful, chaotic real life. The very last thing I wanted in any game was to constantly be checking various on-screen meters and gauges to see if my avatar needed cheering up, to go sleep in a virtual bed, or to run to a virtual toilet!

Yesterday, I took my new avatar (erm, ZOI) out of her house. As she was walking down the street, while I was still getting comfortable with the WASD navigation controls, she kept bumping into NPCs who were also walking by her on the sidewalk. And, of course, as programmed NPCs, some would stop and glare at her. The whole excursion landed up making me so anxious that my ZOI scurried back to the safety of her home! And frankly, it also depressed me to think that, here I was, avoiding some real-life responsibilities while basically watching my ZOI pretty much run through her day on auto-pilot. (And yes, the irony that I also essentially do this in Second Life and VRChat and other metaverse platforms is not lost on me, at all.)

I spent less than an hour in my resintalled copy of InZOI before I decided to quit. I’m in no hurry to go back. Truly, the only things I found interesting about InZOI were the avatar customization features (maybe because they reminded me of Sansar’s).

So, yeah, despite InZOI’s many shiny new features, I’m still not a fan of life simulation games. I still want the freedom of that blank creative 3D canvas which a true metaverse platform offers me, and I also want the inherently social aspect of virtual worlds and social VR/AR—to know that most of the other avatars I encounter have real-life people behind them! (And yes, I am aware that there can be bots and NPCs in spaces like Second Life and Sansar, too. That does not negate my argument that metaverse platforms are inherently designed to be social spaces.)

Sansar, Nine Years Later

Many of you might remember that in May 2025, I had a hard drive crash that, among other things, disabled my Valve Index PCVR headset. Well, it’s taken me a LOT longer than expected, but yesterday I finally reinstalled Steam and SteamVR, and my Valve Index tethered virtual reality headset with its Knuckles hand controllers is once again working! 🎉🎊🥳

We’re back, baby!

The very first thing I did was download and install the platform that inspired me to get into virtual reality in the first place: Sansar. I first joined Sansar in December 2016/January 2017 as part of a closed creator alpha/beta test of the then-still-in-development social VR platform. We were not allowed to post publicly about it until the official open creator beta launch on July 31st, 2017, which is when this blog was started. (Formerly known as the Sansar Newsblog, this blog was renamed to just RyanSchultz.com as I started to write about more than just Sansar.)

For me, I had not been back to visit Sansar in about two years, by my reckoning. My avatar still looked pretty much the same (although for some reason he had lost his shoes, making me rummage though his voluminous inventory of clothing to find some suitable footwear!).

The new starting point for all avatars is the incredible Sansar amusement park:

I tried out a couple of the rides, and I even jumped on the Hovercoaster, which takes you all over the park, and even underwater, before depositing you back where you started. It was like I had never left.

After my visit to Sansar Park, I went back to the world that I had created nine years ago, Ryan’s Garden, which was still as I remembered it, including this working carousel:

I did take a bit of video, but it’s hard to hear the sound of the carousel as clearly as you can when in-world:

As amazing as it is to me that Sansar still exists after nine years (being run by what I assume is a team of volunteer labour), I did still notice a few bugs here and there. For example, filtering and keyword searching on the online marketplace (while in-world) did not seem to be working for me (however the website store seems to work fine). The men’s parrot T-shirt I created using Marvelous Designer is still up on the marketplace, for sale for 100 Sansar dollars:

But overall, the Sansar experience is the same as I remember. It’s good to be back. (And hey, I discovered I have over 4,000 Sansar dollars in my wallet! Time for a shopping spree? 😉)

I do notice that there really aren’t a lot of events taking place on the platform, compared to the old days, but it’s still nice to see that there are still some regularly scheduled times and places for avatars to meet up (even what appears to be a continuation of our weekly exploring as a group!):

I still do need to reinstall all the platforms and apps I had before (VRChat, etc.), but it’s a HUGE step forward for me as I begin to work on the metaverse textbook I am researching and writing during my 12-month research and study leave from the University of Manitoba. I also haven taken home my Meta Quest 3 virtual/augmented reality headset from work, so I will be able to use both as needed to visit the various social VR platforms I plan to write about.

