[From Mashable]
Oculus Rift Used to Simulate Decapitation by Guillotine
By Stan Schroeder
May 7, 2013
We’ve seen the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift take a 90-year old grandmother on a charming tour through Tuscany, but the device can also be used for other, much less pleasant experiences.
In one very blatant example, users are going through the experience of being decapitated by a guillotine, a device used for executions, most famously in the 18th century during the French Revolution.
This Oculus Rift experience, created during the Exile Game Jam by Erkki Trummal, André Berlemont and Morten Brunbjerg, is dubbed “Disunion – The guillotine simulator”. It’s simple — users put their head into the virtual guillotine, looking up as the virtual blade drops down on their necks.
We can only imagine the experience to be quite discomforting. In the [1:00 minute] video, though the users are obviously well aware that the entire process is harmless, their reactions range from uneasy laughter to moments of sheer horror.
The idea highlights the possibilities of creating frightening or otherwise unpleasant virtual reality experiences for the Oculus Rift and similar devices. An obvious usage example are horror games — we shudder to think what a good horror game would look like through the Oculus Rift — but we also have to wonder whether simulating an execution is taking the virtual reality concept a bit too far.
How do you feel about this idea? Would you undergo a virtual reality experience like this? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Image courtesy of Vimeo/André Berlemont
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