You were walking between some kiosks. All around you was the newest and most creative advancement in VR technologies. Since 2016, you've always been a huge fan of VR. You bought some VR headset over the years, each time trying to get closer to a real Virtual world. This autumn your wife had surprised you with plane tickets and VIP pass of the biggest VR convention in the country at San Francisco for your birthday.
So here you were, drooling over all the new tech of this industry. At every kiosk there was some shiny VR headset with sales mans saying that their new startup was gonna revolutionize the market. Some had interesting software with new functionality, others were saying they had the best graphics with 4k 120 fps etc.. Even though it was exciting seeing all those new toys, in the end nothing was really mind blowing. The end of the day was approaching, and everyone was closing their stalls and packing their stuff. You decided to visit one last stall before coming back to your hotel room. Actually, it was the last stall open. The name of that small stall was "Awake VR". You came to the stall and the only person working there was a grumpy looking chubby guy. While you came up to him, he continued to stare at his phone almost ignoring your presence. "Uhm.. Hello, are you still open?" you asked. He reluctantly looked up from his phone and went "Yes". Taken aback because of his attitude, but still curious about the product you asked "What's your product? What's "Awake VR?".
Still not seeming very interested with you he said "Well, it's a totally new experience, once you try it you'll know what it means to be truly awake.". Confused by his answer you asked "What do you mean by truly awake?". He seemed to think for a bit and simply said "It would be easier to just show. Do you want to try? But I warn you, it's some pretty intense stuff" while pointing at the old and bulky black VR headset of his kiosk. Intrigued by that you replied "Yes absolutely. And don't worry, I've played a lot of intense games on my VR setup at home. I'm not a newbie at this.". While getting up and picking the headset, he said "Oh well, you'll see it's pretty different". He gave you the old headset. While trying to put it on, you remarked it didn't have straps to keep it on your head. What kind of old hardware was this? All of a sudden your expectation for this product dropped, but you still went with it. "So, how do I keep this on my head without straps?" you asked while pointing at the headset. "Well you just hold it with your hands.." he responded as if that was the stupidest question in the world. So you held the device to your face and he asked "Tell me when you're ready, I'll start the program then". "Ready" you replied.
The screen was still black. No sound. Nothing was happening. "Is everything alright? Nothing happening" you asked. No response. "Hello?" you asked after another silence. That was stupid, that junk probably didn't work anyway so you took off the VR off you face. "What the hell?!" you went as you took off the device. The guy wasn't there anymore. In fact everyone was gone from the convention that still had some people packing up a few moments ago. You looked at your phone and it was now 8:30 PM. That didn't make any sense. A second ago, it was 7:00 pm. The confusion gave you a shattering headache. At that point you didn't care about the guy, you just put down the device and decided to walk back to your hotel to rest and you would probably be alright tomorrow.Back at the hotel, your migraine was only worse. While sitting on the bed, you were trying to massage your forehead to relieve the pain. While doing so, you felt something weird... There was something on your head near your ear. Actually while feeling it with your fingers, you realized it was a strap that went around your head... A VR headset strap?! But you weren't wearing one? At least you thought so! So slowly, you started to remove the headset. Doing so hurt so much that you fell back on the bed. At least you managed to take the device off, but it gave you a very weird tingling behind your ear.