Palmer Luckey, founder of the Oculus Rift, brought popular anime series Sword Art Online to life by creating a VR headset that kills you when you die in-game. Luckey announced this in a blog on November 6, 2022, the same day in Sword Art Online that all players became stuck in the virtual reality world. Luckey made the headset as a commemoration for this series.

Luckey posted on his blog, “Pumped up graphics might make a game look more real, but only the threat of serious consequences can make a game feel real to you and every other person in the game.” Luckey, P. (Nov. 6, 2022). If you die in the game, you die in real life, from http://palmerluckey.com/if-you-die-in-the-game-you-die-in-real-life/

Though not fully completed yet, Luckey revealed the VR headset’s name as the OQPNVG. When in-game death is detected, three lethal explosive charges above the forehead are fired off, killing the player instantly. Luckey claims that the headset detects this via, “a narrow-band photo-sensor that can detect when the screen flashes red at a specific frequency.” In simpler words, it’s charges fire off when a “Game Over” screen is detected.

Palmetto Student, Emerson Edixon, said, “Why would you create something like that? That sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi horror, is this man going to take over the world?”

Luckey stated that his lethal headset is not to be released to the public and is simply a piece of office art.