VR headset that kills users if they die in the game

Palmer Luckey created a VR headset that detonates explosive charges should the player die in a video game, for some reason.

Palmer Luckey, a defence contractor who founded Anduril, who develops anti-drone technology for government entities, has created a VR headset with explosive charges attached to kill the player if they die in a video game. Why? Anime.

Some context: There exists an anime called Sword Art Online, in which players put on a fictional VR headset called the “NerveGear” to play a video game. It turns out that the VR headset is a trap created by an insane programmer, who forces the players to ascend a 100-floor tower to survive. If they die in the game, they die in real-life — the headset emits a series of microwaves to fry the player’s brain.

Palmer Luckey, who also helped to create the real-world VR tech Oculus VR, is a huge fan of Sword Art Online — and so, to celebrate the fictional day where the players get trapped in the anime, he decided to create a VR headset that kills a real person should they die in a game.

The VR headset will kill you. Picture: Palmer Luckey

“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 sated in his blog post. “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.”

Founder of Anduril and Oculus VR, Palmer Luckey. Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Unlike using a complex set of microwaves and sensors, Luckey’s method of execution is a lot less refined, yet no less lethal — three explosive charges are implanted in the device. According to Luckey, the technology doesn’t quite exist to hide lethal methods like the anime in such a small device: “[The antagonist] was able to hide from his employees, regulators, and contract manufacturing partners. I am a pretty smart guy, but I couldn’t come up with any way to make anything like this work, not without attaching the headset to gigantic pieces of equipment.”

Three explosive charges are implanted in the device.

He plans to continue tinkering with the execution device as well: “I have plans for an anti-tamper mechanism that, like the NerveGear, will make it impossible to remove or destroy the headset. Even so, there are a huge variety of failures that could occur and kill the user at the wrong time.”

Why does this exist? What purpose does it serve? “At this point, it is just a piece of office art, a thought-provoking reminder of unexplored avenues in game design,” Luckey stated. “It is also, as far as I know, the first nonfiction example of a VR device that can actually kill the user. It won’t be the last.”

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.