4 ms·

Would You Give a Virtual Electric Shock to an Avatar?

• oblib 8y ago
  Back around the late `90s there was a tourist attraction setup outside in Branson, MO. It was a very early version of a VR game. Two people climbed into a platform that was like a boxing ring and were given a toy gun and a helmet that displayed a wireframe VR image of the platform you were in. Our kids played and then urged my wife and I to do it, so we did. It took me a minute or so to get my bearings, but my wife was completely lost. She was just spinning circles in her corner of the ring, basically a sitting duck. Our kids were laughing and yelling "Shoot her, shoot her". I couldn't do it. I felt awful for even participating in a game where that was the goal. Later on I got a copy of Wolfenstein and played it a bit, and had fun at first, but not for long. The same thing happened. I just didn't like the idea of running around killing, even it when it was cartoon Nazis. Nowadays I don't even like watching videos of gamers playing shoot `em up games. I admire the tech, but I just can't play those kinds of games.