Back in 2018, a polic department was created in the virtual world. Today, the LPD, or Loli Police Department, is in the metaverse, so take good care! It is, however, part of a game and a “fake” law-enforcement agency. Hilariously, a 22-year-old student from Scotland called Jura was sitting inside the Spa in the metaverse, when the LPD and the SWAT team stormed inside to arrest a wanted person. There were shots and fights, but eventually, this was a role-play and even the wanted person was in on it.

Jura says, and we quote, “It was so theatrical — an entertaining piece for everyone, really. Then, once the criminal had been put away and the role-play had ended, the members took the time to speak to all the witnesses. It impressed me a lot. And when I showed interest, they were more than happy to talk me through joining. Funnily enough, I spend most of my day-to-day with those people now.”

Anime girls and ranks!

The interesting part is that the members of the LPD are referred to as “lolis” and actually look like young anime girls. 11,000 members are on the LPD Discord channel and an average of 20,000 simultaneous users can be part of the LPD. The LPD experience allows users to actually engage in an adventurous police life.

Moreover, users can have their ranks increased, from being cadets and on. This depends on their activity in the game and to what extent they are able to imitate the IRL police. Jura now is a sergeant in the LPD.  He says, “We have two-hour patrols where we break up into squads, go out into the world of VRChat, and interact with people to start role-plays. They even use sound effects to make it sound like they’re speaking to people through a radio."

There are disadvantages!

Now, it is somewhat still impossible to moderate and control users. Some enter the LPD and cause chaos through harassing users when they are innocent. Sometimes, the “good” users defend and attack the harasser. At other times, they simply leave the world. At the end of the day, they’re here to have some fun and they know that they cannot actually cause real change in the world.

At the end of the day, and despite it having some advantages and being part of a virtual world, the LPD has managed to provide job opportunities for some users. For example, one of the members is a 3D designer and was offered jobs because of his work in the LPD. Another example is that of Jura, who was a bit shy in real life, but because of the LPD, managed to become more sociable by making new friends!