Is Virtually Dating the world’s best or most ridiculous show?

THEY might not look like it, but these cartoons are actually real people — and what you’re witnessing is their first date together.

IF YOU’RE sick of going on awkward first dates where you have to stare longingly into the eyes of a person you’ve just met, there’s a show that seems to be offering a perfect solution.

Virtually Dating, as it’s appropriately named, pairs up two people who have never met to go on a blind first date in a virtual reality world.

The two strangers are first scanned in 3D, fitted with a bunch of motion sensors and then placed into the VR world where their date can include anything from floating through space to wandering around Ancient Egypt.

The show, which was released by Condé Nast Entertainment, is mostly about people laughing about how ridiculous their bodies look in a computer-generated world, which, all jokes aside, is a pretty fantastic ice breaker.

As they wander through the VR world, their awkward bodies transform into other things.

Sometimes they’re zombies, on another date a penguin and fire hydrant dance together.

At the end of the date, the couples are asked if they want to see each other again — this time, in the real world.

“It was a lot of fun because you got to go everywhere, without paying for it,” one man says.

“I definitely think that would make the world a much better place if you put goggles on everybody and made them talk,” he adds.

Virtual reality vs. what's actually happening.

And most agree, considering they’ve just awkwardly laughed together for a solid 10 minutes.

It’s kind of like the dating version of The Voice, where people can actually get to know each other and show off their personality without physical appearances getting in the way.

One couple, John and Shelby, are transformed into dinosaurs, cactuses and even skeletons on their date while they dance on the moon and around a VR apartment.

As John gazes at his warped VR body in the VR mirror, he calls himself a “creepy doll” and all it takes is him doing a weird moonwalk to realise he really does look like a creep doll.

“Look at my booty in this thing!” he says.

They try to shake hands, which doesn’t work, and awkwardly knock over VR tables before attempting to draw a spaceship to “take them to the moon”.

Slow dancing around a VR apartment works better than you’d expect.

While virtual reality headsets definitely aren’t new, their introduction into our romantic lives definitely is.

One Melbourne man made headlines last month after he decided to propose using virtual reality.

Alex Lackovic, believed to be the first Aussie to propose using virtual reality, took his zombie-obsessed girlfriend Kelly Norman to Zero Latency, a VR company who agreed to recreate her favourite place in South Africa.

And despite Australia being on the brink of a VR revolution, optometrists have begun to worry about the headsets, warning people that embracing VR headsets could be more damaging than expected.

In an interview with NewsCorp,Bupa Optical senior optometrist Karen Makin said VR headsets, which have been linked to eye strain and dry eye problems, need to be researched more to investigate their long-term effects.

“Virtual reality is wonderful technology and will play a big role in our future, but the reality is that we just don’t know yet what the impact it will have on people’s eyes in the long run,” she said.

Originally published as Is Virtually Dating the world’s best or most ridiculous show?