While I am sure I will get roasted for this post, I am rather concerned by the potential move to VR Gaming in the near future.

While immersion in gaming is very important, VR just may take it over the line. I have been around many emergency personnel (police, firemen, etc.) and see first hand how traumatic events can change a person for the rest of his/her life.

With that in mind, I wonder if VR gaming will cause the same Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as experienced in the aforementioned individuals as well as soldiers during war time events.

The last thing we need is teenagers showing signs of PTSD due to the long hours playing the latest VR version of Call of Duty.

What are your thoughts?

Fuck the PTSD, I'm worried about the ADD.

My niece and nephew were raised on gaming and they both have the attention span of a fucking turnip.

Don't turnips have pretty good attention spans?
They never seemed all that twitchy to me anyway.

Next time you are around one ask it a question. I guarantee it won't answer you. Know why? It's not paying attention!

They suffer PTSD from falling off the truck.

No, they actually turn their ips all the fuckin' time.

For a serious answer... not sure. Are the games these days THAT realistic?

If they ever combine VR helmets with Smell-O-Vision, then I'll be worried. Not joking - smells can play a huge part in triggering memories.

Believe it or not, I've heard studies that say that reliving experiences is a measure of coping with PTSD. There's hypnotherapy, roleplay therapy and yes, even gameplay therapy. In the case of most people who suffer, the difficulty comes from giving them the feeling like they can control the situation, the why and how. Virtual Reality might just be the next step in those sorts of treatments. We don't know for sure, but it's certainly possible (Since we can never assume a treatment is 100% promised to work on anyone, and that any one treatment works for everyone)

VR actually cures phobias and whatnot. And while things happening in fiction can exacerbate existing traumas, they aren't going to cause any.

Eh. VR will never be what people dream it to be. It wasn't 40 years ago, it isn't now. Every 5-10 years VR gets a new boost in publicity over some new tech that means true VR is "right around the corner." It isn't it never has been.

As the dog said above about smell - until feeling and smelling are fooled there is no real VR. What I mean - you play Doom in VR - how do you run? As a person you are still standing in one spot. As long as there are these analog commands (move the pedal forward to run, etc.), it will remain just a cool video game, and the experience will be the same, ultimately.

Think of the holodeck - you walk around, you feel sea spray on your face, etc. That is VR. What we will have is just a screen wrapped around your head.

It's not ADD, it's ADOS.

ADDDOS - Attention Deficit Distributed Denial Of Service

Right now with VR gaming the main issues are:

Motion Sickness - Some people just can't use the tech for long periods of time, or at all due to getting sick from the usage.

Sensory Deprivation - Depending on the type of VR the user is pretty much cut off completely from the real world which could cause issues if something happens which requires the users immediate attention. You can also be a victim to a lot of pranks if someone walks in on you and decides to have some fun since you are oblivious to what is happening around you.

ADOM? (By the way: this one is now commercial, too? Fucking hell.)

Personally, I don't think VR gaming will take off as much as people would like to think.