Using these VR headsets, a user can interact in immersive games or apps. For example, they can walk through a virtual world that feels like a real place. Using the handheld controllers, a person can pick up and interact with virtual objects, such as playing mini golf with a virtual golf club. In early Quest models, a user could not see the physical world through their headset, but recent models include ‘Mixed Reality’ where users can see virtual objects as well as the ‘real’ world e.g. a user might see a dragon sitting on their living room sofa.
Users can socialise and play with other people in a Quest game or app, including voice chat. They can pay a monthly subscription to access new games and experiences. Safety tools include the ability to set a personal boundary to prevent other users coming too close, as well as the ability to block and report other people and content.
Meta Quest has a minimum age of 10 but the device is designed for ages 13 and older. Meta states that parents are responsible for determining if their child aged 10 or older is ready to use these devices safely, for example, if they can understand that virtual content is not real and can set up and stay within physical virtual boundaries.
Meta Quest includes parental supervision tools for young people, accessed through the Meta Horizon mobile app or the Meta Family Center website. New models (Meta Quest 2 onwards) enable parents to create and manage their 10-12 year old child’s account. For these child accounts, the child’s name, username, profile picture and avatar (digital character) are public, and other people can search for the child and send them a follow request. However, parents can manage their child’s settings including follower requests, time and spend limits, approving/blocking apps, and privacy settings such as whether followers can see when the child is online and how Meta can use a child’s data.
Child accounts can’t use text or voice chat and they can’t talk to Meta AI (a digital assistant). They can’t invite other people to join them in an app unless it’s with a parent-approved contact or if it’s within a parent-approved app (which may include strangers). Teenagers aged 13-17 can manage their own account or give their parents permission to supervise their account, including setting time limits, blocking access to apps and purchases and preventing their child from hearing or speaking to others in the Meta Horizon app (not other apps).
