Ghost Club

“Cake, what’s one of the most exclusive, immersive VR club experiences I can find nowadays?” you ask. I would immediately tell you, it’s Ghost Club.

Ghost Club is a cyberpunk EDM club that opens when the mysterious twitter user @gst_kkgr announces it. You can’t find the map on VRChat during the week, not even if it showed up as a private world on the aggregate map lister VRCW.

At 10pm Tokyo time (9am EST), GST uploads the club map and opens it to anyone who is a friend of someone currently visiting. They then tweet out a link to the instance the party is being held at, so you have to wait at their Twitter page to get the key.

But once you’re inside…

…you’ll be glad you did everything you could to get there.

The exclusive club experience extends to the music stream as well. The rule goes that no one may extend the music’s stream link to anyone via chat or tweet, so to keep the immersion of the space intact. You literally have to show up to hear what’s going on. I noticed on the stream chat that no one was talking, because everyone was already present on the map and dancing.

The world of VRChat extends to Twitter, where streamers, devs, and enthusiasts mingle and share media with one another. During the party, I called to a few Twitch streamers who were awake to come join me. Meathamski, a comedy streamer, answered my call and jumped in to look around. He noted how polite the partygoers were, leaving space to walk in the hallways and remaining quiet when the dj was performing.

The music extended from everything to deep house to hardstyle. At its most intensive moments, it was hard to find a place to stand without bumping into anyone else. The lights flash on beat with the music, flaring up and bathing the room in either red or white. A liquid stored in one of the secret rooms of the club’s building will turn your screen to a neon blue and green, should you wish to bring on an acid simulation. Sometimes, you can’t tell if the droplets on the window behind the stage are rain, or steam.

When it’s all over, people flood outside and resume talking. Either a brief intermission brings them back again, or they say goodbye and part from there. Pictures can be found on Twitter afterwards with the hashtag #GHOSTCLUB, with complementary videos from the space’s owner.

Pregaming for this experience included hopping on a Russian train map to sit around and sip coffee with another friend before the club announced it was open. On the way back, I was alone; my friend had gone to sleep. But I sat and decompressed, my legs tired from dancing for hours, still basking in the glow of visiting such an awesome space.

I really need to visit again.

What I’m Wearing:

VRoid virtual avatar (custom made)

OFUJI Store – cybersuit