These days not just isolation drives more and more people to try VR - virtual reality.It is great fun to watch a movie on a huge screen you have on your head and even more fun to actually play games while moving around and dodging bulltes.But when it comes to the famous Oculus headsets we might have to pay a hefty price - several times....Imagine you just forked out the $400 or so bucks for their latest headset and want to get going....It is a standalone device, so how hard can it be?....Pop it on the head, turn it on and follow the instructions that shall come.Well, before you can do this you find a piece of carboard covering your lenses and if you bother to read it you are getting slightly confused - if you are privacy concious person like me.I can set up basically any Android device I like without the need to have another mobile device or computer to do so....Not with Oculus, or to be precise Facebook as the actual company owning Oculus.You first need the Oculus app - appearently because it makes the setup process soooo much easier.How does this two stage initialisation actually work and what are (with FB always) possible privacy concerns?For totally unknown reasons Oculus insist that you need location services to turn on a VR headset for the first time....Without this you won't be able to proceed.Means in reality FB gets your pinpoint home location provided, whether you want them to know or not, whether you have a FB account or not.They also need a "real" Email address.Most freemailers are rejected here, claiming they would not allow for a verification.Disposable Email providers are rejected right away.Depending on your operating system clicking on the confirmation link in your Email will then also provide vital data on the OS, device and Email client you used, and of course the browser.So far so good, or bad...With your Oculus account finally ready you can proceed and try to link your headset to your mobile device to complete the setup.Isn't it great that you can type in your Wifi password on the phone instead of using the headset?Not claiming FB does but it would be dead simply to collect that info from you as and to send it home...Unlike Google Oculusis still unaffected from authorities getting concerned about data hoarding, tracking and privacy exposure.No wonder than that your only option is to agree to all terms and conditions - for everything FB deems fit.If you actually bother to read these terms and conditions two things become clear quickly.1. You basically have to give your identiy to FB unless you cheat properly right from the start and from well before trying to pair your new gadget.2. All concerning privacy and information sharing options will be turned ON BY DEFAULT. It is quite a long process for a new user trying to find the few things you can turn off...After all this you can put the headset on and try to explore - well, not so fast please...There isn't much free content in terms of games or good experiences, so you need a payment option - a verified one....At least this option is not forced on you right away and you CAN continue without setting up a payment option.For now anyway....You are finally there, you made it and can enjoy a 3D environment for the first time!A bit of fun and help from the UI to get you going and it is time to do things...No full game of any use comes installed, so it is the first thing most new users want to try.Not much free games at all, a few Demo games, previews and the rest...Well, let's say IMHO not worth wasting time on unless you are below 13 years of age and like simple shapes.You decide on some Youtube or some of the great 360° experiences on offer and might actually waste your first charge on them.While the thing recharges you start to wonder what else you could do....You have some nice movies in your DVD collection, wouldn't it be great to watch them on the big screen?Let's just say it is quite a hassle to get a real DVD to appear on your headset and play.But things like Netflix are a breeze to set up if you already have an account.For your normal Android, PC, Laptop or MAC you find a huge amount of really good and really free video players.The VR community though is locked out thanks to the content control in the store.Most things start out "free", like Skybox once did so the users can sort out bugs, help to create something users want and value.Then the support ends and there is only a paid version available.Unlike your other devices you won't be able to use the old, free version any more, it just refuses to work.Same for all the demo and preview games, once you start to like it, it is over already.Then you need to pay to keep playing the "real" thing.Frustration sets in as you did nt really buy a 3D headset just to watch some movies and do software testing.You need to buy something to make real use out of the headset.Great thing is that you get a 14 day full refund policy - read it carefully!You basically have about one charge of the batteries to try something new you paid for.Use it for two hours and it is yours forever...Even if you wife called for dinner and you just take the headset off and trust it goes in standby.It does, but unless you used the exit button the time for your new purchase will keep running while you eat.Yes, even a blank screen is standby then counts as time you used the app or game ;)You could accept all this, considering it all new to you and just need to keep