Virtual reality is no longer just a hypothesis on a notepad, nor are the hardware and setup so expensive that only the wealthy can buy it. Besides, the application of VR is expanding gradually; it’s been a part of education, military training, the medical sector, and more. Therefore, it’s now not just a gaming option but beyond that.
In the early stages, parents were scared of allowing their kids to get into this virtual world. But with the manufacturing of kid-friendly VR headsets and other devices, they are now showing interest in providing their child the experience of the ultimate success of modern technology – the magical world of Virtual Reality. And so, setting up VR rooms is getting popular daily, primarily because of the arrival of many affordable ranges in the market.
But many opposing sides of VR can badly impact your kid’s mental and physical health. Besides, an inappropriate VR setting can be risky to your kids; for example, they can get injured in real life while freely moving in the virtual world. So, how to set up a safe VR room for kids? No worries, you are just at the right place. In this article, we have mentioned the steps to set up the ultimate VR room for your kids that will ensure proper safety. So, let’s begin-
What Is VR?
A virtual environment can be experienced by using a technology called VR or virtual reality. It gives a genuine sense of presence in the virtual realm, which is very different from playing a game or navigating a 3D environment on a fixed 2D monitor. Usually, a VR headset is used for this, which puts one or two displays right in front of your eyes and tracks your movement so that it may be translated into the virtual environment.
The VR method combines technology and software to build a synthetic environment that feels real to us. The virtual environment depicted by the software gives you the impression that you are there. The technology, meanwhile, offers sensory stimulation and simulation, including sounds, touch, smell, and heat levels. Several supporting devices, such as haptic gloves, bodysuits, headsets, and more, can activate these senses. These gadgets have motion detection capabilities, simulating movement in real life. This combination makes VR gaming a fantastic experience for players of all ages; children and adults enjoy VR.
What Is a VR Room?
A VR room is enclosed with portable or embedded technologies to offer or improve a multimedia virtual reality experience. A VR room lets the user move around with considerable flexibility, which resembles a real-world experience more closely than seated or fixed VR. The use of VR rooms for virtual reality gaming is common.
The original method of creating a virtual environment was through virtual reality rooms. Virtual reality rooms were required to give a 360° visual experience before display technology that supported VR headgear could be made smaller. VR combat flying training was developed decades ago for the American military to recreate the view around a fighter jet cockpit. The same method was applied to displays and rooms that had projectors. CAVEs (cave automatic virtual environment) are another name for virtual reality spaces powered by projectors. As a passive haptics feature, some VR environments also have real-world objects correlating to the virtual world’s counterparts.
Elements You Need To Set-Up A VR Room For Kids
Before setting up a VR room for your kids, you must know what elements or equipment it requires. First, gather this instrument, then go for the final step. Here are the essentials to set up a VR room for your kid-
- VR Headset
A virtual reality headset, sometimes known as a VR headset, is a head-mounted gadget that immerses the user in virtual reality. Although VR video games are the most common application for VR headsets, they are also employed in simulators and training programs. Each eye receives a separate image on a stereoscopic display, stereo audio, and sensors like gyroscopes and accelerometers that track the user’s head position to align the virtual camera’s orientation with the user’s eye positions in the actual world.
Eye-tracking sensors and game controllers are also included in specific VR headsets. The VR glasses employ head-tracking technology, which modifies the field of vision as a user turns their head. Since there is lag if the head moves too quickly, the technology could not be flawless. It does, however, provide an immersive experience.
- VR Tracking Sensor
A position-tracking device known as a VR tracking sensor determines the exact pose of head-mounted screens, control systems, other objects, or individual parts of the body within Euclidean space. In reference to the three or six degrees of freedom that are frequently tracked when monitoring poses, this term is also known as 3DOF tracking or 6DOF tracking. Usually two VR tracking sensors are enough for playing VR games but to enhance the experience you can also go for three sensors.
- Gaming PC
VR gaming PC is swift enough to support programs and virtual reality headsets. These computers come in tower and laptop form and have the quickest CPUs and graphics cards (GPUs).
The finest gaming PCs for VR often include top-tier GPUs and CPUs with tremendous performance potential. Different requirements apply depending on the VR headset you’re using and the game you’re playing. A powerful graphics card is one of the essential components that every gaming PC for virtual reality needs. If your computer is outdated, it probably won’t have these necessary features for gaming.
- WI-Fi Connection
A strong Wi-Fi connection is mandatory in your VR room to play games. The VR headset tracks the location and operates the gaming using the internet. And for a premium VR gaming experience, frequent refreshing is essential to match the virtual position with the body posture. That is why setting the router in your VR room is better. Thus it will prove to have strong bandwidth, and your kid will not have any issues while playing VR games.
