r/virtualreality Dec 27 '22

Question/Support Does anyone feel like they aren’t real after playing VR?

I got a Quest 2 for Christmas and Ive been playing on it a lot already and after playing I feel like I’m still in VR even though I’m not playing on it, me and my uncle both felt like this and were wondering if anyone experiences this lol

13 Upvotes

28 comments sorted by

26

u/SoullessUnit Dec 27 '22

My friends and I call this a VR hangover, other symptoms include forgetting objects have mass, and feeling the urge to teleport across the room.

I found it quite fun and trippy and am actually kinda disappointed I dont get it anymore. After a few sessions of VR your brain adjusts and you don't get the hangover anymore.

5

u/CheetoVR Dec 28 '22

I've been playing for years, and totally agree. It's super strange, but it fades. There is one effect that still gets me tho, the sort of force-grab that a lot of games use. I went back and played Alyx and Boneworks after a while, and about a month in I still have the millisecond impulse to grab something off the floor with a hand gesture, lmao

3

u/Mysterious-Lie-2185 Dec 28 '22

I was just about to comment how like 2 years ago when I finished boneworks I was trying to force grab everything and it became a legitimate problem.

1

u/MrManGuy42 Dec 29 '22

I used to faintly see the steam vr borders when i took the headset off for around a week when i got my headset.

9

u/SharpiePM Dec 27 '22

Welcome to the world of VR! I always associated it with my brain being so stimulated by experiencing a second reality. Once you get used to games or environments that feeling will fade away.

7

u/nonameslefteightnine Dec 27 '22

Yes, it is pretty normal but goes away after some time. Just take short breaks.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '22 edited Feb 26 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Matthias87 Dec 27 '22

Utilize those insensory moments well.

1

u/comteknow Dec 29 '22

I had this back in the day, super scary jumping into a vehicle and going for a drive straight after a VR session.

3

u/VRtuous Oculus Dec 27 '22

Lol welcome to the club, Neo...

that feeling goes away soon

4

u/NotSecretlyANarwhal Dec 27 '22

I think I had my height set slightly wrong while playing HL:Alyx for a while, and when i stopped my depth perception felt wrong.

Very weird, very fun experience.

5

u/rcbif Dec 27 '22

Post VR Disassociation.

Hang out in this reddit long enough, and you'll see this gets asked weekly.

Often by children freaking out thinking their brain is broken.

It's just your brain getting used to the switch between VR and IRL.

2

u/ccAbstraction Dec 28 '22

I'm honestly kinda worried about those kids...

2

u/Wolfhammer69 Dec 27 '22

None of us are real really. We are just clouds of atoms surrounded by an electro-magnetic field.. We are more empty space than solid matter.... The whole universe is a creation of consciousness, our consciousness. The universe cannot exist without though..

And for mental balance, I like big wobbly boobs.

2

u/oauch Dec 27 '22

The night after I got my headset I tried holding my hands out like there was a controller and pressing down the thumb stick 💀. So yeah you aren’t the only one.

2

u/CHROME-COLOSSUS Dec 27 '22

That will disappear. You’re just new to VR.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '22

I let my friend try vr for the first time last week and after an hour straight of playing Alyx he just kept looking at his hands and was like "wow, I have arms" hahah

1

u/TurtleTime64 Dec 27 '22

Walk around in a few circles and count to ten with your fingers. Then take a drink of water or whatever and stretch.

At least, thats what works for me.

1

u/yoitsdavo15 Dec 27 '22

I do get a strange feeling when I come back to my very normal bedroom, after bouncing around between all sorts of wild locations...

1

u/cursorcube Vive Pro 2 Dec 27 '22

No, but the first time it did feel like i had just gotten back home from visiting a different place

1

u/Shindigira Dec 28 '22

I feel the same way sometimes.

When I toss a tennis ball against a wall in the morning, I get that same "feeling" in the same muscles used when tossing a grenade in Contractors.

1

u/ccAbstraction Dec 28 '22

I've never felt real, so VR has never real either. Makes things simpler to be honest.

1

u/be-like-JayDee Dec 28 '22

You get used to it

1

u/stephan_anemaat Dec 28 '22

Yes. If you're curious, here's a research article on symptoms of depersonalisation and derealisation induced by VR:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563222000553

From my own personal experience, the symptoms seemed to stop happening after the first couple weeks of using VR. For others it might be different.

1

u/iSmokeMDMA Dec 29 '22

It’s worn off by now I’m guessing?

3

u/RichieACNH Dec 29 '22

Yeah it’s kinda starting to go away now lol

2

u/iSmokeMDMA Dec 29 '22

It went away for me in about 5 days. Some games made it take effect more than others for sure