What is Rec Room?

Rec Room was a free online multiplayer video game from America created in April 2016. Users could explore millions of player-created rooms and communicate with people from all over. Or they could create their own inventions (player-made items) to share with others.

Users could download Rec Room for free across platforms, including PC, Mac, iOS, Android, PlayStation, Xbox and Oculus. Its first-person style of gameplay made it a good fit for a variety of virtual reality (VR) headsets.

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Rec Net (Rec.net) was the community website for Rec Room. Users on Rec.net logged in with their Rec Room details to shop, explore user inventions and see upcoming in-game events. It was also where users could upgrade their account or add real-world money for in-game purchases.

Parents could login to Rec Net to manage their child’s account as well.

Rec Room was open to users of all ages. However, users under the age of 13 were registered to a Junior Account.

Junior Accounts limited voice and text chat, the types of usernames children could have, where they could create inventions and inappropriate content such as ‘friendly fire’ options in Quests and player-made content with mature or scary themes.

Joining Rec Room

Rec Room downloaded to any device from smartphones to VR headsets. As such, users could download in a variety of ways including directly from the website, on Steam, the Apple store or the Google Play store.

Once downloaded, users were also asked to install Easy Anti-Cheat. Easy Anti-Cheat is software designed to stop hacking and cheating in online multiplayer games. After users installed both Rec Room and Easy Anti-Cheat, they created an account by selecting “Let’s Start”.

Users first had to customise their avatar, including skin colour, facial style, hair, clothes and accessories. Players could make changes later.

Players were then asked for their age. If they were under 13, they had to enter a parent or carer’s email address. Under-13s automatically had a Junior Account and the game generated a username for them. They chose their own password.

Once they submitted your email and their login details, the game asked for parents to confirm their email.

Once parents confirmed their email, they received their own username and password to login to Rec Net with. Here, they could change their password and monitor their child’s Junior Account.

Gameplay and orientation

Once the email was confirmed, the Code of Conduct came on screen:

Once users agreed to the code, Orientation started loading. Here, children learned the game controls for their device and practise different interactions in what looked like a Recreation Centre. Players practised various activities like dodgeball, frisbee and archery before they started fully playing.

Throughout the Orientation, the walls were decorated with reminders from the Code of Conduct along with instructions. For example, they learned that using the ‘talk to the hand’ action muted other players.

Once players make it through Orientation, they could go to their dorm, which was customisable, or they could explore player-created worlds.

Junior Account limits

A user with a Junior Account on Rec Room was unable to join certain public rooms. If the content was inappropriate for their age, they were not granted access. In public rooms they could access, they were unable to communicate with other users. The focus for Junior players was the fun of the game itself rather than socialisation.

Browsing Rec Net

Outside of the game itself, users could login to Rec.net for more experiences. Users could shop using in-game tokens as well as real-world currency. They could also more easily browse player-made content such as inventions, worlds and games. From there, users could select Rec Room games they wanted to play, which will open the Rec Room application.

Children with Junior Accounts did not have access to the Shop section of Rec Net. Their in-game spending could also be limited from the parent account.

Rec Room did not have much controversy in the news. The following risks applied to Rec Room with guidance that can apply to other online games.

Communicating with strangers

Teens are not restricted in who they can talk to in Rec Room, so it’s important to talk with them about keeping personal information private. They should also be aware that people are not always who they say they are.

Explore our advice hub on grooming to know what to look for and what to discuss to keep your child safe.

In-game spending

Like many other online games, in-game tokens can be purchased and earned in Rec Room. Spending these tokens lets users customise avatars and dorm rooms among other things. It’s important to speak with your child about managing their spending online.

Additionally, parents can manage spending abilities on Junior Accounts with their Rec Net login. Learn more about how to manage Junior Accounts with Rec Room’s parent’s guide.

Inappropriate content

While Rec Room does what it can to limit inappropriate content, some may fall through the filters. Oftentimes, it might take a user reporting content on a platform for the moderation team to remove something.

Have regular conversations with your child about what they do and see in Rec Room or on Rec Net. This will help you stay on top of what they’re doing or seeing. Furthermore, ensure they know how to block or report inappropriate content by exploring the platform together.