Anyways, that’s the update for today. I’ve already started work on researching and writing my OER metaverse textbook, hooray!!

With special thanks to Vassay for helping me get back into Sansar, when I had trouble logging into my old account. Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦

Unity Drops a Bombshell: What Will Be the Impact on Social VR Platforms?

A collage of Twitter (sorry, X) statements from smaller game developers announcing they are dropping Unity after the company’s announcement earlier this week (source)

On Tuesday, Unity dropped a bombshell on software developers: a new fee structure that will charge devs using its popular game engine on a per-install basis, with less than four months advance notice. Ars Technica reported:

For years, the Unity Engine has earned goodwill from developers large and small for its royalty-free licensing structure, which meant developers incurred no extra costs based on how well a game sold. That goodwill has now been largely thrown out the window due to Unity’s Tuesday announcement of a new fee structure that will start charging developers on a “per-install” basis after certain minimum thresholds are met…

This is a major change from Unity’s previous structure, which allowed developers making less than $100,000 per month to avoid fees altogether on the Personal tier. Larger developers making $200,000 or more per month, meanwhile, paid only per-seat subscription fees for access to the latest, full-featured version of the Unity Editor under the Pro or Enterprise tiers.

“There’s no royalties, no fucking around,” Unity CEO John Riccitiello memorably told GamesIndustry.biz when rolling out the free Personal tier in 2015. “We’re not nickel-and-diming people, and we’re not charging them a royalty. When we say it’s free, it’s free.”

Now that Unity has announced plans to nickel-and-dime successful Unity developers (with a fee that is not technically a royalty), the reaction from those developers has been swift and universally angry, to put it mildly. “I can say, unequivocally, if you’re starting a new game project, do not use Unity,” Necrosoft Games’ Brandon Sheffield—a longtime Unity Engine supporter—said in a post entitled “The Death of Unity.” “Unity is quite simply not a company to be trusted.”

Sheffield goes on to say:

…I can say, unequivocally, if you’re starting a new game project, do not use Unity. If you started a project 4 months ago, it’s worth switching to something else. Unity is quite simply not a company to be trusted.

What has happened? Across the last few years, as John Riccitiello has taken over the company, the engine has made a steady decline into bizarre business models surrounding an engine with unmaintained features and erratic stability.

…

Ultimately, it screws over indies and smaller devs the most. If you can afford to pay for higher tiers, you don’t pay as much of this nickle and dime fee, but indies can’t afford to on the front end, or often it doesn’t make sense in terms of the volume of games you’ll sell, but then you wind up paying more in the long term. It’ll squash innovation and art-oriented games that aren’t designed around profit, especially. It’s a rotten deal that only makes sense if you’re looking at numbers, and assume everyone will keep using your product. Well, I don’t think people will keep using their product unless they’re stuck. I know one such developer who is stuck, who’s estimating this new scheme will cost them $100,000/month on a free to play game, where their revenue isn’t guaranteed.

Unity is desperately digging its own grave in a search for gold. This is all incredibly short-sighted and adds onto a string of rash decisions and poorly thought through schemes from Unity across the last few years.

And it’s not just games that are affected by this news; many metaverse platforms are using Unity too, and it remains to be seen how this news will impact them. Among the social VR platforms I have blogged about, which rely on the Unity game engine, are:

  • Anyland
  • Bigscreen
  • ChilloutVR
  • Engage
  • Lavender
  • NeosVR
  • Rec Room
  • Sinespace/Breakroom
  • Somnium Space
  • VRChat

(Ironically, the social VR platform Sansar deliberately made the decision not to use a third-party game engine, to avoid being blindsided by exactly what happened to Unity developers this week. Not that it helped with uptake of the platform.)

So, I posted the following question to the most knowledgable (and opinionated!) group of metaverse experts I know, the over 700 members of the RyanSchultz.com Discord server. Here’s a sample of some of their comments:

The devs at VRChat say, on Reddit, that nothing will change. We shall see…this guy is staff:

Other comments and responses to the news, from my Discord, are:

Lots of big-name devs are swearing off of Unity, dropping it even for projects already in progress.

