The creator of Oculus, Palmer Lucky, created a VR device that kills – murders, destroys, takes your life, whatever nice way of putting it – it’s users if they die in the game they are playing. Lucky said he was inspired by the anime ‘Sword Art Online’ which has a similar premise to the device’s functions.
Now for the real question…what the hell kind of dystopia are we living in?
When interviewed, Lucky stated the following:
“The idea of tying your real life to your virtual avatar has always fascinated me – 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”.
Yes, raising the stakes to maximum level is exactly what players want. So next time you’re playing Pokemon, and your Bidoof gets annihilated by Barry’s Atreus, you can truly experience what it’s like for your deity to vaporise you on the spot.
“Only the threat of serious consequences can make a game feel real to you and every other person in the game,” Lucky continued.
In real life there are things called ‘Extreme Sports’, now it seems that there exists ‘Extreme Gaming’.
Explaining how it worked, Lucky said:
“the device is connected to three explosive charge modules that are tied to a narrow-band photosensor that can detect when the screen flashes red at a specific frequency. When an appropriate game-over screen is displayed, the charges fire, instantly destroying the brain of the user”
But it looks like the extreme gamers are going to have to wait, as Lucky has only figured out “half that kills you”.
I for one, will now be setting all my games on Easy mode.
