If you ever tried a VR headset at home, you probably know that full immersion can be dangerous for your surroundings. When I was setting up the IGD301 VR project in Unity, I punched my laptop screen very hard with one of the controllers (it survived no worries!).
These moments are VR fails, when the immersion make you forget about reality. Here I will present 2 scenarios where immersion can be dangerous.
VR and cables
Just like I said in the intro, developping in VR can be dangerous, and not just because of punching screens.
To communicate with the Quest, you will probably use the cable link to transfer the apk to the headset. And then you will probably want to test it. Even though the cable is quite long, you will probably want to move around a bit. Now 2 things can happen:
- You make your computer fall on the ground
- You tangled yourself in the cable and fall on the ground
To prevent tangling, some people have been creative and made a pulley system to keep the cable above your head. No more tangling! (but still the risk of making your computer fall remains)
To prevent the fall of the computer, the obvious solution is a longer cable or the use of airlink to transfer files wirelessly.
VR and TVs
Headsets come with a handy mirror mode that allows you to see what the user sees on a TV. This is very useful for demos and presentations. However, if you are not careful, you can punch the TV with the controller, or worse:
One solution is to put a desk in front of the TV so that the user will hit the desk instead of the TV in case of moving too far. Another solution is to use a projector instead of a TV. The damage will still be important for the user, but at least the projector will escape unharmed.