Once only a staple of science fiction, Virtual Reality (VR) is now applied in a number of different uses, one of which is live VR chat. This innovation enables users to create virtual avatars which represent their body. Recently, participants in a live VR chat session witnessed a user have a seizure. Seeing as they know nothing about the person, the participants can only watch.
The incident was captured on video by YouTuber Rogue Shadow VR. In the video, he explained that the user who experienced the seizure has full body-tracking, so denizens of the virtual chatroom witnessed the whole ordeal.
People often play pranks in platforms like these, especially since users can create virtually any character they want. At first, the other users thought the one having the seizure was doing it for comedic effect. But after a while, they realized that the seizure was a serious, real-life issue.
While several others continued joking about the incident, most users reacted with concern. Replies of "Are you OK?" and "Be safe" were said, as these were the closest thing to comforting that the VR chatters could do. After a while, the user suffering from seizures recovered and responded to questions, informing the other people in the chatroom that he is alright.
Rogue Shadow VR has uploaded two versions of the video— one with commentary and one without. He said that he obtained permission from the person who experienced the seizures before uploading the said videos.
He added that he uploaded it to spread awareness of these issues that are actually happening in virtual chatrooms. He also said that it can be a form of documentation that recorded the response of VR people when confronted by such an incident.
VRChat is a virtual online community, and is currently one of the most popular hosts of virtual chat rooms.
