Human VR Motion Simulators Are Apparently A Thing in Thailand [Video]

There are some things that you didn’t know are things, like this overly tall fox. There are also things that shouldn’t be things, like mosquitoes. And then there are things that make you so surprised to discover are things that you have to pause for a moment and acknowledge the complexity of the world.

The following video is one such thing:

Details surrounding this confounding display are thin, but here is everything we know: it apparently takes place at Soi Bangla in Phuket, Thailand, these people seem to be wearing Oculus Rift DK2s, they are experiencing some type of roller coaster demo, and it’s the greatest video of all time.

These are indisputable facts but the rest of the video is open to a bit more conjecture.

At first look it may seem that the men in the blue shirts are bullies of some sort looking to shake the lunch money out of these poor, unsuspecting market goers. On the other hand, one could assume that this film was shot during some type of earthquake and the blue shirts are in fact trying desperately to keep their customers on stable ground. Finally though, the true nature of the odd ritual becomes wonderfully clear: these men are human motion simulators.

VR and motion simulators go hand in hand. They usually take the form of highly complex pieces of expensive engineering that are meticulously designed and expensively constructed in order to provide users with a sense of haptic feedback. Thailand, however, says “nah screw that lets just put them in a bunch of big ass metal crates and shake them.”

The sound you’re now hearing is thousands of haptic engineers around the world face-palming in unison as they realize they are wasting their lives. The solution to VR motion simulation has obviously been found and, as John Henry taught us long ago, the secret lies not with machines but in the indomitable physical spirit of mankind.

Thanks to John Starr Dewar for sending us the video.