Interview with Zayee: Part 1
Part of the "VR is Alive" Artist Spotlight Series
For this interview we are fortunate to have Zayee (he/him) joining us to chat about his creations in social VR! Zayee joins us from VRChat, where he specializes in building what could be considered spooky 👻 worlds.
: First I just want to let you introduce yourself including your pronouns and what you want the audience to know about you.
Zayee: Okay, well, first off, my name is Zayee. I know there are two E's in my name, but I never pronounce them. It's just pronounced "Zay". I'm he/him. I've been making projects for a long time now, probably like seven years. I started off in Unreal Engine, and then moved to Unity. Ever since then, I've just been using Unity, and I make worlds from that, of course.
Can you explain your name and your avatar and where they both come from?
Well, to start off, my name is very basic. My name is a nickname of my real-life name, so it's just Zay. But for my style and avatars, this is something I've always grown up with. I've always liked dark stuff and gothic styles. I've always had an interest in gothic architecture, clothing, music, and all that type of stuff. So the style just kind of stuck with me, and been that way ever since I was young.
Can you tell me about your introduction to and earliest memory of social VR?
I'm sure this is like the same answer as everybody else, but I started playing VRChat back in late 2017 after I found out about it from the Knuckles and Cat marching band videos. 1 A little bit of it came from the worlds inside of VRChat as well. I was interested in all that stuff, too. So I just downloaded and started playing it.
Do you remember the very first world that you went into?
Oh, that's a good question. You know, it's sad because I remember the world, but I don't know the name. I feel like VRChat, in my opinion is....I don't know....it's oversaturated. But that's okay. I think the more worlds that exist, the better. But I do miss being able to find the first one I've been to. I could probably describe it for you. But I remember it being like an island and this big rock in the background with a castle on top. The lighting was nice and it was very simple. Really nice world. But if I want to recall a world that I remember from the top of my head, it would be Open Mic Night, which is a classic.
When did you start making worlds and what inspired you to start on this journey making them for people to enjoy?
It all started from making The Backrooms. And a lot of people might know me for being the Backrooms guy, in which I hate that name, but don't mind it. It was my first world, it was really bare bones, and it grew on people. It was to a point where the world was unfinished and people kept wanting more, more and more. So as time went on, I was updating and updating it and I realized people enjoyed it. From there, I just kept making stuff. I enjoyed it, had motivation and liked making off-putting scenes. I just kept doing it.
I noticed your world themes could be considered as horror or scary-themed but you have a unique style that is really noticeable. How would you describe your worlds?
This is another good question. A lot of people like to call my stuff horror, right? I, in my opinion, don't like calling my work horror. I see it more as interactive art, you know? For me, I don't really get scared of horror, so it's also really hard for me to even call it that. Trying to categorize horror can go a bunch of other ways. But yeah, I like to describe my stuff as art. And if people find it scary, I guess it's scary.
What inspired you into this theme?
I'm gonna keep it as simple as possible. It comes from my mind. I was exposed to a lot of good horror games as a kid. A lot of PlayStation classics like Silent Hill, Resident Evil... I mean, I don't know why I can only think of those two when there's plenty of better games that I played as a kid. Those two are very notable. Silent Hill for sure. Even today, I still take inspiration from the Silent Hill games. Nowadays, I just make stuff off the top of my head. I try not to take inspiration or references or anything like that. I think the true art, or the horror that people so call it, just comes from nowhere, right? I think new things that people have never experienced is what horror is and to me, that's just art. So I guess that's why people call my stuff horror because they've never seen it before. I don't know.
Why do you think horror is popular in general in social VR?
I think it's the immersion for sure. People love VR horror. If you do horror right and it's in VR, it's really beautiful. The Smile Room by ItsCripsy is a good example of that in VRChat. There's a lot of good practices of keeping the pace and it puts a lot of players on the edge of their seat. It's just good horror. There's a lot of other good ones out there but The Smile Room came to my head first because it's very popular and it's popular for a reason. I really do think people just love being immersed in VR and horror.
Does real life influence your world building process?Â
I'd say my real life stuff helps a little bit actually because I do a lot of urban exploring. Going to abandoned places and stuff like that. I go to a lot of cathedrals, a lot of hikes and stuff. I like to go outside for inspiration.
If it's not that, I'm probably listening to some experimental noise or dark ambient stuff like that to put me in the mood and put me in a scene of where those sounds would be playing. You know, like it just all depends. I just imagine myself in a space where there is some crazy stuff happening, right?
ArmaniXR: Awesome. That makes sense too. I've been to at least two of your other worlds and I still remember them with their sounds so I can tell how you were influenced now that I think about it.
Yes! For example, in _00600, the sounds and music that you hear within that world were the same tracks that I was listening to to make the world. That's just one of the ways that I make stuff. Music is very, very inspirational to me. And not just the regular pop, rap or anything like that. It has to be something that puts me in a spot I don't want to be, but nine times out of ten, I want to be there. I like being in places that are probably uncomfortable to other people.
What do you enjoy the most about social VR and what do you think could be better about it?
Um, this is probably different from everybody else, but I'm not really a sociable person in VR. I enjoy making my way into VR, finding a world, and just staying there working on stuff or reading. If it's not that, I think the second part about social VR is meeting people, but that's a very rare occasion for me because I like isolation. I prefer to be alone and just do my own thing. I wasn't always like that, but now it's been two years since I've been really sociable. With its culture, I think VRChat is always growing, and not even just VRChat, VR itself is always growing. It's a community and social space that will never stop growing. You'll meet all types of new people, and all types of different experiences within the community. I think it's always growing. I think it's perfect. It's good.Â
ArmaniXR: And the second part on that question, what do you think could be better about social VR?
I think some people just need to get out there and socialize in VR. This sounds very hypocritical since I prefer to be alone and stuff, but I don't know. Like I said, VR is in a good spot, but you can always improve on something. The game could always take more updates. I know you're not talking about VRChat specifically, but VR in general. It's a difficult question because maybe I'm just simple, you know? The way things are going now, it's good for me. I don't really know how to improve on VR itself but I know there's always room to get better and I hope it keeps going that way.
What do you see as the ideal future of social VR?
Ideal future? Okay. This is going to sound childish, but the ideal future of social VR would be Sword Art Online. I want to be able to actually feel and shake hands with people and feel that experience....really feel that touch with other people, you know? It would be nice to be alive to see that. I don't know how far away we are from that. I know we have haptics and stuff, but I'm talking about full body experiences. I would love to see that in the future of VR because that would create a lot of social experiences and environments within VR itself. It's a big step. We've come a long way, and there's still a ways to go.
You can read Part 2 of our interview with Zayee here!
Cat marching in VRChat (based on this original video).