- Free Space
For VR gaming, free space is required. You must move as though you are in the game since the purpose of virtual reality is to make it appear as though you are there. Some VR headsets feature sensors that you must wear in the space for them to precisely “track” your motions. To get the best experience, wear VR headsets in a vacant bedroom, garage, or unoccupied living room area.
Steps To Set Up A Safe VR Room For Kids
To set up a safe VR room for kids, you must know some basic facts about VR games and the requirements for playing those. However, no worries; here is a step-wise method of how you can effectively set up a VR room for your kids-
Step-1: Purchase Ideal VR Devices For Kids
The first step to setting up a VR room is to collect suitable VR devices for your kid. It includes a VR headset, monitor, sensor, gaming PC, and gear. Other additional gadgets may be required based on the gaming demand. The VR headset is the essential element here. And a standalone virtual reality (VR) headset is the best option for VR gaming. It can function without a direct connection to a computer. The wireless PC connection makes VR glass usage incredibly simple. However, the drawback of standalone VR headsets is that they often have lower graphic capabilities and only support mobile VR headsets for VR content. As a result, some games or applications are compatible with PC-controlled VR glasses but not Standalone VR glasses.
It consists of a monolithic headgear with an integrated screen processor and battery. A standalone VR gear has many viewfinders that let the user maintain stable spatial orientation and recognize their position concerning other peripheral devices’ positions in the real world.
But remember, the headset designed for kids differs from the one for adults. These headphones have many additional child-friendly features that 18+ headphones don’t have. These include- parental controlling options & unlock pattern facilities. Besides, there are size and color variations too.
Step-2: Room Selection
Playing VR games at room scale is the highest point of virtual reality. Nothing compares to the freedom of exploring your favorite virtual worlds without being chained to a couch or hiding behind a controller. The most physically challenging and demanding VR play style is room-scale, which puts a lot of strain on your VR hardware and demands a lot of areas. After all, you’ll be standing up and moving around your room. Here are some facts that you must consider while choosing a VR room for your kid-
- Size Of The Room
Virtual reality setups typically don’t require huge spaces. You have ample room for virtual reality if you have a completely cleared area where you won’t be banging into anything that could damage or hurt you. Each VR model has its own space requirements. As long as you’re safe while you play, it doesn’t matter if you can only utilize a tiny area of your house or apartment to use your headset.
The size of the VR room will vary depending on the type of headset you choose because they all have distinct space needs. While the PS VR recommends a total area of 10 feet x 10 feet, the HTC Vive recommends a movement space with a diagonal surface measuring up to 5 meters. On the other hand, the Oculus Quest 2 recommends an open space of at least 6.5 feet x 6.5 feet. These are a few instances of the area that might be required for a virtual reality room in a home, but other systems allow users to remain stationary, negating the need for a lot of space.
- Floor Of The Room
The floor in your VR environment is an important element, although you may not consider it. Removing reflective surfaces from the area is essential, so if your floor is marble or tile, which tends to reflect light, this could be an issue.
A surface suitable for running, leaping, or crawling is great because VR games need actual physical action. The most obvious solution is a thick carpet, but interlocking foam tiles you can move around to fit the required space are a better option.
- Room Color
People continue to believe that a VR room must always have a green wall, which is untrue. A VR gaming area is possible even with a standard white-painted wall. However, painting in green might be a good idea if you want to do green-screen mixed reality work. Because green is a color that is uncommon in human skin tones or clothing, it makes it simpler to distinguish between primary and secondary elements. Besides, the degree of freedom and control it offers over the background is one of the main benefits of employing a green screen. Although gloss shouldn’t be an issue, we suggest you use flat paint to be safe from unwanted reflection.
- Proper Wi-Fi Support
Wi-Fi connection is a crucial factor to consider for setting up a VR room. You must select a VR gaming room with full-speed internet access. If there are any issues with the net connection, your kid will not be able to experience the magical VR world to their best. That is why we suggest you set up a router in the room to ensure a better connection.
Step-3: Remove Obstacles
If you read the guidelines for children’s VR headsets, you will find advice to keep the play areas far from walls, doors, and staircases. As VR gaming deals with free body movement, there is a high risk of tripping over objects around. So when setting up a VR room for your kid, ensure the space is free from clutter or anything hindering body movement. Keep the room very minimal; don’t add any heavy furniture. It is better not to add anything extra than the equipment required to play the VR games.
