How to Avoid Children in Virtual Reality
When Mark Zuckerberg described Meta’s Horizon Worlds in 2019, he seemed to envision the virtual hub as a social and networking destination for cool, tech-savvy young people. Six years later, it’s essentially a virtual kindergarten; the virtual space is filled with kids. I don’t mean 16-year-olds or teenagers—I’m talking about young children, so numerous that they’ve earned the nickname “squeakers” for their high-pitched voices and exuberant energy. So what’s an adult who loves VR but wants to avoid interacting with kids to do? Here are some tips and strategies for finding kid-free places to play and/or socialize in VR. Sometimes.
Avoiding Children in Horizon Worlds
Meta’s Horizon Worlds rules allow children 10 and older to enter, and most do, but there are also worlds rated 13+ and 18+. This is primarily enforced by Meta’s own age verification systems and community moderation, where adults report children if they see them. There are also “tests” like this one:
If your reach is too narrow: sorry, kid. Some worlds even have a voice check to weed out anyone with a voice louder than Michael Jackson. Of course, none of this guarantees complete safety—kids will find a loophole—but 18+ worlds are relatively child-free and are the best option for finding adults in the Meta social hub. Adult worlds typically revolve around things like poker, trivia, or stand-up comedy, and popular 18+ worlds like The Soapstone have active moderators to keep kids away.
Ironically, you can hack Quest’s parental controls and use them to protect yourself from children, blocking areas designated for children and leaving areas designated for adults. Speaking of blocks, Meta has made it easy to instantly ignore and report people you don’t want to communicate with. Simply hover over a user’s avatar to open their profile, select “Options,” then click “Block” and “Confirm.” In Horizon Worlds, blocked users appear as gray, faceless avatars, preventing you from hearing from each other.
Avoiding Children in VRChat
If Horizon Worlds is a safe, corporate-approved virtual chat option, then VRChat is the Wild West. The strangest corners of the metaverse collide here, but if you stick to verified rooms for over-18s or private, invite-only instances, you can usually avoid Roblox’s excessive activity. VRChat filters out minors through a combination of user moderation, reports, and general chaos.
The app doesn’t actually verify the user’s identity to confirm they’re 18 years of age or older. It relies on the user’s stated age and community moderation, and some creators employ additional barriers, such as requiring membership in a verified Discord server or reaching a certain “trust rank” (which can be achieved by playing the game and being a generally good person) before joining their worlds. It’s not an absolute guarantee, but it’s enough to deter most kids.
Play games that are not interesting for children
If you want to avoid contact with children, avoid games with themes that might interest them. Don’t play Gorilla Tag , Rec Room, or Super Rumble ; and definitely stay away from public sections of Minecraft and Roblox .
Instead, play games that kids would call “boring” or “tacky.” What self-respecting kid would download Racket Club to play virtual pickleball? But Racket Club is a great game.
Here’s a list of games to play if you’re looking for an energy boost for adults:
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Walkabout Mini Golf : The low-stakes competition and camaraderie of virtual mini golf is a kid’s paradise.
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Eleven Table Tennis : Like Racket Club , not many kids will want to play this, but it’s one of the best competitive online VR games.
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Demeo : Tabletop role-playing games require too much patience from most children.
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Breachers : This is a tactical shooter based on adult teamwork. You might think parents would shield their little ones from more violent games aimed at teens like this (as well as Population One or Ghosts of Tabor ), but it’s a matter of luck. Luckily, kids tend to struggle with these types of games, so you can use them to boost your kill/death ratio.
Play games that cost money
While the above-mentioned VR games aimed at adult audiences vary in genre and atmosphere, they share one important commonality: they are not free to play, unlike Gorilla Tag and Roblox . Money is a significant barrier for children.
Build your adult network
Once you find people you enjoy playing with, add them to your friends list so you can find them again next time. Once you have enough friends, many games will allow you to create private lobbies that require invite codes, so no one can just drop in and disrupt your kid-free zone.
Mute everyone else’s microphones
If you don’t care about the social aspect of the game, there’s nothing stopping you from simply muting everyone else’s microphones. Although many kids find ways to annoy others without saying a word, especially if it’s a team game and you’re on the same side.
When all else fails, embrace chaos
The Metaverse may be teeming with children, but with patience, muting, and dedicated lobbies, you can still find a crowd of tired adults trying to escape reality in peace. But we’re clearly outnumbered. There are so many kids in virtual reality that you’re bound to run into them no matter what you do. Sometimes the best way to cope is to embrace the chaos. Sure, report children in private spaces, but kids in virtual spaces that aren’t technically 18+ are a hallmark of this hobby. And they are, after all, the future, so if you have the strength, try to set a positive example and be patient. After all, you’re in their world.