>>364177365
>Why are there so many paid for models when you could just custom load one?
Good question, most of the paid ones these days (the good ones at least) have you pay for the model itself, the model isn't actually available separately outside of a VRC context. That's why.
You can get started in avatar creation for free with any free model, including the vast trove of MMD's and XPS models that can be found all over the internet.
>when people can just copy avatars?
You mean "clone" and favourite them ingame? That only goes so far, and that means you're stuck using whatever someone else makes. I have hundreds of avatars in my list and I can pull any of them out any time I want. I can also customize how they look, which shader they use, add my own animations, and all that jazz.