Step-4: Covering The Windows & Mirrors
An intelligent VR room plan should include concealing windows and mirrors because the light reflection from these surfaces can interfere with tracking. Although you obviously cannot remove the windows, you can prevent unwanted sunlight from entering by covering them with blackout curtains. You can use a big blanket or towel to conceal mirrors. There may be some trial and error involved because not every window or mirror will create problems if it’s outside of the tracking region, but if you figure it out, your gaming experience will be a lot less intrusive.
Step-5: Positioning VR Tracking Sensors
Consider selecting a permanent location for the tracking base stations, even if you disconnect the cabling, as setting them up can take some time. Suppose there isn’t an easily accessible elevated position in your play area. In that case, you might buy a tall tripod from one of the many accessory vendors that provide brackets for wall-mounting base stations. Another important thing to note is keeping the VR tracking sensor far from ceiling fans or any glass lighting fixtures.
Two VR tracking sensors are common, but you can upgrade them into three. This additional sensor can give your VR games a new dimension if you have the necessary hardware. But remember that if you want to use three sensors, you must modify your game space appropriately because three sensors result in a larger play area and more detailed images.
Step-6: Setting Up Guardian Boundary
To adjust the play area in the kids’ VR room for usage with various applications and games, use the built-in functions of the VR headset. Additionally, define and map out your child’s play area digitally so that they can get alerts if they exit it. For walls and furniture to be able to receive notifications in time to avoid any potential collisions, leave a small amount of extra space between them as a safety buffer.
You must set up a guardian boundary (if available) for content and experiences where your kids can move around in the real world while also moving around in the virtual world. This virtual boundary will assist your kid in remaining within your designated work area and preventing run-ins with real-world items while you are within their virtual environment. When they’re close to or approaching the guardian border, it will show up in your virtual reality experience.
Step-7: Using Real-World Objects and Surfaces In Mixed Reality
While utilizing your VR gaming system, your kids can see and communicate with outside, real-world objects or surfaces (like a sofa, barrier, keyboard, table, or desk) by using certain VR apps. Mixed reality refers to this kind of experience. To set up and interact with real-world items for mixed reality, read and heed any warnings, directions, and prompts when using mixed reality apps. However, always exercise extreme caution when allowing your children to interact with real-world and virtual objects in mixed reality. Remove all other entities, especially dangers (such as liquids, heat sources, or sharp objects), from your activity space, except for the real-world things you intend your kids to interact with in their mixed reality environment. This will prevent your kid from facing any unexpected accidents.
Step-8: Double-Check VR Boundaries
Double-check that any virtual borders you’ve drawn on your headset are properly located. When viewing the space through the headset, check your position both horizontally and vertically to ensure precise positioning. If the position is not up to the mark, there may be a high risk of tripping. So, to ensure your children’s safety, cross-check the boundaries repeatedly.
Step-9: Try Out Few VR Games Before Handing It Over To Your Kids
VR games are a very sensitive system to hand over to your kids. That is why you should first examine it before letting them play. The first thing you must do is check the fitting of the headset. It should fit your kid perfectly. Then play some games that you have chosen for your kids. Here you should notice if the VR tracking sensor detects the positions perfect;y or not. If the sensor is inappropriate, it may be risky for your child. Also, double-check the guardian boundary, cross the lion and see how fast the headset sends you notifications. Testing this will ensure the proper safety of your kid. Many VR games require sudden gadgets; try them before handing them to your child.
Last but not least, before setting up any VR room for your kid or allowing your kid to play VR games, ensure your child’s age is 12+/13+. Never neglect the age restrictions, as it can be a severe issue that risks your kids’ physical and mental health.
Step-10: Proper Cleaning & Safe Storage Of VR Devices
VR devices installed in the gaming room are delicate, like other gaming and media items. Get the most use out of your gadget by keeping it away from areas where it might be subject to damage and cleaning and storing it safely. Here are some tips that you should follow to maintain the VR devices properly-
- Keep your device away from hot or liquid sources, sharp objects, and direct sunlight.
- Keep the docks, cables, charging port and connections, headphone jack, and other electrical charging points dry, clean, and debris-free. It would be best if you periodically inspected these charging ports to ensure they are not damaged or show symptoms of corrosion.
- Using any liquids, including cleansers or soaps, can irreversibly harm the front cover of the window and the lenses. Therefore, you should only use a dry microfiber cloth to wipe the front cover window and lenses. However, cleaning the headset’s body, excluding the front and the lenses, with non-alcohol, non-abrasive antibacterial wipes is okay.
Therefore, following these steps, you can quickly set up an excellent VR room for your kid that will ensure your kids’ safety while interacting with the virtual world.
Is It A Wise Decision To Set Up a VR Room For Kids?
