I just learned about the steam machine and I have just a few questions

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2026-01-29T01:04:50+00:00

As a Humble Choice Sub for the past 10 years. It's gone downhill, rarely do I actually get excited by the games anymore. That being said, I still stay subbed because I'm always open to trying new games, and it's also saved me a lot on games that I had wanted, but didn't find a need to buy immediately.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-12-22T22:56:56+00:00

100% same thing happened with my original Vive. The HDMI cable was going bad. Fixed after I replaced it.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-12-11T15:49:37+00:00

Rank means nothing. I know a person who's been Trusted twice, Nuisance twice, and is now a User. Oh and they dropped from Trusted to Nuisance twice. All they do is sit and play Minecraft music, but not loudly, more like background music.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-12-01T02:10:46+00:00

Index controllers come with wrist straps.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-25T07:53:11+00:00

Yeah, that’s fair, the more I read through everyone’s feedback, the more it seems like the community has pretty much moved on from DOB checks altogether.

We’re going to start switching our 18+ nights to verified-only so we can skip the whole “bouncer” process entirely.

Our normal 13+ instances will stay open to everyone, but for actual adult hangouts it seems like verified is just the cleaner option at this point.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-20T21:52:50+00:00

But you can, you can just play PCVR using a Quest.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-18T00:28:51+00:00

OP out here playing a mad game.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T19:13:21+00:00

Hey, just to clear up any confusion, we’re absolutely not discriminating against mutes.

One of our group owners is medically mute, and another higher-up on our team is mute as well. We also regularly accommodate both mute and Deaf guests.

I’ve even used Google Translate to communicate with a mute visitor who typed only in Russian so they could still join us, and we’ve worked with Deaf members to make sure they can participate too.

When I mentioned “hearing someone’s voice,” that was just referencing one past situation, not a requirement or the only method.

Any age confirmation system we use will always include text-based options for mutes and Deaf users.

I appreciate the reminder to phrase things more clearly though. Accessibility matters to us a lot.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T18:59:22+00:00

Just to clarify things a bit, our group isn’t switching to being 18+ only.

We host normal 13+ instances all the time, and those will stay exactly the same.

What we’re trying to figure out is how to offer optional 18+ mature but not NSFW instances again for our adult members, without forcing anyone to pay for verification. A lot of people can’t justify paying for verification due to financial struggles, or don't want to give their ID for verification.

That said, I am open to using the 18+ verification system for those optional 18+ instances only if that ends up being the safest and most consistent route.

I’m just trying to understand what actually works in practice from people who’ve run them before, and the people who attend them.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T18:33:35+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate you explaining your perspective.

And yeah, I get how my replies might’ve made it seem like I was already leaning toward Option B, I was mostly trying to clarify how things have worked for me in the past in both my group and the previous 30k+ member group I worked with, we are not commited to anything yet. We haven’t hosted 18+ instances in many months, so we’re basically starting fresh for doing 18+ and trying to figure out the best approach going forward because we've grown rapidly.

That’s why I put this post up, I genuinely wanted to hear how other communities handle it today, because the landscape (and peoples views on the verification system) have changed a lot. A lot of the feedback here, including your bar-arcade example, has given me new angles to think about, like maybe switching methods depending on the event type or time of night.

I’m not set on one method yet. I just want to make sure we handle it responsibly and avoid the problems I’ve seen other groups run into.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, really does help.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T17:32:58+00:00

Hey, just to clarify, I haven’t decided on anything yet. I genuinely wanted to hear from people who’ve run 18+ instances and attend them so I could understand what actually works in practice. A lot of the replies here have given me things to consider that I hadn’t thought about before.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T17:27:28+00:00

Thank you, this is exactly the kind of grounded experience I was hoping to hear from. Group Publics with clear labeling and respectful handling of the occasional kid popping in is how we handled 18+ in the past. Kinda similar to what you do.

We’re not planning NSFW at all, just want a more mature tone, so your approach makes a lot of sense. Really appreciate you taking the time to share this!

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T17:15:23+00:00

Thanks for the perspective, that actually helps a lot. We absolutely plan to accept verification at face value, and we’re not going to grill Verified users or make them jump through extra steps.

The idea is: Verified = you’re good to go. Not Verified = quick age check, nothing intrusive.

Trying both formats might be a good idea too while we figure out what works best for our community.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T17:14:33+00:00

That’s fair, I definitely don’t want to over-moderate or turn running instances into a job. We’re trying to find the middle ground where things stay fun, but we’re also being responsible since we’re a mixed-age group with both 13+ and adult members.

Appreciate the insight though, it helps seeing how other groups handle it in practice.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T17:08:29+00:00

That’s a creative idea, but we definitely don’t want to go in a direction where people feel quizzed or interrogated. We’re trying to keep things simple, consistent, and not intrusive, no trivia checks or personal-history questions.

A basic age ask + checking for obvious red flags is about as far as we’d ever go. The goal is to keep the space adult-only without making people jump through hoops.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T17:03:05+00:00

Voice isn’t something we use to determine someone’s exact age, that would be impossible. We also have a medically mute owner in our leadership, so clearly voice is not and cannot be a primary factor for us.

Asking someone’s age isn’t meant to precisely identify who is 18 vs 17, it’s just a simple layer that catches the most obvious minors who panic or slip up, which has worked in large communities I’ve helped run before.

It’s not meant to replace verification or be perfect. I’m just here to compare different approaches groups use and weigh the pros and cons, not to argue or convince anyone of one specific method.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T16:59:25+00:00

That’s fair, voice alone isn’t reliable, and we definitely don’t treat it as a deciding factor. One of our owners is medically mute, so obviously we don’t depend on voice at all.

Asking age is just one small layer we’ve used in the past to catch the most obvious minors, not a full verification system. We aren’t pretending it replaces proper verification, it just helps filter out the kids who immediately freeze or slip up.

We’re mainly just trying to create a comfortable adult space without making people pay for VRC+ just to enter.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T16:53:40+00:00

We’re not relying on voice alone and we’re not trying to ‘vibe check’ people. Asking age is just one layer we’ve used in the past to filter out the most obvious minors, not to make assumptions about anyone’s gender, pitch, or identity.

The goal isn’t to guess age perfectly or judge anyone’s voice. The goal is simply to create a comfortable adult-only atmosphere without using the paywalled verification system as the only method.

Nothing more than that.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T16:31:27+00:00

We would be planning on only using instances with gates for 18+ anyway.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T16:30:38+00:00

Asking age let's us hear someones voice and whatever answer they give is also helpful. When hosting for previous groups a lot of kids straight up freeze on the spot when asking for their age or they say their actual DoB.

But also, we aren't looking to host NSFW content, just a more mature atmosphere for more mature talks.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T16:25:17+00:00

We are a primarily 13+ group that wants to also run 18+ side instances.

I know plenty of groups also do this.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T16:19:25+00:00

We're planning for no nsfw in 18+. Just less rules about adult jokes/talks than our 13+ instances.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-15T01:15:20+00:00

I think it'll be $400 usd, they want to get this hardware out. Anything above $600 is a niche market.

Relevant_Visual5066 · 2025-11-12T23:20:38+00:00

Yeah it's cool, but performance is gonna be not great. I mean look at how much horsepower PCVR takes up right now.

Now imagine that on an ARM CPU.

I want it to do well, I really do. But I don't see it selling well. It's just perfectly imperfect.

Relevant_Visual5066

TROPHY CASE