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Post Virtual Reality Sadness

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Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#71

Post by gerbilly »

I have two feelings about this:

1) It reminds me of the quote:

“Finishing a good book is like leaving a good friend.”

― William Feather

2) What is the author doing in actual reality that makes it so pale compared to VR?

It's interesting that the first example brought up is about interacting with a phone.

For god's sake man! Play a sport, have sex, go for a walk and smell the leaves, go for a swim in the ocean. Sweat, strain, climb and explore. Be an _animal_ because that's what we are!

Go and get barrelled on a wave in the ocean and then come back and tell me that VR is better. :-)

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#72

Post by Shorel »

joering2 wrote: post #68
nugget wrote: post #18

People talk a lot about futuristic sex robots but what about VR experiences that are not only physical but deeply emotional - wherein you experience seduction and actually fall in love? Think about riding in a weeks long 18 hour a day RPG crusade with a Milla Jovovich lookalike Joan of Arc who, in between battles, is irreparably infatuated with you. The tech needed to achieve this level of total immersion may yet be…

If you like what you wrote (I do) in terms of people falling for robots, then watch if you haven't: Ex-Machina and Her (2013).

Also recommended: Robot & Frank.

Not about love but friendship. In any case, a good movie.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#73

Post by randyrand »

I have this and have been dealing with a very similar effect to this for 4 months now. Depersonalization. It's a very odd type of depression and detachment from reality. It's very uncomfortable and can last indefinitely.

Mine was triggered roughly a year after I had been into VR and also a year after I moved away from home. It's hard to say which played a bigger role. It was triggered by my best friend coming to visit me.

It's fucking terrible. And I don't know what to do about it.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#74

Post by sdoering »

MalcolmPF wrote: post #20
hprotagonist wrote: post #3

I don't know that this is VR-specific. I remember feeling like this after: - Playing with MS Paint on Windows 3.1 for hours on end until my eyes burned when i was 8. - Inhaling Lord of the Rings in about a week when i was 10. - Playing Ocarina of Time for 12 hours a day as a young teen. - Playing WoW in 100-hour weeks as an undergrad on summer break.

Exactly. These are the symptoms of a withdrawal from escapism. You could replace "VR" in the article by many other kinds of absorbing experiences. Not to discredit the author's own personal findings, it's probably a healthy thing to be self-aware of these feelings. And there might be something to VR that makes the contrast of detachment more intense.

Reading this I felt reminded of my experiences playing for Liverpool Action Role Playing. Being in character for several days and totally escaping get the outside world - then shedding the costume and sitting in a car on the motorway back home.

Well talk about post adventure depression.

Then walking up to the door of your longtime girlfriend and knowing get what was awaiting me - talk about remedy.

Escapism in the former of a holiday from reality might be great - but reality has it's own perks.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#75

Post by randyrand »

Afforess wrote: post #23

I wonder if the author has ever experienced the joy of reading a good book, or the first showing an amazing movie. Finishing an amazing story, you feel a let down afterwords; the characters were not real and you can never interact with them. The realm of fictional worlds are often more engaging, and seem superior to the world you live your day-to-day life in. The actions and experiences in those stories were more ful…

What is the longest this effect has lasted on you?

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#76

Post by brians »

greggman wrote: post #55
nugget wrote: post #18

People talk a lot about futuristic sex robots but what about VR experiences that are not only physical but deeply emotional - wherein you experience seduction and actually fall in love? Think about riding in a weeks long 18 hour a day RPG crusade with a Milla Jovovich lookalike Joan of Arc who, in between battles, is irreparably infatuated with you. The tech needed to achieve this level of total immersion may yet be…

Putting 3d models of people in VR is easy. Getting them to do anything interesting and not just be a few scripted things is much harder and very far from a solved problem. Maybe that doesn't matter. Maybe all you need is the character to look you in the eyes. But I suspect most people would need more. Someone you can actually talk to. Not just pick multiple choice responses

Remember the articles about eye contact & 36 questions to fall in love a few years back? http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/fashion/no-37-big-wedding-... and similar?

Take the answers from the human participant, make appropriate "mmhmm" noises, vary randomly around the center of the human participant's statements (in a space generated from the answers of other participants), and play back with continued eye contact and the face and body of high status persons.

I guarantee you could have that face ask for $5 for a ticket for next time and get it.

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#77

Post by kordless »

Afforess wrote: post #23

I wonder if the author has ever experienced the joy of reading a good book, or the first showing an amazing movie. Finishing an amazing story, you feel a let down afterwords; the characters were not real and you can never interact with them. The realm of fictional worlds are often more engaging, and seem superior to the world you live your day-to-day life in. The actions and experiences in those stories were more ful…

> I don't think this effect is specific to a medium.

Your assertions are going to be wrong if the medium is the current reality around us. The question then becomes where does that line begin and end?

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#79

Post by elmiko »

careersuicide wrote: post #35
Afforess wrote: post #23

I wonder if the author has ever experienced the joy of reading a good book, or the first showing an amazing movie. Finishing an amazing story, you feel a let down afterwords; the characters were not real and you can never interact with them. The realm of fictional worlds are often more engaging, and seem superior to the world you live your day-to-day life in. The actions and experiences in those stories were more ful…

A few years ago I started reading "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan. I had somehow timed it so that the week I finished the thirteenth book "Towers of Midnight" the fourteenth book "A Memory of Light" came out. I blew through the first chunk of the book and then got to a chapter that was over a hundred pages long, maybe even longer, Google says it was over fifty thousand words. It was the last battle, the moment t…

hmm, maybe this is why i can never finish a book... ;)

Re: Post Virtual Reality Sadness

#80

Post by jandrese »

careersuicide wrote: post #35
Afforess wrote: post #23

I wonder if the author has ever experienced the joy of reading a good book, or the first showing an amazing movie. Finishing an amazing story, you feel a let down afterwords; the characters were not real and you can never interact with them. The realm of fictional worlds are often more engaging, and seem superior to the world you live your day-to-day life in. The actions and experiences in those stories were more ful…

A few years ago I started reading "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan. I had somehow timed it so that the week I finished the thirteenth book "Towers of Midnight" the fourteenth book "A Memory of Light" came out. I blew through the first chunk of the book and then got to a chapter that was over a hundred pages long, maybe even longer, Google says it was over fifty thousand words. It was the last battle, the moment t…

This is one advantage of A Song of Ice and Fire (a.k.a. Game of Thrones). At the rate the books are being written the series will never finish in our lifetimes. I can only hope we perfect cyberbrain technology soon so George R. R. Martin can finish the work, typing out a single line per day or so.
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