Palmer Luckey, the creator of the Oculus Rift, says he has a VR headset that will kill the user in real life if they die in a video game.
The headset is rigged with explosive charge modules aimed at the user’s head. If they were to die in the game, the charges would go off, exploding their brain, according to Vice.
“The idea of tying your real life to your virtual avatar has always fascinated me—you instantly raise the stakes to the maximum level and force people to fundamentally rethink how they interact with the virtual world and the players inside it,” Luckey posted on his blog. “Pumped up graphics might make a game look more real, but only the threat of serious consequences can make a game feel real to you and every other person in the game.”
Luckey got the idea from the anime, Sword Art Online.
“At this point, it is just a piece of office art, a thought-provoking reminder of unexplored avenues in game design,” Luckey wrote. “It is also, as far as I know, the first non-fiction example of a VR device that can actually kill the user. It won’t be the last.”