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When Mark Zuckerberg described Meta’s Horizon Worlds back in 2019, he seemed to think the virtual community hub would be a place for cool, tech-forward young adults to socialize and network. Six years later, it’s essentially a virtual daycare center; everywhere in virtual space is filled with kids. I don’t mean 16-year-olds or tweens, either—I’m talking young kids, so prevalent they’ve earned the nickname “squeakers” for their high-pitched voices and twitchy energy. So what’s a grown-ass adult who likes virtual reality but wants to avoid children to do? Here are some tips and strategies for finding VR places to game and/or socialize that are free of children. Sometimes.
Avoiding kids in Horizon Worlds
Meta’s rules for Horizon Worlds say kids as young as 10 can log in, and that’s mostly who does, but there are worlds designated as 13+ and 18+, too. This is mainly enforced through Meta’s own age-check systems and community moderation in the form of adults reporting kids if they see ‘em. There are also “tests” like this one:
Credit: Stephen Johnson
If your reach is too small: sorry, kid. Some worlds even have voice testing to bar anyone with a voice higher than Michael Jackson’s. None of this is foolproof of course—kids will find a loophole—but 18+ worlds are reasonably kid-free, and are your best bet for finding fellow adults in Meta’s social hub. Adult-friendly worlds tend to revolve around things like poker, trivia, or stand-up comedy, and popular 18+ worlds like The Soapstone have active moderators, both of which keep the little ones away.
Ironically, you can hijack Quest’s parental controls and use them to protect yourself from children by blocking kid-heavy zones and saving adult-heavy ones. Speaking of blocking, Meta has made it easy to instantly ignore and report people you don’t want to be around. You just hover your pointer over the person’s avatar to open their profile, select “options,” then choose “block” and “confirm.” In Horizon Worlds, blocked users appear as a gray, featureless avatar and you will not be able to hear each other.
Avoiding kids in VRChat
If Horizon Worlds is the safe, corporate-approved virtual chat option, VRChat is the Wild West. It’s where the stranger corners of the metaverse collide, but if you stick to verified 18+ rooms or private invite-only instances, you can usually avoid excessive Roblox energy. VRChat weeds kids out with a mix of user moderation, reporting, and sheer chaos.
The app doesn’t actually check ID to confirm users are 18. It relies on self-reported ages and community moderation, and some creators use extra barriers like requiring membership in a verified Discord server or having a certain “trust rank” (earned by spending time in-game and being a generally non-terrible person) before you can join their worlds. It’s not airtight, but it’s enough friction to keep out most of the literal children.
Play games kids don’t care about
If you want to avoid kids, avoid games with subjects that appeal to kids. Don’t play Gorilla Tag, Rec Room, or Super Rumble; and definitely steer clear of the public parts of Minecraft and Roblox.
Instead, play games that kids would call “boring” or “lame.” What self-respecting child is going to download Racket Club to play virtual pickle ball? But Racket Club is an excellent game.
What do you think so far?
Here’s a list of games to check out with adult energy:
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Walkabout Mini Golf: The low-stakes competition and camaraderie of virtual miniature golf is kryptonite for kiddos.
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Eleven Table Tennis: Like Racket Club, few kids are going to want to play this, but it’s one of the best competitive online VR games. out there
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Demeo: Tabletop role-playing games take too much patience for most children.
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Breachers : This is a tactical shooter with grown-up teamwork energy. You might think that parents would keep their little darlings out of more violent, teen-rated games like this (and Population One or Ghosts of Tabor) but it’s hit or miss. Luckily, kids are usually bad at these games, so you can use ‘em to boost your K/D ratio.
Play games you have to pay for
While the above more adult-focused VR games are all over the map in terms of genre and vibe, they share something important: You can’t play them for free, unlike Gorilla Tag and Roblox. Money is a great barrier to kid entry.
Build your network of adults
When you do find some you like playing with, add them to your friend list so you can find them again next time. When you have enough pals, many games will let you set up private lobbies that require invite codes, so no one can just wander in and invade your child-free zone.
Mute everyone else’s mics
If you don’t care about the social aspect of gaming, there’s nothing stopping you from just muting everyone else’s microphones. Although many children find ways to be annoying without speaking, especially if it’s a team game and you’re on the same side.
When all else fails, embrace the chaos
The Metaverse may be crawling with kids, but with patience, mutes, and private lobbies, you can still find a tribe of tired adults trying escape reality in peace. But we’re badly outnumbered. There are so many children in VR that you are going to run across them, no matter what you do. Sometimes the best way to handle it is to lean into the chaos. Obviously report kids in restricted spaces, but kids in “not-technically 18+” virtual spaces are a hallmark of the hobby. And they are the future after all, so, if you have the energy, try to provide positive role-modeling and patience. You’re in their world, after all.
