Featured Image Credit: Reddit/u/Virgo_IC1101
Topics: Virtual Reality, Viral
Anish Vij
When virtual reality gets a little too real.
A man with a crippling fear of heights tried to conquer his anxiety by leaning on a plank while balancing on a virtual skyscraper.
Watch below as he attempts to crawl his way to the other side:
What seemed to start off as a bit of fun between what looks like friends and family, soon turned sour as a man looked to be battling with a bit of Acrophobia, otherwise known as a fear of heights.
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The anxiety disorder takes place when one experiences intense fear when they position themselves at a significant height.
Although the condition of the man in the video is clearly speculative, it does seem like he's not having fun playing Richie’s Plank Experience on the VR headset.
The man is filmed alongside a woman who appears to be helping him through the game, constantly checking if he's ok.
"Keep going, you're almost there, you're almost there," the woman says as the man crawls on a plank with two controllers placed in his hands.
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The man replies: "Ok, am I doing good?"
"Yeah, you're doing so good," replies the encouraging woman.
However, when he manages to virtually crawl the whole length of the plank, the woman prompts him that he now needs to walk back the other way, which he certainly is not on board with.
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"No I can't, I can't," he pleads.
"There's no way I'm getting up.
"Please babe, please help I can't."
Supervillain plot twist - the encouraging lady who was helping him through the challenge, suddenly has a change of heart, and kicks him off his plank.
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The man absolutely screams in agony as he seems to forget that he's just playing video game and thinks he's literally just fallen off a cliff.
"Oh my god," he shouts.
After throwing the headset off the man is completely out of breathe and looks to be utterly relieved that he's still alive.
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It's unsurprising that the clip has gone viral and people can't get over what they've just witnessed.
One viewer wrote: "As someone with a VR setup, it’s not disconnect, VR is actually that good. Immersion is the name of the game."
A second commented: "If this man faced his fear willingly he is a hero."
While a third added: "His reaction puzzles me. He knows it’s fake and he’s not in danger, or he thinks the headset is magic and taking it off would teleport him home."
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Someone else thought: "I’m not a friend to heights and VR can REALLY mess with me. Even though logically you’re fine, it still f**ks with your senses."