Insurance company's VR-related claims rose by 31% in 2021 – PC Gamer

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By Ted Litchfield published 12 February 22
Please be careful where you play Half-Life: Alyx.
According to a report by the Guardian, it’s 2006 all over again: a shiny new motion-controlled gaming interface is taking the world by storm, and people are using it to destroy their homes and possessions. While the grievous harm brought about by the Nintendo Wii may seem like a quaint memory now, increasing adoption of VR headsets is apparently bringing back that magic feeling.
UK insurance company Aviva asserts that it has seen a 31% rise in home content claims related to VR headsets in 2021, with most of the cases involving the destruction of a TV or nearby valuables while the claimant was gaming in VR. The company expects to see even more cases like these as VR headsets see more widespread adoption. The Meta Quest store has quadrupled its revenue in the past three years, and more widespread VR is going to mean even more living room catastrophes.
As more and more of us are drawn in by the alluring magic of VR, it will be prudent to adopt some best practices for your VR set-up. Ensure that you are standing an adequate distance away from your television. