VR VISUAL PHENOMENA

I live alone. Lately, I’ve been going to sleep on the couch in my living room watching TV. Normally, I like sleeping in my bed which is very comfy. And there isn’t even a TV in my bedroom because I like to sleep in darkness and silence (though some type of white noise from a fan or AC unit is preferable). While I’ve been sleeping on the couch these past few weeks, I put on Netflix, usually some Star Trek series like Voyager or DS9, when I know I’m ready to nod off and then I turn down the volume to near zero. Not all the details are important, but I want to be accurate in sharing the conditions of my experience.

First, I want to say this is not a joke. If anything, it’s just something very strange that may never happen again. But I am truly only sharing in the name of science. Maybe some others have experienced this as well, so I want it to be documented somewhere. What just happened was the trippiest, most wild thing I’ve experienced in a sober state outside of the shared fever dream that is 2020 we’ve all been trudging through. I mildly dabbled in hallucinogenic style drugs twenty years ago in high school, but not a lot and nothing since. I’m not a conspiracy theorist nor have I ever had any experience I would classify as supernatural or paranormal. I’ve never been the type of person who goes looking for fairies in the garden, though I think it’s groovy if others do.

I am new to the world of Virtual Reality. I purchased an Oculus Quest 2 headset a couple weeks ago. I’ve spent a fair amount of time using the machine daily, mostly in Altspace being social (which looks very cartoony but It’s a space where real people of all backgrounds and ages are really connecting), or in the Supernatural workout app (shoutout to coach Leanne Pedante who pushes and inspires me spiritually as much as physically, while regularly making me laugh and cry), or playing the Echo disc team game (which I refer to as “future frisbee” and looks like Tron, shoutout to all the young men I remind not to be bullies). Pretty basic stuff, right!? I’m fast becoming a VR evangelist. It’s so much more than the easy escapism and novelty.

But for the second time now something very strange has happened with my vision after I have powered down and set aside the VR headset for the evening.

The first time this occurred, I completely wrote it off as a dream or insignificant error in judgement. But this time, it was too intense to ignore. And it lasted longer.

Here is a rundown of this second time, having occurred within this very hour, in fact: After a day of multiple hours using a VR headset, I fall asleep with the TV playing around 2 am. Then I wake up approximately 2 hours later. As I rouse I look at the TV screen to see a live action show has become completely and perfectly animated. The specific episode of DS9 (Season 3 Episode 10, “Fascination”) that was playing looked like Pixar could have rotoscoped it or something. It was a scene between Quark and Chief O’Brien. I rubbed my eyes. I widened my eyes. I knew what I was seeing was not true. I made sure I was awake. I did a mental scan to make sure I was in possession of my faculties and not going crazy, so I just stared completely beguiled as the effect was not wearing off after a full minute. I even rewound the scene a bit! The effect was contained to the show on my television screen (a 55” TCL), the world around me appeared normal. To the left of the TV my Christmas tree is already lit up, which I’m sure doesn’t help prove my case for sanity, but it was on sale and I like Christmas decorations. The multi-colored Christmas lights seemed brighter than normal, but lights are always harshest when you wake so it seemed unrelated. I also noticed the newly animated characters on the show were moving in a slightly jerky motion, like they were “clipping,” which happens often with person controlled avatars in virtual environments. At this point I asked myself if DS9 ever did an experimental episode that was computer animated (honestly, it’s the Trek series I’m the least familiar with). So, after a couple minutes of experiencing this and wondering how long it would last (and when I would be hauled off to the looney bin), the effect finally started to wear off and the characters and setting around them slowly began to desaturate to normal hues and textures and smoother movements once again.

It was a very strange effect, to say the least. I don’t think it means anything other than I’ve spent too much time in VR, LOL. But I do wonder what sort of visual phenomena will be reported from VR users as the technology becomes more mainstream.

To be honest, now that my visual processing has returned to normal and my initial anxiety about it has abated in the time I’ve spent typing out this post, I have to admit, it was kind of cool. And even now, with each passing moment, it feels less and and less real, like the very experience itself is getting away from me. Like the feeling of having just left a great concert, I’m wondering if one or more of my senses has been irrevocably damaged. Though unlike a big concert, I don’t think I’d like for these VR after effects after to happen again.