Virtual reality (VR) is a rapidly expanding technology gaining popularity among young people. Wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset provides a virtual environment where a person may gaze about 360 degrees, hear exhilarating noises, and move their body to interact with the environment amazingly. Kids and young children worldwide have VR headsets on their wish lists, but given that many VR headsets have age limitations, is the technology safe for them to experiment with?
There are many issues that VR can badly impact your kid. Such as addiction, violence, change in behavior, extrovert, nausea, effect on the brain, etc. Here are some back draws you should read at least once before handing a VR device to your kid.
- No Consensus Among Manufacturers About Age Limits
Regarding the appropriate age for allowing children to use these VR gadgets, there has yet to be an agreement among the manufacturers of VR headsets. HTC chooses the most secure path. It claims that kids should not be permitted to use its VR headset HTC Vive. Sony advises users to be at least 12 years old for its PlayStation VR headset. Two of the most well-known VR devices, the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR, have a minimum age requirement of 13. Kids can only use the VR headset under adult supervision while using Google’s relatively new technology, Google Cardboard.
Should you let your children play VR games, given that companies have not thoroughly justified these different age recommendations? This unclear age recommendation marks a question on parents’ minds if this technology causes any harmful impact on their kids. Young children might not be able to distinguish between reality and fantasy, which could negatively affect their upbringing.
- Effect Of VR On The Brain
In a University of California investigation on rats, it was discovered that virtual environments changed the functioning of the neurons in a particular brain region linked to spatial learning. More than half of the neurons shut down in response to virtual reality exposure. Although it is still unclear whether these findings apply to humans, this study made clear the urgent need for further research on the long-term effects of VR technology, particularly on young children.
Gotsis speculates that VR may significantly affect young children’s growing brains. She notes that the young brain is still incredibly pliable and that exposure to technologies that don’t fit properly can impact how it functions. Children might not know how to express eye fatigue and possibly lack the reflexes to take off the devices if they feel uncomfortable wearing them. Even worse, kids could become overly preoccupied with gaming and ignore the discomfort.
- Impact Of VR On Vision
Parents’ main worries regarding VR headsets are related to their effects on children’s eyesight or vision. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, eye strain or eye fatigue may result from staring at a VR headset screen (or any digital gadget, for that matter) nonstop. This is because using a VR headset causes you to blink less frequently than usual. This may cause the eyes’ front surface to dry up, making you tired.
The brain receives the same visual cues while viewing a moving image as when viewing genuine physical motion. Because of this, using VR materials can make you queasy. Your youngster will probably experience virtual motion sickness if prone to motion sickness on roller coasters.
- The Conflict Between Vergence and Accommodation
There is a problem with VR headsets called vergence-accommodation conflict. When you typically see the world, your eye first verges—pointing the eyeballs and then accommodates focusing the lenses on an object. Our brain then combines these two operations to create a coherent picture. Modern VR headsets provide a slightly different image to each eye on a flat screen to create a sense of depth. This suggests that regardless of how far an item appears, the eyes are locked on a single spot and eventually converge on a distant object.
- Negative Impact On Behavior
With gadgets like VR headsets, you have a system that was created to manipulate your child—whether it be for marketing, politics, or even religious beliefs. As a result, if your child spends extended periods in a manipulative VR environment, it endangers their autonomy and could impair their ability to comprehend the outside world.
Decision on providing kids with VR room
After learning all these negatives about the VR world, you may have decided not to provide your kid with such devices. But with no worries, proper guidance, and control over VR access, you can ensure your children’s mental and physical health. And for that, you should choose an appropriate VR headset and games that fit your kid’s age. Besides, you should exercise appropriate control if you wish to provide your child access to this technology.
Go through this article to learn the controlling measures that you should take before handing over VR equipment or games to your kids. – Parent’s Guide To VR Headsets and VR Games For Kids. (Please include the link after publishing on the website) Here we have provided you with a detailed guideline for choosing the best and age-appropriate VR headset and games for your child. So, don’t miss reading this before purchasing any VR headset or games for kids!
The Bottom Line
Virtual reality is gradually becoming popular, and the day is not far from when it will be a part of our lives. From adults to kids, all are interested in VR games and are setting up VR rooms in their homes. Adults are pretty aware of their well-being, but what about the kids?
As a parent, you are the one who should ensure your kid’s safety while they are engaged in the virtual wall. That is why a well-planned VR room setting is essential. The selected VR gaming room must be far from the stairs- this is a must-follow rule avoiding, which can be a life-risking fact for your kid. Besides, remove all the objects that hinder the free movement of your child while playing, i.e., furniture, shelves, etc. And the most crucial factor here is to purchase a children-friendly VR headset and select games that are appropriate for kids.