Our Experience with the Oculus Quest 2 So Far

Our family Christmas gift this past year was an Oculus Quest 2, and I must say that for all my concerns and reservations about the so-called Metaverse – which I still harbor, mind you – we have had a great deal of fun with our first foray into VR.

Recommended Games and Accessories

Walkabout Mini Golf is delightful. Eleven Table Tennis and Thrill of the Fight provide surprisingly intense workouts. (Or else I’m just out of shape. But I prefer the former take to the latter.)

We’ve visited the International Space Station and swam with Great White sharks off the coast of South Africa – both of which were geek out worthy.

At some point we hope to visit some world-class museums we wouldn’t otherwise be able to physically travel to. And soon we’ll tour the Anne Frank House VR I downloaded when we first set this thing up.

For myself personally, I plan to reduce my fear of heights by a kind of self-guided exposure therapy in The Climb 2 – once I muster up the courage and manage to break away from ping-pong, that is. 

And when the gun stock arrives in a couple of weeks, I’ll hit up Gun Club VR to get in some shooting practice.

There’s board games too – a D&D feature called Demeo which I have tried, plus Catan VR which I plan to get and try once it goes on sale if not sooner.

In short, the available offerings are fairly balanced. Whatever you’re into, you’ll find something to enjoy and benefit from here.

A Positive Experience So Far (with Some Qualifiers)

With four older boys aged 10-14 quite keen on playing every chance they get, we instituted turn timers to keep from overdoing it. And of course chores and schoolwork have to be done before anyone can play.

I keep the headset charging at my desk for good measure to manage who gets turns and when. And we limit our kids to one turn per day to keep them firmly grounded in the real world.

Besides that, our biggest concern has been the course language of some players in the more popular multiplayer games. But even on that point, there are easy mitigations. Individual offenders can be muted, for instance. That, or the kids can confine themselves to playing single-player games.

Play is confined to the sitting room on our main floor, and this provides the added side benefit of everyone being motivated to keep the floors in there clear of obstructions.

In sum for now, then, while it’s still too early to say what the final result will be for both good and ill with our family’s venture into Virtual Reality, I have to say our experience with the Quest 2 over the past three weeks has been very positive.

What’s more, I think the potential is certainly here for this technology to be a game changer for fitness, fun, and enriching educational experiences. Like with all developing innovations, there are rough edges to be smoothed off, plus weaknesses to shore up. But the tech has come a long way already all the same, and we’re excited to see where it goes from here.

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