an eye or better alarm on the 2 hour mark.Oculus does not like it though if you "test" a lot of things only to ask for a refund.Try 10 or so titles on a long weekend and ask for a refund, then check the response you get for the next weekend of unseccfull testing...For many titles and apps the price is IMHO outrageous!Even things that have been free or dirt cheap for often decades are now sold at a premium.Fruit Ninja, Tetris for the price of a good steak....A $50 "Game" is played through in often less than 2 hours, after that it is the same again and again, you only get more points but won't see anything new.And then there is is this addon or parts thing....You get a free game or experience only to find that most of what you are after is available at additional costs.It is very, very easy to quickly have a collection of a few apps and games that are worth more than the entire VR set....It is a scam...There are not many apps or games to begin with and even less you could label "exclusive".Especially for the Quest and GO Oculus uses ported games and apps - often those who were available for years on their higher end platforms.Often with higher prices than anyone could understand.A port costs you next to nothing, it a more or less automated process....Many things are available with a license of sorts.Steam for example makes it quie easy to use a game you pruchased on multile platforms without ripping you off in the process.You could buy 5 Oculus VR headsets for your family to enjoy lockdown in the virtual world together...Maybe a Quest each for the parents and then some GO's for the kids?Sadly Oculus does not provide anything for owners of multiple devices, unless you mean using a high end PC to stream Steam titles and hope the thing won't start smoking.You would think that if you bought a bunch of devices for the family that you could enjoy things together with ease.Well, every app or game you need will need to paid for every single device at full price...Suddenly watching you movie collection with the family sets you back well over 100 bucks just so that everyone has a player for the movies installed.Doing some family battles in a VR game can set you back $250 with ease!Suddenly a virtual family gets really expensive, really quickly...One of the reasons you find so many second hand devices that were only in use for about a month or two until the owners gave up on VR....Let's sum up what FB does to make a lot of money and collect a potential mountain of information on you in the virtual world:You provide the follwoing freely only to get the thing running:You name and full address - the later confirmed by your GPS location.Any location you use the companion app and pair with your headset, so your firends places as you need to set up a new WiFi connection...Your personal Email address and postal address unless you bought over the counter and decided not to register your device for warranty purpose - and who would need warranty for a device only worth a few hundred bucks.... ;)To really get going you also provide the following:Your credit card details.Accepting that there is no real security to prevent your kids installing what they like in paid apps once a credit card is linked.It is possible but again not really easy and straight forward to set up.Your social media accounts - FB already has you FB account if you used the same Email Address anyway without you making it offcial on your headset.Now, I don't know about you but should I really trust a company like FB would to only the right thing with these informations?? History showed us how much we can trust FB on privacy...Any further hassles?Well, if you do have a lot on you laptop, PC or just phone you do backups, at least you should.Oculus does not really provide such an option.So once you storage space runs out, and it can do so quickly especially on the 64GB models, you need to delete things.Appearently once you bought a title it is your to keep and you could, in theory, just download and install it again - once you deleted other stuff....You can't even connect to any cloud services or network storage you have for this.You need to constantly charge or use a cable with a battery pack/charger.I could not finish a 2.5 hour 3D movie on a single charge....What about community projects?Be it Playstation, Nintendo or just plain Android, you find thriving communities that provide a lot of additional content and usage options.Homebrew is great for everyone.Especially the GO and Quest models are basically nothing more than a stripped down Android phone with a split screen.Means Android or Android TV apps that can cope without any Google services and frameworks will work just fine.FB does not like this much so and makes it very hard to utilise what you might simply call emulators.Unless the Android(TV) app supports the gesture and controller setup Oculus provides many things just won't work as you need them, for example pinching to zoom in and out or tapping on the screen if the app expect a real touchscreen.An emulator would basically convert what is available in gesture and controller actions into what a "normal" app or game would expect.Some game controllers are supported but would it be great to move around for real while exploring your 3D game and to use your own hand to perform actions istead of holding an additional game controller?Oculus does not support "Thrid Party or homebrew", depending on how