Emerging Clubs - VRC Pop! By K3N

Why We Built This

VRC POP was created to track VRChat club activity, but we noticed a problem: our rankings and live views naturally promote the biggest clubs. When you sort by player count or show the "hottest" groups, established mega-clubs dominate the spotlight.

That's great for finding where the party's at right now, but it makes it nearly impossible for smaller, newer clubs to get discovered. The rich get richer, and the little guys stay invisible.

🎯 Our Goal

We want to help the little guy.

What Are Emerging Clubs?

"Emerging Clubs" is a filter mode on our Live Activity page that exclusively shows smaller, growing clubs — groups that are:

Small enough to need the exposure (peak of ≤25 players in the last 7 days)
Active enough to deserve it (ran at least 2 events recently)
Actually have people showing up (minimum 15 total player-sessions this week)

When you toggle on "Emerging Clubs," the visualization hides the established giants and puts the spotlight on communities that are building something.

How We Keep It Fair

We designed this feature with fairness as a core principle:

Qualification Criteria

Criteria	Threshold	Why
Peak Players (7d)	≤ 25 players max	Excludes clubs that have already "made it"
Minimum Events (7d)	≥ 2 sessions	Must be actually running events, not dormant
Minimum Attendance	≥ 15 player-sessions	Prevents gaming with empty instances
Instance Threshold	≥ 3 players to count	Standard quality filter

Anti-Gaming Measures

We've thought about how this could be abused and built in protections:

Sustained activity required: Can't just spike once — need multiple events across days
Minimum player threshold: Instances need ≥3 real players to count
Growth must be organic: We track patterns over time, not just single snapshots
No "sandbagging": Once a club hits significant size, they graduate out of the emerging category

What Emerging Clubs Does NOT Do

Inflate your numbers artificially
Give you fake engagement
Penalize established clubs (they're just filtered in this view)
Guarantee discovery (you still need people to use the filter)

For Club Owners

"How do I get my club featured as Emerging?"

You don't apply — it's automatic. If your club:

Is being tracked by VRC POP (add via the tracker)
Has run at least 2 events in the past week
Had real people show up (≥15 player-sessions)
Hasn't peaked above 25 players recently

...you'll appear when someone uses the Emerging Clubs filter.

"My club used to be small but grew. Am I disqualified?"

Congratulations! 🎉 Yes, once you consistently hit 25+ players, you "graduate" from Emerging status. That's the goal! You no longer need the boost — you've made it.

"Can established clubs get back in if they shrink?"

Not by design. This feature is meant for genuinely new or small communities, not for established clubs having a slow week. We may revisit this policy based on community feedback.

Current Limitations

As of our launch (January 2026), we only have ~1 week of historical data. This means:

Growth rate calculations are limited
"Peak in last 7 days" is essentially "peak ever" right now
The feature will become more meaningful as we accumulate data

We'll refine the algorithms as we gather more history.

Philosophy

We believe the VRChat club scene is healthier when there's room for new voices. The biggest clubs will always attract crowds — they don't need our help. But that small furry rave crew trying to build something? The new house music collective running events twice a week to a handful of dedicated regulars?

They deserve to be seen.

This feature is our small way of leveling the playing field.

Feedback

Have thoughts on how we can make this more fair or effective?

Is 25 players the right threshold? Too high? Too low?
Should the minimum events requirement be different?
Are there edge cases we haven't considered?

Reach out via our Contact page or find K3N on X (@k3n_vrc).

🌱 Emerging Clubs