For Neos itself I’m actually worried the least. For years they have planned to eventually move away from Unity, so the way the FrooxEngine actually interfaces with Unity is quite minimal. But like, most other VR Social games don’t have the “luxury” of running on two Engines frankensteined together. VRC will probably have to pay for it, the likes of Chillout are likely still far too small for that… But it still sucks that they have that lingering over their head now as the platform continues to grow.

Yeah, I mean, this is exactly why you shouldn’t rely too heavily on a third-party like this, because they can pull the rug out from underneath you…I am quite sure that VRChat is going to be okay. It’s the smaller, more niche metaverse platforms I’m a little worried about.

Sansar’s in-house engine looks pretty good right now, eh?

Okay, so it’s clear to me that this IS gonna have a large impact on any company that uses Unity. Question: how hard is it to move from Unity to, say, Unreal, or Godot? Is it an impossible task?

For an existing game? You’re usually basically re-writing it from scratch at that point.

For an existing project, it’s like remaking it from the ground up. An open engine similar to Unity would be a much better choice probably, for example Stride 3D.

The skinny seems to be that Unity will undo this, but trust will have been broken.

The last commenter makes an excellent point: even if Unity responds to the backlash by retreating from this decision, the damage has already been done, and the trust between Unity and developers has been broken.

The comments over on Reddit have also been uniformly negative. Again, here’s just a couple of examples:

Whatever Unity does, they already lost the trust of devs. Even if they retract, it will be “for now”. Fuck them.

and:

Cost per license sold? Sure. That’s fine, you can just bake it into the cost of the game.

Cost per install? Charged to the developer/distributor???? Fuck no. You have no idea how much money each customer will cost you.

Initially, Unity stated the fee would apply every time the game was installed, or reinstalled. Then they backtracked that, but installs on multiple devices will have the fee charged multiple times. Install it on your PC? That’s a fee. Now also on your Steam Deck? That’s another fee. Your laptop? Fee again. Replaced your PC? Have another fee! And god forbid someone remembers that PC cafes are a thing. There’s zero information about how a “device” will be kept track of, so potentially just changing the hardware in a device will cause the fee to reset.

Piracy is a huge unknown. Unity says developers will simply have to trust that Unity’s anti-piracy solution works.

You just don’t do business like that, ESPECIALLY when you make this change retroactively. Companies are going to have to retool their entire profit estimation for something they cannot even account for.

Anyway, it will be interesting to watch as developments unfold over the next few weeks. Unity is a part of so much software development work (it’s even said to be a part of the upcoming Apple Vision Pro VR/AR headset!), so there will definitely be ripple effects. And, of course, the only people guaranteed to make money off this are the lawyers, so expect to see the lawsuits fly! Stock up on popcorn…

Terje Jansen, 1963-2023: Grieving a Loss in the Sansar Community

Today is a sad day.

Terje Jansen was a vital part of the small but dedicated Sansar community, known for his welcoming friendliness, his story-telling, and his Norwegian accent. He loved Sansar so much that he became a member of the new Sansar team, and his presence will be sorely missed by many.

Terje passed away on Feb. 13th, 2023, but it was not until yesterday afternoon that word of his death reached the Sansar Discord server, where it was met with shock and sadness.

There will be a number of events taking place in Sansar this week, an open mic chat on Monday, March 13th for those who knew Terje, plus a couple of memorials taking place on Saturday, March 18th. Please check the Sansar events listing for details on the times and locations of these and many other events.

If you wish to pay your respects, the Ebbe and Terje virtual in-world memorial is located here. Terje’s virtual tombstone sits on a small hill under an oak tree, right next to that of Ebbe Altberg, who was the CEO of Linden Lab, the company who originally created Sansar (he passed away in 2021).

Throughout the afternoon (my time), avatars would come and pay their respects, using text chat to share reminiscences and offer each other support.

There’s also a memorial webpage (it’s in Norwegian; please use your in-browser translator to read the tributes in English).