This VR space is being kept alive purely through the willpower of its users 

2025 isn’t just the Lunar Year of the Wood Snake, it also marks the second anniversary of the “This world will be deleted in 24 hours” VRChat space. First launched on February 5, 2023 by Crazium, the world was created as a social experiment to see how long people could keep a user-generated construct alive. 

To add some context, “This world will be deleted in 24 hours” is a world in constant danger of deletion from the VRChat servers. Upon entering Crazium’s creation, players are transported to a forest where there is a giant screen with a timer on it, which counts down to the world’s demise. A big red button in front of the screen allows you to reset the countdown by 24 hours (the countdown cannot be extended past one day). Crazium hard-coded the VR space so that they cannot press the button to keep their creation alive, leaving the duty to the world’s visitors. 

The world is quite melancholy and makes you question whether you’re doing it a favor by extending its lifespan. Features within the forest like a pair of abandoned swings, a slide, and a jungle gym evoke feelings of loneliness and abandonment, prompting players to think hard before pressing that button.  

In a digital world where various forms of media are forgotten or deleted, it’s nothing short of a miracle that “This world will be deleted in 24 hours” has lasted for two years. Its survival is proof that at least one person has logged into the world every day for the last 731 days (2024 was a leap year) and pressed that red button with no expectation of a reward. 

“This world will be deleted in 24 hours” was nominated for “Best Immersive World” at the 2023 Raindance Immersive Awards – an awards show that highlights the work of indie extended reality (XR) creators, game developers, world builders, filmmakers, and performers. A special “VR-athon” was hosted on November 10, 2023, wherein people could see the changes to the world over 24 hours. The red button that extends the lifespan of the world was disabled for 23 hours and was reenabled only during the final hour, when it was promptly pressed by a player.

VRChat is in early access on Steam, Pico, Meta Quest, Meta Rift, Google Play, and Viveport.