Hello,
Unfortunately, Meta’s restrictions for 10-12 year olds have made the VR experience very disappointing for parents and children. We certainly understand the need to protect children in social media and gaming, but Meta has given parents very little ability to decide what is appropriate for our children.
Since the Friends/People app is completely blocked for 10-12 year old children, they don’t have the ability to interact with friends they know. They can’t call, create parties or join their friends in their VR homes. It would be great if parents had the ability to allow friends they know personally. Otherwise, the hope is that the games still allow voice chat with teammates or in private lobbies.
This has also become a challenge. Many games are following the restrictions that Meta has put in place for children 10-12 years of age. Games like Gorilla Tag no longer allow children to setup private lobbies, so they are limited to public. I am unable to setup a private lobby so my child and I can play in the same home with two headsets. Our only option is to keep trying public lobbies and hope they’re not full. This is the same for when he tries to play with his friends. Plus, there’s no option to voice chat any longer as all children in that age range can only make monkey sounds. In order to talk to a friend, he needs to have a phone near him.
Ghostbusters is even worse. He is completely blocked from joining any servers. So, he and I cannot play a private game or public game together. Though this game is rated teen, we feel it is certainly appropriate for him. I’ve allowed this app in supervision, but this doesn’t change his blocked access to the servers.
It’s a shame that some games and Meta restrictions are making it difficult for parents to play with their children. Again, we absolutely support protecting children from strangers, but we should also have the ability to allow them to connect and play with friends they personally know.
