What happens when we die? This new virtual reality “death simulator” lets you find out
What happens when you die is the world’s greatest mystery, but virtual reality may help take people’s fears of the afterlife to rest.
Artist Sean Gladwell has developed an immersive near-death experience that guides participants through the lulls of life, from cardiac arrest to brain death, giving them a glimpse of what might happen in their final moments.
The simulation also features an out-of-body segment, allowing users to look down on their dead bodies as they float above them.
One TikToker Who went through the experiment, known as croom12, explained that he lay on a bed that vibrated when he was flat and saw doctors fail to resuscitate him.
He also said that the experience may cause people anxiety, and you can quit smoking at any time.
A new virtual reality experience that simulates what it feels like to die. The simulation also features an out-of-body part, allowing users to look down on their dead bodies as they float above them.
Many people have died and come back to share their experiences, which usually include seeing a light at the end of a dark tunnel, hearing the voices of loved ones and even the cries of the damned.
However, once the heart stops beating, one cannot be sure of what lies ahead.
Gladwell hopes to help people come to terms with the inevitable in an immersive world that appears to them and simulates what it feels like to die.
His “Passing Electrical Storms” was shown at the Melbourne Now event in Australia, which is described as a “participatory XR experience with deep impact and an ‘out of body’ nature”.
Participants lie on a replica hospital bed, put on an XR stethoscope and undergo cardiac arrest, an attempt to revive, die and an out-of-body experience that transcends life and planet Earth.
It is said to be “contemplative and disturbing”.
Another VR headset also focuses on death, but its creator claims the device kills users when they die in a game.
The NerveGear, created by 30-year-old Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, said the innovation instantly “brain-wrecks” when a person loses.
“Passing Electrical Storms” was shown at Australia’s Melbourne Now event, described as a “participatory XR experience of a deeply affecting and ‘out of body’ nature”
A TikTok user, who took part in the event, said it can cause anxiety
The company used an Oculus headset but added three “explosive charging units” aimed at the user’s skull.
When a user nearly dies during gameplay, units shoot him in the head, killing them instantly.
Loki admitted that the device isn’t finished yet, and he’ll likely have trouble getting permission to use it even when he is.
Luckey, who sold his company Oculus to Meta for $3 billion in 2014 at the age of 21, described the “amazing” device in a blog post.
He said: ‘The idea of connecting your real life to your virtual avatar has always fascinated me – you immediately raise the stakes to the limit and force people to fundamentally rethink how they interact with the virtual world and the players within it.
Huge graphics might make the game look more realistic, but only the threat of catastrophic consequences makes the game feel real to you and everyone else in the game.
Another VR headset also focuses on death, but its creator claims the device kills users when they die in a game. Created by 30-year-old Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, NerveGear said the innovation immediately ‘damages the brain’ when a person loses
“This is an area of video game mechanics that has never been explored, despite the long history of real-world esports with similar stakes.”
The device is inspired by Sword Art Online, the anime series that features the VR game of the same name, and can be accessed using a helmet called a NerveGear, which stimulates the user’s five senses via their minds.
In this series, players can pilot their in-game characters and control them with their minds while wearing a NerveGear.
But when 10,000 players log into the online game for the first time, they discover that they are unable to log out – and that removing their helmet would prove fatal.
“A mad scientist has trapped players inside a game of death from which they can only escape once they are finished,” Loki explained.