Accident During Virtual Reality Session Leads to Man's Death - MMORPG.com News

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Accident During Virtual Reality Session Leads to Man's Death - MMORPG.com News

A 44-year-old man was found dead late last week after apparently falling into a glass table and being cut so severely that he bled out. The accident happened while he was wearing a virtual reality headset and could not see his immediate surroundings. Preliminary findings may indicate that "the game was not properly mapped to the size of his apartment" and resulted in the fall and death. Officials have launched an investigation into the incident after the man's body was found by his mother.

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MaxBacon

Room mapping by the game? hm

Renoaku

New warning labels?

Arskaaa

world is not VR ready yet.

Elsabolts

Who ever said Lawyers did not get any work over the holidays was wrong, the glass table manufacture grossly negligent causeing the bleed-out of said snowflake.

ishist

I have to cheat my room mapping a bit to get it to conform to the required size. That's probably what happened here.

RolanStorm

Horrible. First casualty of VR, as predicted.

jdnewell

That's why I won't be getting vr. Not being able to see my surroundings doesn't appeal to me.

Raquis

I`ll never buy a VR its the same as a sensory deprivation chamber you are exposing your mind to other entities.

Tiamat64

System said:

The creator of Cloudlands: VR Minigolf even stated that he found himself a bit concerned when he found himself on the balcony of an 18-story building while playing his own game.

....yea, that's definitely something to be a "bit concerned" about.

At a some arcades IIRC, they had like, chambers for their VR machines.  If VR ever becomes big, the casualties are only going to increase and those chambers are one of the only things that could truly be safe about those things.  But those are way too expensive and take up way too much room for the average human being to afford so if those things became mandatory, that would kill VR on the spot.

Maybe there's another solution to that future Catch 22.  As it is, if VR grows to be a big thing and cases of these incidents likely increase, I don't think the law will tolerate some self-regulation like "You must have this much amount of free space before you make yourself completely unaware of your surroundings" nor will the populace be able to follow such requirements or would they matter (considering that a guy ended up on his balcony like that).

moshra

Regulations don't need to be put in place.  Make sure the consumers know the dangers of what they are doing, and let them decided if they are going to participate.  

Raquis

watch and see the plans for your future;)
it starts getting good at 1 min. also, you can watch the full exposure in a link below this video on his channel.

Allerleirauh

With new technology comes new ways to die. You'd think that wouldn't be the case when you are supposed safe inside your home, but anything can happen.

Consoles come with a warning label for those that are prone to having seizures, and of course, with VR that risk (among others increase).

I personally like to be aware of my surroundings, so I don't think VR is for me.

Shodanas

According to an online news site the man was playing a Star Wars game and was oblivious about him bleeding until it was too late.

moshra

Shodanas said:

According to an online news site the man was playing a Star Wars game and was oblivious about him bleeding until it was too late.

Maybe he saw himself get struck by a light saber and assumed the wound would be cauterized.

JeffSpicoli

Surprised it took this long, Although my money would have been on someone getting bashed in the head via a VR hand remote launching out of someones grip .

MadFrenchie

jdnewell said:

That's why I won't be getting vr. Not being able to see my surroundings doesn't appeal to me.

That's one of the largest reasons I don't think VR will be as popular as some think.  There's a vulnerability to being completely shut off from the reality of your surroundings.  It creates a distinct feeling of unease.

Octagon7711

That's why I prefer AR reality.  VR cuts you off from your environment.  AR will be used in regular looking glasses, allowing a person to use it indoors, outdoors, and from room to room, not just in one set location.

eddieg50

He is a hero, he gave his life for VR--without risk there is no reward

Albatroes

If I can't participate in VR through a capsule/pod like in the matrix, then I'm not interested in it

3dom

To me VR experience has started and ended in 1996 (or 97): a friend of mine has played with VFX-1 (or whatever it was called) helm for couple hours and ended up in local hospital with damaged neck vertebrae.

mgilbrtsn

Eeeiiiieeee.  A person dies and it's the VRapoclypse.  Car wrecks to accidental stabbing from kitchen ware.  Things happen in the world.  We cannot bubble wrap ourselves out of living.  Walking deaths from cell phones and ppl huffing glue.  Getting gored by a bull in Spain to ppl drinking too much water.

Ppl die.  VR is hardly gonna go thin the herd too much.  Although I think we could use a bit of thinning.

Phry

mgilbrtsn said:

Eeeiiiieeee.  A person dies and it's the VRapoclypse.  Car wrecks to accidental stabbing from kitchen ware.  Things happen in the world.  We cannot bubble wrap ourselves out of living.  Walking deaths from cell phones and ppl huffing glue.  Getting gored by a bull in Spain to ppl drinking too much water.

Ppl die.  VR is hardly gonna go thin the herd too much.  Although I think we could use a bit of thinning.

You do have a point, but i think what it does bring home is the fact that despite everything, the tech for VR is just not there yet.

Sovrath

While I think it's horrible and sad this man died this falls under "the darwin awards".

One is using a visor that removes sight of the entire area. Survey the area for dangers, remove those dangers, remove breakables (because in best case scenario why would you want to wander too close to a breakable item that you can't see while playing a VR game) and make sure the area is safe.

For my VR space I have movie theater barriers defining the space so that I touch them before I get close to anything breakable/important.

One doens't have to go that far but one should at least know that if you can't see your surroundings you need to make sure every attempt is made to "play safely".

Panther2103

Oh man that's no good I feel bad for his family. 

Just move things out of the range of where you are going to be playing the VR games in, don't play it near glass tables, or sharp objects. 

Vrika

While this is horrible, I'd say it's more an accident with a glass table than accident with VR. Having a table that inflicts fatal wounds if you trip over it is not normal.