“The first gamers to get their hands on the full Oculus Rift have noticed embarrassing side-effects to wearing Facebook’s virtual reality headset,” Sarah Griffiths reports for The Daily Mail. “While the $599 (£417) gadget may immerse them in realistic fantasy scenes, it has left some users with red-faced – literally. The awkward marks have been dubbed ‘Oculus face’ or ‘Rift rash’ and are part of the perils of the innovative technology.”
“Journalists Ben Popper of The Verge and Steve Kovash and Ben Gilbert, from TechInsider shared photos of themselves with Oculus face on Twitter, with Mr Popper writing: ‘The new walk of shame: Oculus face after a VR bender,'” Griffiths reports. “The first batch of gamers are receiving the headsets, with more reports of ‘Oculus face’ expected, because the headset has just been shipped to buyers.”
https://twitter.com/stevekovach/status/714567978680000512
“The bigger concern, instead, is the fact they are also causing some people to feel sick,” Griffiths reports. “The low-latency headsets from Oculus, HTC and Sony are intended to right the nausea-inducing wrongs of their VR predecessors from 20 years ago, but many users still report feeling woozy after using souped-up systems, such as the Oculus Rift. There’s still concern the immersive technology may force players to lose more than a battle with an alien. They could also lose their lunch.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Rift rash is the 21st century’s hairy palms evinced.
A different kind of “O-face”…
“O-O-O-O!!!! You know what I am talking about!”
That said, I don’t see why this is any reason for embarrassment. They’re temporary impressions on the face that’ll be gone within an hour. It’s a geeky activity (for now), but hardly shameful since geek culture has sufficient acceptance nowadays.
Search for images of “ski goggle face” and tell me that isn’t far worse and longer lasting.
Dramamine.
For the View-master fetishists out there.
Google Cardboard v2: Works great with iPhone, but if you play more than 10-15 mins, it will give you vertigo, seasickness, etc. Looks like that goes with the VR territory.
Fast moving perspective will do it without VR.. First person games will do that now for some people on just a TV or displa.. I wonder how many will get vertigo in the theater when “Hardcore Harry” is released. Add 3D glasses and expect a technicolor yawn-fest. 😀
If this ever takes off (which it won’t) we’ll need a new word for this new breed of Glassholes.
Maybe Riftjobs? Dorkulus Rifts? Help me out here.
Grifters?
Maroons?
There will probably be a few more attempts at this with similar poor results and then….
BOOM….Apple will release the real version that actually works.
This technology is utter garbage and will cause numerous optical and mental problems for frequent users. Augmented reality is the one to wait for.
I can’t wait to see where this tech leads.
The potential for gaming is certainly massive.
Wow that looks really stupid! hahahaha!
Apple is an observer right now and see the wackiness of the so call VR revolution.
Apple is actually at it but like many of Apple technologies, it will be sheer and feel like a natural extension of our being. A challenge that is big enough to take a step back, look at the global development and not rush in…
Those VR Goggle are the opposite of Apple product mentality…
Mask squeeze (ask any SCUBA diver)
Goes with the territory.
Ditto for the nausea.
Oculus is probably better than most, but not impervious to this.
Heck, I remember getting sick in Disney’s 360-degree theater in the 1960s. This is nothing new.
I would add one more item to your list. That is ‘Eye infections’.
A friend of mine tried a demo model of the Oculus Rift at a local Best Buy store. The next day he developed an eye infection that required medical treatment. This should be a warning for Oculus owners to NOT share their headsets… or perhaps this should be viewed as a business opportunity for someone to create ‘disposable Rift gleaning cloths’.
VR seasickness can never be eliminated, the brain is not wired to process the dissonance and eye muscle tension of watching “3D” moving images…. great for short large format disney attractions but not for Rift. just another passing fad with embarrasing consequences for facebook et al ala google glass.
Unbelievable!! Serious facial rash from Occulus VR. Looks & feels like a combination of sunburn & poison ivy everywhere the goggles touched! Must be a chemical they are using. Avoid until fixed! What idiotic company releases such a device without testing?