VR, Full Body movement and Seizures.

[Syrellaris]

I don't know if any of you caught wind of what happened in VRchat and a player having a seizure. The video of the person having a seizure can be found HERE, together with Rogue Shadow giving his thoughts on the matter and after watching it, I did think about how we could prevent seizures, as well as what to do if players in VR realms witness such an event.

My question to you is however, How do you think developers and players alike could prevent or deal with matters like these?

[Anonymous]

Probably avoid using flashing lights and stuff...won't be doing that with my game though because a flashing light every now and then for a survival horror game is pretty much essential lol 😄

[Anonymous]

Hang on. There's a few women on VR Chat! Nobody told me about this before!!!

@vannagirl you may have competition! 😛

[Morgrum]

snowdog said:

Hang on. There's a few women on VR Chat! Nobody told me about this before!!!

@vannagirl you may have competition! 😛

Those are FBI agents and fat guys named Ted in their moms basement.

[hoppingbunny123]

Thinning of the herd is always sad.  :'( :'(

[vannagirl]

Morgrum said:

snowdog said:

Hang on. There's a few women on VR Chat! Nobody told me about this before!!!

@vannagirl you may have competition! 😛

Those are FBI agents and fat guys named Ted in their moms basement.

Hahahahahaha

I spat my glorious first coffee of the day to that 

[vannagirl]

On a serious note that must of been scary 

Were they seizure sufferers or was it a previous medical emergency??

Obviously seizures occur in many situations it is something to be aware of in VR and how devs approach their titles in respect of epilepsy

 

[Syrellaris]

Yeah, I wonder if VR will have more risk of triggering seizures in people then the regular flashing lights and so on would do.
I also wonder if there is something players can do if they see a person having a seizure in say VRchat or other VR programs you play with others.

Like should there be an option for players to send an automated distress message to the emergency services in the persons country if that person filled out his or her adress on their account?

[kevinw729]

Syrellaris said:

....
My question to you is however, How do you think developers and players alike could prevent or deal with matters like these?

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I had heard a rumor of it happening, but not that the actual attack was caught on film.

As a developer, we work on employing measures to limit inducing certain conditions - especially on attractions and products for a general audience. Special processes have been in place for many years to reduce the triggering of Photo Sensitive Epilepsy. While "strobing" and extreme exposure have been redressed in many display approaches. 

To learn that the person in this incident was susceptible to epilepsy answered some questions - though I know that many manufacturers of consumer VR systems are looking at more binding Safety Warning disclaimers, to address possible law suits based on what happened there.

After the first reported fatality in VR, a lot of the health issues we touched on in the 2014 RTVR feature, will be raised again.

[KlodsBrik]

kevinw729 said:

After the first reported fatality in VR, a lot of the health issues we touched on in the 2014 RTVR feature, will be raised again.

Is this the one you are thinking of ?
http://www.pcgamer.com/man-dies-in-vr-accident-according-to-russian-news-agency/