Ah virtual reality: a technology that holds the promise of transporting us to a never-before-seen world only to immediately horrify us into a full-body seizure by throwing hordes of zombies at us.
At least that’s how graphic designer Carrie Glaser’s first VR experience went down. Glaser, who stars in the above video, was trying the survival-horror game “The Brookhaven Experiment” at her job at Zooka Creative since as she put it, “My coworkers are evil and knew that would be a good one to put me through.”
“The Brookhaven Experiment” isn’t for the faint of heart. Available for the HTC Vive, the game sticks you in a small circle in the dark of night with nothing but a slowly dying flashlight and little ammunition against waves of creepy, pink fleshy zombies.
“I got hooked up and started shooting, and I’m not really good at video games in general. And the swarm started coming in and I freaked out and lost all control. It was terrifying,” she recounted.
So to avoid the monstrous swarm closing in on her, Glaser did the first thing that came to her mind: She looked at the ground. That, unfortunately, only made things worse, as the zombies came so close to her that she could see their feet. And, well, you saw what happened next.
Here’s the thing, though. Glaser’s experience is far from unique. Just check out the recent video of a grandmother trying out “Jurassic Park VR.” Hell, I played a demo of the PlayStation VR game “Until Dawn: Rush of Blood” with my fiancée and friends at a Sony event and let out such a shrill scream I’m still shocked I wasn’t asked to stop playing and leave the building.
I’ve watched people wearing VR headsets like the Vive and Rift try to climb in-game ladders and physically move their legs as if they were climbing actual ladders. The experience just feels that real. And once you get to try it, you’ll love it. In the meantime, continue to enjoy those videos of everyone else looking insane.
Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.