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Stoned in Virtual Reality

High There

By High There

August 21, 2019

I’ve recently gotten into the world of virtual reality. I’m in my late thirties and grew up hearing about the possibly of VR in our future. Then a couple years back when Steven Spielberg released Ready Player One, I was jam packed full of fresh interest.

 

Well, the future is here and I’ve stepped into the wild realm with the newly released 

. This VR machine is the first of its kind at the consumer level. No wires. No computer. Dual controllers.

 

Let’s do this.

 

Fair warning: Oculus is owned by Facebook. So while that may make the more paranoid readers give their screens the stink eye, I, on the other hand, was happy that it made the setup super quick and provided easy accessibility to all the games.

 

There are two games that I nabbed right away, because VR demands lightsaber action, obviously. First up was Beat Saber (an instant classic game in the VR world that has already been ported over multiple VR systems). In this game, you slice and dice floating blocks while wielding dual light sabers to the beat of EDM music. The next game was the more serious step into what VR can do: The official  Star Wars release Lord Vader. This would turn out to be everything I’d hoped for. I knew that before even playing.

 

I installed the game, took a light hit off a joint, and went in.

 

I almost couldn’t believe where I was.: inside the cockpit of a ship deep in space with a droid telling me to throw it into hyperdrive. Once I accepted this as my new reality, I grabbed that clutch and threw it forward. I’d done it. I’d made the jump. Next level geek-out achieved.

 

The game’s surround sound held me in the moments perfectly and I was fully immersed. This was it. Once I got handed a lightsaber in there, I knew we’d reached that next level of virtual reality.

 

Those two games, mixed with a couple dozen other fun games that are already available, the Quest delivers a plethora of incredible experiences to try.

 

I was a kid in a candy store at that point, just wanting more. The only thing I could have really wished more for was a haptic feedback suit or rumbling floor below me.

 

We’ll get there.

 

By the time I yank the headset off, I’m fairly woozy. But three hits of CBD and I’m cool. Head back to normal. Depending on the game and the motion controls in it, there is a varying level of discomfort that comes after certain points. I range from 15-45 min a session before discomfort, depending on what experiences I choose to do.

 

There’s also a fun little thing the slightly more tech savvy users can play with and that’s side-loading. Side-loading is when you install a game or application in an unconventional way like other than through an official app store. In this case, there’s a computer application called

 that allows you to drag and drop games created by developers that haven’t gone through the app/game store system. Just plug your gear into a computer, load the app, drag and drop, and you’ve got new content.

 

Some really great stuff can be found out there for this too. The application even offers some of these apps and games right there when you open it.

 

And for those who are still wondering (which, let’s be honest, will be most of you), yes, it’s pretty easy to get porn loaded onto these things, and yes, it’s as wild as you imagine it to be. That industry has an interesting future ahead of itself for sure. Just try not to get caught with your pants down… literally. You won’t even know the other person’s walked into the room!

 

High There

About The Author

High There

HIGH THERE MISSION

WE’RE A CREATIVE COMMUNITY — EXPLORING THE SCIENCE, CRAFT, AND CULTURE OF CANNABIS.
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