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VR Company Co-Founder Spends an Entire Week in a VR Headset (pcgamer.com)
An anonymous reader quotes PC Gamer:
Not too long into a 168-hour VR marathon session, Jak Wilmot admits the monotony got to him. Wilmot, who is the co-founder of Disrupt VR, also says this experiment is "quite possibly the dumbest thing" he's ever done. So, why do it? For science, of course. I can't imagine immersing myself in a virtual world for a full week, nonstop night and day. Wilmot did it, though, for the most part -- he allowed himself 30 seconds to switch VR headsets when needed, and 30 seconds without a headset on to eat, if required. Other than those small breaks, he spent every other moment in VR...
There doesn't seem to be some big takeaway from this experiment (aside from, perhaps, don't drink coffee while playing VR), though one thing I also found interesting was his integration back into the real world when the experiment was over. "I have never appreciated the smell of outside air so much. One thing we cannot replicate is nature. We can do it visually and auditorally, but there is something about the energy of outside that is amazing," Wilmot observed.
PC Gamer calls it "probably at least partially a publicity stunt. But it's still interesting to see how donning a VR headset for an extended period of time and essentially living in virtual worlds can mess with the mind." Wilmot wore VR gear while working -- and even while showering (with the VR gear protected by plastic), blacking out his windows so he couldn't tell day from night, calling it "a week in the future..."
"I almost feel like I'm in my own 500-suare-foot spaceship," he says at one point, "and I'm really missing earth, and I'm missing nature." Early on he also reported some mild claustrophobia.
You can watch the moment where after seven days he removes the headset and returns to conventional reality, joking "Oh my gosh, the graphics are so good." He reports a slight disorientation as his eyes catch up with real ilfe, and says it changed his perspective on people in the real world, seeing them as "individuals in one collection, one environment -- as avatars."
There doesn't seem to be some big takeaway from this experiment (aside from, perhaps, don't drink coffee while playing VR), though one thing I also found interesting was his integration back into the real world when the experiment was over. "I have never appreciated the smell of outside air so much. One thing we cannot replicate is nature. We can do it visually and auditorally, but there is something about the energy of outside that is amazing," Wilmot observed.
PC Gamer calls it "probably at least partially a publicity stunt. But it's still interesting to see how donning a VR headset for an extended period of time and essentially living in virtual worlds can mess with the mind." Wilmot wore VR gear while working -- and even while showering (with the VR gear protected by plastic), blacking out his windows so he couldn't tell day from night, calling it "a week in the future..."
"I almost feel like I'm in my own 500-suare-foot spaceship," he says at one point, "and I'm really missing earth, and I'm missing nature." Early on he also reported some mild claustrophobia.
You can watch the moment where after seven days he removes the headset and returns to conventional reality, joking "Oh my gosh, the graphics are so good." He reports a slight disorientation as his eyes catch up with real ilfe, and says it changed his perspective on people in the real world, seeing them as "individuals in one collection, one environment -- as avatars."
As his company will have virtually no income.
"and 30 seconds without a headset on to eat, if required." - This dude is a weirdo, the virtual reality thing nonwithstanding...
Every dealer knows: Don't touch the product!
Why write an article about what someone admits is a publicity stunt? It's only going to encourage more of this type of idiotic and otherwise purposeless behavior. Sure maybe if it's some random kid that did it out of their own genuine curiosity and you've stumbled across the blog post or silly YouTube video that they made about it, but this is really just a marketing piece.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised to find out that a little bit of money changed hands over this either. In looking at the other articles by the author, it seems like a few of them are just blatant product shilling pieces based on the titles: "Netgear's new router aims to make you a better gamer by lowering lag", "Microsoft’s ‘Phantom White’ Xbox controller is gorgeous and available to preorder", and "Corsair’s $100 lapboard has a built-in joystick for casual gaming in the living room".
So, why do it? For science, of course.
So "science" is the new marketing? This company will fail at both.
Was Wilmot wearing the headset while sitting on the toilet the entire time?
The only breaks they mention without a headset were to switch headsets and to eat.
What about taking a shit or getting laid? I'm picturing an SNL/South Park/etc spoof where he shits in the kitchen sink. Or a toothless crack head is blowing him while his VR headset shows natalie portman.
I guess that's actually 2 questions.
Maybe he should try some real-life CR frogger next?
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Maybe it's all VR. And he was like inside VR inside VR.
Collusion established easily, in fact.
.. I will sell them and be richier than Richy Rich.
Come on one weekend in VR or was there a VR-loo too?
> there is something about the energy of outside that is amazing
You never know what you got till it's gone.
blacking out his windows so he couldn't tell day from night
Was this for the times when he took the headset off to eat or switch to a new, non smelly one? Because I don't see why it would matter if he's seeing nothing but VR. (or did they do it as an AR thing and are just saying it was VR?)
headsets in use by now?
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How many times did he miss the bowl? Who checked the toilet paper for him? I sure hope he washed his hands.
He should have gotten an Eye Exam before and after this experiment.
Spending extended periods of time at a fixed focal length of only 1" isn't going to do your eyes much good.
That's even worse than keeping your eyes glued to a computer screen 24/7, you've not even a distant wall to look at.
If you read the article, the summary omits a very important detail... he spent most of his time with a headset that had a live video feed of his surroundings. So, he didn't spend a week in "VR" as much as spend a week with a simulated visual impairment.
This is important. If you involuntarily spent an entire week immersed in a true immersive VR environment, you'd either become VIOLENTLY ill, you'd experience a literal dissociative psychotic break after a few days, or both. Seriously, read the descriptions of what it's like for someone who's relatively "VR-adapted" to take off the headset and feel oddly disconnected from their seemingly "unreal" physical surroundings for a while... then compare that description to the symptoms of depersonalization/derealization disorder.
I mean, it's a damn good thing modern-day VR didn't exist during the Cold War, let alone Nazi Germany. I honestly think being involuntarily restrained and fully-immersed in an intentionally-malicious VR environment designed to fuck you up as badly as possible would be worse than sensory deprivation. The sad fact is that intense, fully-immersive virtual reality is kind of like being in a relationship with an abusive spouse you can't bring yourself to leave because you also have so much fun together.
If you think you're immune to VR sickness, get an Oculus Go and try playing a game like immersive first-person VR Quake for an hour. And if by some miracle THAT doesn't get you sick, try playing the "ISS" game... but move around smoothly using the D-pad instead of lurching from grab-bar to grab-bar or teleporting.
This is why I'm such a huge fan of mixed and augmented reality... mixed/augmented-reality doesn't make me get sick. My brain can deal with having things synthesized and anchored into my surroundings... it can't deal with the sensory assault of having my senses in total contradiction. IMHO, immersive virtual reality that doesn't involve using cameras to transform it into augmented reality is an evolutionary dead end. With immersive VR, every sensory problem you solve just creates 5 NEW (and worse) problems. With mixed reality, you can abseil through the uncanny valley and laugh at the contradictions. With fully-immersive VR, it's more like parachuting into the uncanny valley while getting shot at with real bullets.
It's a great technology, but have to keep in mind that it will damage your eyes if you won't take care of them. To start with, i would suggest you going with antiaging-health.com.au/can-c_eye-drops that can strengthen your eyes muscles and reduce damage overall.