My brother, his girlfriend, and her 8 year old son live with my family in our house. The 8 year old got a VR for Christmas. He only plays a game called Gorilla Tag and I’ve heard him talking to people before so I know he can. Does anyone in here know anything about vr? I do not like him having full access to it and not being supervised at all especially the middle of the night. He isn’t my kid and I dont ever want to tell someone how to parent but if he isn’t safe then maybe she just doesn’t know that. Anyone else’s kids have vr??
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Not ur kid not ur choice what the parents let him play
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Considering it’s not recommended for kids under 13, maybe the parents should have done a little research before giving unfettered access to an 8 year old. But, essentially, it’s not your circus nor your monkeys.
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It’s none of your business
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I don’t know anything about VR. Is he talking to his real life friends or strangers ? Talking to friends is ok, talking to strangers is dangerous. While I understand it’s not your child and not your choice on what he can and can’t do, if a child is doing something dangerous, I fully believe it’s ok to show concern. Do you have a good relationship with the kid? If yes, I would first confirm if he is talking to friends or strangers. If it is strangers, I would nicely explain to him in an 8 yr old friendly way that it’s dangerous to talk to strangers and you can’t trust/believe everyone you meet online. Not in a “I’m telling you what to do” way…just in a friend showing concern and trying to help way. Then maybe have a chat with mom and/or your brother about the concerns. Just gotta go about in a way that doesn’t offend them. It’s so important for kids to know what is and isn’t appropriate.
When it comes to safety concerns, the "none of your business " and “not your kid” ways of thinking are crazy to me.
Not your kid or business but wondering if you could put a parental control on devices using your internet
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Well I know it’s different in your family, but in my family I’m auntie so I got opinions and they matter. If the roles were reversed and my sister had some hesitant feelings, I’d definitely listen to them too. I might not agree and do as she asks, but I definitely listen to her feelings
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My 14yr old has similar on his ps4 which I monitor
Idk you or your family involved… but when my 9yr old plays “gorilla tag,” she plays in the same room as me, so I can hear all the talk. And all I’ve ever heard discussed was the game they’re playing… but I dont allow her to play through the middle of the night, and it is hard to tell WHO is on those games. Maybe have a discussion with your brother and make sure he’s talked to his child about safety? As a concern, we dont know what other people will talk about on the games, so it’s important children know what’s inappropriate.
My grandson plays VR a lot. The only thing I don’t care for is the language that comes out of some of those kids/adults.
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You’re not supposed to use VR under like 11 or 12 years old I think.
The middle of the night?? Why does an 8 yr old have access to this at that time? What other 8 yr Olds do you know that have access to the internet throughout the night? Ok, maybe other children in other parts of the world but then maybe not also…have him play supervised and take it away at night. Does not matter if he’s your kid or not, your house, your rules. No VR unsupervised and no access after bed time…personally this wouldn’t even be a gift for an 8yr old, but like you said, people parent differently. But I feel like middle of the night access is not safe, never mind even healthy in any form for an 8 yr old. I’d lead with that.
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Normally I’d say not your child, let the parent parent. But in this case he could possibly put the entire household in danger. If definitely talk to his mom or your brother. Ask them if he knows not to give out personal info like real name, where he lives, goes to school, landmarks around him, his birthday etc. All talk needs to be about the game.
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Look online for these answers and I’m sure you will find it. If you see reports of it being risky mention it to the parents. Say you saw a post about it and looked it up as you know he plays that game and got concerned. Show them what you found and let them figure it out. With him playing in the middle of the night concerns me as he is most likely playing with adults at that time more so than children so that would concern me. Your own kids are in the house so you have every right to show concerns and ask questions, so many predators out there you can never be too safe but you can be sorry.
As you say , it’s not your kid so your opinion can be heard but at the end don’t matter.
Just have a conversation with her parents and mention that you had heard taking with someone. Just make sure they not that.
If the parents allow this they are not very good parents. I wouldn’t allow it my house especially late at night. He should be in bed.
not your kid, not your concern honestly.
Kids on the internet are ruthless, both my kids play and sometimes I just make them turn it off if the people get too bad
Get him OFF the VR ASAP! My kids got one and my 7yr old was on it, there’s SO many weirdos on there and it teachers them HORRIBLE things. The stuff I’ve heard people say, I couldn’t believe it. VR has been banned in our house. Waste of money and my husband was the one who bought it behind my back otherwise I would have said absolutely not.
You are in control of only yourself. How can YOU limit interaction with something YOU don’t like? YOU change and YOU make the changes for YOURSELF but you don’t get to have a say on anything else someone else does simply because you don’t like it or feel they are AT RISK, now is there any abuse? Any neglect? Didn’t think so. So mind your business and rear your own child how you want but until you have physical substantial evidence that the kid is actively IN danger versus “at a risk for danger” 
it sounds like this is emotionally charged as well making it sound as if it’s just the vr but honestly it sounds like much much more. Like paranoia, the need to control, hyper fixation, overstimulation etc. get support and let those parents parent how they choose. For God’s sake, your scared they’re going to be kidnapped or something from a videogame?? But it’s the same parents who don’t even know their own child’s school policy which basically states that as long as you have a familiar face and a name to match most schools will let ANYONE take their child,but yet we take the risks anyways, I mean shit there’s school shootings now, do you keep your kid homeschooled since Texas experienced that? Didn’t think so. Start focusing on yourself and YOUR parenting rather than hyper fixating on how someone else parents. That’s not ok.
My 9 year old plays that game. I’d say it’s pretty safe. Just tell him not to give out any information of himself