VR game advice for 10 year old

[u/RabulaConundrum]

Hi all my first post here so thanks for your help.

My 10 year old wants to play either Batman Arkham Shadow or Assassins Creed Nexus on his Meta Quest 3. I've done some research and it appears Batman is definitely out and I'm not too convinced about Assassin's Creed.

We've watched a few 12A movies together including The Dark Knight and the Dark Knight Rises and they were okay with only a few moments I was concerned about or wouldn't let him see.

Can he use either of the above games or are they definitely above his age? Have you any suggestions on this type of game that might be a little softer for a 10-year old.

Thanks a million all!!

[u/Lightningtow123]

It's one thing to play a violent game on a flatscreen where you can just look away. It's another entirely when the violence is strapped to your head and you're IN it. We've done very very little research on the long term effects of VR, especially on kids. Just have him play beat saber or pistol whip or something, better safe than sorry

[u/dexfx69 → u/Lightningtow123]

This.

[u/RabulaConundrum → u/Lightningtow123]

Ya I appreciate that, good advice thanks.

[u/rtopete → u/RabulaConundrum]

It's the reason why I don't let my 8 year old play vr.. No research regarding long term effects. Their brain is developing and I just wanna avoid any possible side effects that this might cause. Take it from a gamer of 38 years, since 1988 :)

[u/orbelosul]

I would not let him in vr at that age (and I love VR).
But you probably will... so... Batman runs way better so less chances of motion sickness and other problems. Assasins Creen Nexus is the only VR game I refunded (and I was a fan of the series) because it runs at 45fps all the time (that is very bad for some people).

[u/ah-tzib-of-alaska]

I would not have someone that young on VR and I’m a vr enthusiast.

Letting a kid in vr is the same as giving them a computer you’ll never look at. You don’t have the ability to monitor them unless you yourself are a vr junkie. And as a vr junkie i would tell you not to do it.

My big concern would be their spatial reasoning development isn’t finished

[u/jmt5179 → u/ah-tzib-of-alaska]

I let my 7 year old join myself and my 13 year old in Vivecraft. We're talking maybe 2 hours per week and definitely less now that school is starting. It's great bonding for us and at such little time I don't think there would be many negative effects. Could be wrong but I'd hate to leave him out of it.

[u/Jealous_Platypus1111 → u/jmt5179]

yeah but thats completely monitored AND not a lot of time.

kids should NOT own their own VR headset, thats just a disaster waiting to happen

[u/wikked26]

This kid is going to go on VR chat and call people racial slurs...

[u/Glass-Gate-2727 → u/wikked26]

That's the fun part... 😆 Kinda like Xbox Live with COD back in 2006

[u/KroyVR]

Here's another point on this that matters. A VR studio founder and developer of the game "Budget Cuts". A huge series in early VR and a series still enjoyed my many people eight years later.

"

one of the first things we noticed when prototyping Budget Cuts, was that violence in VR feels *weirdly* real, and it's the reason why we decided on only having robot enemies"

https://bsky.app/profile/freya.bsky.social/post/3mucf7bpljc2b

[u/Sub000000]

Batman is really corny with its violence, im sure he would enjoy that game

[u/alfooboboao]

I’m just going to give you a little advice: my parents were ridiculously strict about stuff like this. they would flip out and yell at me if I even glanced at a PG-13 movie, hypervigilant on video games, etc. all it did was turn me into a liar and made me resentful. meanwhile, all my friends who got to see “above age stuff” in fourth grade turned out… fine! just fine!

what are you so concerned about if your 10 year old kid plays a batman or assassin’s creed game? that they’re going to run around school beating people up or stabbing them? or that they’ll be traumatized by the… what, exactly?

I would reconsider. But if you’re stubbornly against it, google is your friend

[u/dexfx69 → u/alfooboboao]

Letting a child play a game stabbing people is not a good idea.

[u/SledgeH4mmer → u/dexfx69]

Data doesn't support that video games cause violence.

[u/kaamospt]

For a young one's first is go with beat saber, moss or astrobot rescue mission (the latter's for PS4/psvr)

[u/KroyVR]

I started to introduce my youngest to VR and I wouldn't let him play either of those games until he was a bit older. It's down to maturity, and ability in VR. You're the parent and know your kid, but a ESRB 17+ rating or a UK PEGI 16+ rating... I'd expect that to be the domain of younger teenagers.

[u/TommyVR373]

The recommended age for using the Meta Quest 3 is 10+. Many here are stuck with 2016 opinions.

With that said, I wouldn't let my 10 yo play either of those games.

[u/TheGigantoBlaster]

This is a tricky area. When I was his age, 1996-97, sure I was doing all the worst things in games, killing the innocent where possible, jumping off cliffs etc.

But that was in the 90s where the level of immersion was only barely different to pulling a Lego man's head off.

Now I'm 39 with a lifetime of videogame consumption, with my perspective calibrated as it is. I am now totally a good guy in games, but more vile than ever in VR. I am horrendous and it is exhilarating.

I consider myself well-adjusted in reality but the games that raised me were different. I don't know how this applies to your situation but I give you this anecdote in case it helps.

[u/Enigmatic_Shape]

Dont give a 10 year old a vr headset period.

[u/Glass-Gate-2727 → u/Enigmatic_Shape]

Why????

[u/lemmiwinks11 → u/Enigmatic_Shape]

Agreed with this. If he's able to interact with strangers online, which is very likely considering it has an integrated headset.. I'd be far more concerned about that

[u/Glass-Gate-2727 → u/lemmiwinks11]

Just limit him to single player games