A new VR gadget is currently in the works by Palmer Luckey, the VR industry millionaire, a virtual reality headset that could kill the user in real life if they lose in the game.
A terrifyingly common science-fiction concept for decades, Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and designer of Oculus Rift, is working on bringing this to reality.
The announcement was made on his personal blog in a post titled ‘if you die in the game, you die in real life.’
“If their hit points dropped to zero, their brain would be bombarded by extraordinarily powerful microwaves, supposedly killing the user,” the blog post explains.
Luckey explains that he has always been fascinated by with the idea of tying real life to virtual avatars, ” you instantly raise the stakes to the maximum level and force people to fundamentally rethink how they interact with the virtual world and the players inside it.”
Virtual reality has been a way to make the virtual world seem more realistic but this concept takes the idea to a whole new level by implementing real life consequences to a virtual game.
Luckey announced that the progress of creating this deadly VR gear is halfway, three explosive charge modules are built into the headset that will detect a red flash from the ‘game over’ screen that will be set into the game by developers. Once the ‘game over’ screen is displayed, the charges from the modules will instantly fire, destroying the brain of the user.
To make the consequences stronger than they already are, Luckey plans to implement an anti-tamper mechanism that will make it impossible for the user to remove or destroy the headset.
For now, the piece is just office art for the individuals of Oculus, a though provoking reminder of unexplored avenues in game design.
“See you in the metaverse,” Luckey concludes.
Follow us on
