Playing virtual reality (VR) games means distancing yourself from the real world. While using VR headsets, your vision is obstructed by the headset and your hearing is blocked by noise-canceling headphones. While this is a great way to submerge oneself in a virtual world, users lose awareness of their physical surroundings which could result in injuries or prove fatal to one’s life, if not careful. That’s what happened when an unidentified 44-year old Russian man was found dead after suffering fatal wounds on Thursday in his apartment on Marshal Zhukov Avenue while moving around in VR glasses, according to Russia’s state-funded news agency TASS. This is believed to be the first VR-related death in Moscow. Yulia Ivanova, Senior Assistant to the Head of the Russian Investigative Committee’s Main Moscow Department, offered the following details about the man’s death: “According to preliminary information, while moving around the apartment in virtual reality glasses, the man tripped and crashed into a glass table, suffered wounds and died on the spot from a loss of blood.” Another report claimed that it is possible that the game the Russian man was playing was not properly mapped to his apartment, which resulted in his fall and eventual death. His body was discovered by his mother when she came to visit his apartment in Moscow. While an investigation has been launched into the incident, the identity of the man or any other details about his VR setup were not disclosed.
