Almost a decade ago, all the noise in the gaming industry centered around the newest innovation that was supposed to take the world by storm: the Oculus Rift. The Oculus is a virtual reality gaming headset that allowed players to fully immerse themselves into any compatible game, which includes hot titles like Five Nights at Freddy’s, Skyrim, Superhot, and even more worldwide titles like Call of Duty.
Since the Oculus’ release in 2012, the love for VR gaming has significantly grown, and the total number of sales is expected to jump from the 5.5 million units’ landmark in 2020 to 43.5 million units sold by 2025 (Statista.com). This massive increase in demand has a lot to do with the fun players have when they’re able to feel like they’re actually a part of the game. When you feel immersed in a game, you get to experience danger, excitement, and achievement in a way that may not even be possible in the real world, so strapping on a virtual reality headset allows you to literally trick your brain into feeling like what you’re seeing is real.
Although the idea is a unique and fun prospect for gamers all over the world, they need to understand the extreme health risks that come with playing games in a VR setting. For instance, players often lose spatial awareness in relation to the real world when engaged in a VR game—meaning they lose track of what’s around them. That alone can lead to injury from tripping, bumping, or hitting something on accident. However, the VR experience can be much more damaging to your eyes and brain if used improperly.
Many games, even those that aren’t VR-based, come with seizure warnings due to the presence of flashing lights, colors, or patterns. Using a VR headset can actually impact your eyes and brain much more directly (since it is designed to trick your body to feel like the VR is the physical world) and has been found to trigger seizures in players who don’t have epilepsy or haven’t even had a seizure before. It is recommended that you take frequent breaks to allow your body and mind time to recuperate to prevent a game-related seizure.
One of the biggest problems people face amidst the pandemic is an over-abundance of screen time and blue light impacting their vision. Blue light glasses are an easy solution to help limit exposure, but in a VR headset, you can’t really wear glasses (this is true with many models anyway). Plus, your eyes are even closer to the emitted blue light than with a regular computer monitor or cell phone, while also directly absorbing the light since it is literally tunneled from the screen in the headset to your eyeballs. Experts in the VR industry have said that long-term and extensive use of VR screens can have a lasting impact on the ability of your eyes to be able to shift focus between close and far objects. Again, it is recommended that you take breaks often to allow your eyes to take a rest from staring at the screen, readjust, and recover.
Lastly, it has been found that VR gaming can cause extreme nausea to users. Even just a few minutes of simulated lights, patterns, and motions can make a player experience dizziness, nausea, and even directly affect their perception of time. A UCLA study found that (in rats) VR settings can cause abnormal brain patterns and even shut down up to 60% of the brain’s neuron function to focus on the game itself. This may not directly relate to human use, but I think it is worth noting due to other neurological effects that VR has been reported to have on human players.
In the end, virtual reality gaming has been on the rise lately and most definitely has changed the way we (literally) view video games. Although a spectacle and amazing innovation, potential users can have tunnel vision. They need to fully understand the health risks that they are up against when they buy one of these devices. This is no ordinary console or gaming PC experience; this is a full-blown mind trick that can have serious long-term effects on your health if not used properly. For a full list of how to safely engage in VR gaming, check out this guide!