you read their agreements you accepted, it means your account might be banned, rendering your expensive device useless for any offcial stuff.There are unofficial, or if you like homebrew stores available.A place where you find early stages of new titles to try out, some free content and also experimental stuff.At your own risk and frustration though ;)A great project that never made it due to the complications with Oculus/FB was a robotics VR app.The goal was to control a robot or even mobile one, like a rover, through the headset and controllers/hands.The project ended when it was clear FB would not provide the required API stuff unless the app is devleoped under Oculus terms and conditions.Needless to say it quickly continued on a higher level for military use and remote bomb disposal.Some othe, private company saw the actual potetial in homebrew and snatched the developer off.Can't blame the guy considering the money...The main concern for any serious "hacker" providing real homebrew solutions are the offcial terms and conditions.Google for example still works o your Android phone if you install some custom firmware.You can even keep using the Samsung store and Apps if you did install homebrew on such a phone.Not to mention that you also install basically any other unofficial store you like on top.What you ultimately do with your device is up to you and might only affect your warranty based on claims that not always make sense.Oculus however reserves the right to terminate all access to their online features.This can include but might not be limited to:Updates, online store access, online features provided by Oculus and online features provided by apps and games from the official store.The concern here is that it basically means not a single Oculus app keeps working as they all call home once online.Games requiring Oculus services, like purchasing the next part of the experience fail then as well.And if played hard it means your linked account means even you favourite video player will fail to work.So far Oculus only made it hard and then even harder to give homebrew or alternative uses a chance.Not too many developers want to be responsible if their testers or users get banned and their devices rendered basically useless.What about predators?Vr is still a new thing in most parts of the world, some are already hooked in great numbers though.Especially in Asia Vr seems to be the new future already.Hackers showed in the past how easy it is to enter a room on a Oculus device and stay invisible, listen to conversations and even access the camera feed and take control of linked computers.Good hackers though who did this for the right reasons and results - those backdoors were closed.But it shows nothing is perfect, especially if age and content control is left to the user alone.VR works best with friends and if you don't have any (with a headset) you quickly find them with your heaset active.Many titles are "kid friendly" so to say and still offer chat options and virtual contact.No kid can buy these toys, so the responsibilty is entirely placed on the adults providing the technology to the kid(s) - usually the parent or unsuspecting family member thinking a VR headset is great xmas present for the teen..."Groomers" not only know what to say and when, they also know quickly if the watch a kid play and once they had a few minutes of chat they get ready.I have small kids in the family and with lockdown we are often reduced to doing things online instead.If you enter one of these virtual worlds and appear and act like a kid you soon find "new friends" especially if you pretend to by shy and prefer to be left alone.In the real world you won't find any kids bothering to become your friend if you act like this.The virtual world however seems to have an endless supply of kids like you and desperate to find a friend thinking and suffering the same....We all know how many of these kids are real on normal social media platforms and how reluctant they are to let the parents check on each other to allow these "play dates"....You might be able to monitor and moderate a written chat platform, no so much though if everyone is talking for real....A growing concer here is the nice option these VR chatplatforms offer to create "private" rooms.Be it for just chats and playing with wirtual Lego or to share a nice movie, there is an option for everyone.Parents usually don't bother to set up a screen for monitoring of what happens on their kids VR system, maybe they should...They don't see what the kid does and since it can get annoying, headphones are prefered, close the door and no one hears what the kids talks, if anyone cares.There are already pages on the dark web with all the required instructions to set up "a most pleasurable" VR experience - you just read them down so even a 6 year old can install and set up what is required - again use the few parental guidance options available on these headsets.So far the real risk is limited by the simple fact that not every sexual predator uses VR and that not too many kids (yet) have access to headsets.Does not mean there isn't planty of options to use their phone and some "CARDBOARD" to get going without a headset.There does not seem any concern to protect underaged kids in the virtual world - let their parents do it...Keep that in mind when handing over a VR headset for kids to use unsupervised for long periods of time...