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Comment by j_s | Hacker News Reader

> There's gotta be safer ways to get an adrenaline rush.

I was suprised to see no mention of VR as a potential alternative anywhere in the thread. I suppose realism still has a long way to go!

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I doubt VR will ever replace dangerous sports. You get adrenaline rush precisely for the fact that you realize it's dangerous with a real potential of getting killed or wounded and the fact that you get away with it. Sitting in an armchair with no such potential consequences might get you some thrills but it's nowhere close to the real adrenaline rush. I don't actively pursuit this feeling, but driving motorcycle regularly had put me in several close calls over the years giving an adrenaline rush I realize can not be replicated in the safer environments.

Honestly, I think the existence of free soloists is proof that VR won't replace risky sports.

A non-trivial number of people choose to go out and rock climb without using ropes, even on climbs where ropes could easily be added. That's not purely about risk-taking, but it seems to give lie to any idea that a safe simulation will be satisfying for everyone.

I love VR car racing, and it's way cheaper when I make a mistake and spin or go into a wall, but it's just not the same as an actual track day (not racing, just a standard "high performance driving event") in my boring daily driver. I'm not sure it will ever be.

This is why I always wish I went into game development. Maybe it can't be the same thing, but the experience can still be extraordinary. Even playing a game like Kerbal Space Program makes you feel like an astronaut. I can't imagine how good virtual reality can get.

But you get the rush from playing those games, not developing them. I mean, you do get a rush from releasing something you finished and believe in, but it's not what you're looking for, right?

Correct, 100% right. However, I like to think of it like a musician. If I don't like music, I make music I like. So if I wanted an awesome experience from a game, I could make the game and experience I want. Of course, all that is harder to do with programming (than music), but you get the drift.

Also that feeling of falling, when you jump out of a plane that's the scariest part in my experience the initial drop. Then when the parachute is open, you look up at these thin nylon strings holding you up.

You don't have to be real in VR, you just have to reach "the suspension of disbelief". That is really quite easy to do. The human mind seems to search for it.

I know in the early days of VR I had a helmet on and was walking between two buildings on a beam. Tricky bastards then made the beam (which was lying on the ground) warp so you lost your balance, I truly thought I was dying for 10 seconds.

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