Warning: This video is disturbing and surreal to say the least, as someone wearing a full-body tracking suit in VRChat succumbs to a real life epileptic seizure that's then embodied by their avatar, which roils and twitches on the ground as cartoon avatars gather around, concerned:
Soon, however, it becomes clear that something is off. The user doesn't respond to questions from other users, continues flailing, and you can hear him struggling to breathe. In his video, Rogue said that this user, who he talked to after the incident, used some kind of full body tracking tech, which is why you can see their avatar lying on the floor... A handful of users thought it was funny and kept goofing off, but the majority seemed genuinely concerned for this person's well-being. They ask if he's okay, they ask players with flashing avatars to step back, and when the person is finally able to respond they give them good advice: call for help immediately and take a break. According to Rogue, the person who suffered the seizure told him that it was a tonic-clonic seizure, which causes convulsions and loss of consciousness, but it's not clear what caused it.
We saw a glimmer of this phenomenon in Second Life, after in-world VOIP was introduced -- frequent reports of avatars standing around chatting, when suddenly, the ambient and horrible sounds of spouse or child abuse from one user's microphone starts leaking into the virtual world. But seeing real life physical torment expressed through someone's avatar is a whole other level of unintended immersiveness. I have so many conflicted thoughts about this, and the only thing I'm certain of is this is just the beginning:
VRChat still has a relatively small userbase, but as it and other social VR platforms grow, incidents like this will happen more often. And seeing as this video has already gone viral, temptations to fake incidents like these will grow too. And while it's heartening that most VRChat members expressed concern and support for this person while they were suffering, any number of hoaxes may cause cynicism and compassion fatigue to set in.
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