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Game · Minimum age 13+

VRChat: a guide for parents

VRChat offers user-created social worlds and avatars. Other users’ live speech and behaviour can be unpredictable; review both the service’s safety controls and the device’s account requirements.

Policy review
Check current official guidance
Official minimum age
13
UK age assurance
Partial
VRChat described further age-assurance and content-gating work as in development in June 2026. Do not treat an announced feature as universally available.

Why 13+?

The age limit, explained

The service sets an account minimum of 13. That does not establish that public social spaces or user-created content are suitable for every teenager.

Evidence

What the sources say

These sources include platform policies, research and reporting. Historical findings describe their original dates and samples. Policy descriptions and age-assurance labels are not tests of every UK account. Menus and features can vary; follow the linked current instructions.

  1. [1] Platform policy · 2026

    VRChat’s June update says further age-assurance and content-gating work was still in development, without firm release dates.

    VRChat — June 2026 safety update

  2. [2] Charity / NGO · 2021

    CCDH’s December 2021 investigation reported abusive incidents during its sampled VRChat sessions. Its seven-minute average describes that historical sample, not the frequency every user encounters today.

    Center for Countering Digital Hate — Facebook’s Metaverse

Real risks

  • Adult-themed worlds visible to children
  • Sexual harassment and ‘virtual groping’
  • Voice chat with anyone in the room

Settings to check tonight

  • Review instance privacy separately from avatar trust settings
  • Practise mute, block and leaving a world
  • Review headset account and app permissions

Talk, don’t confiscate

How to start the conversation

  • Agree they can leave or take off a headset whenever uncomfortable.
  • Device-level parental controls do not guarantee that every world inside an app is suitable.

Official guides

Step-by-step settings

Video tutorials

Watch it being done

Links open YouTube in a new tab. Where a link opens search results, check the uploader and publication date before following a tutorial.

Platform controls and guidance can change. Follow the official links for current instructions; the About page explains which checks have been completed.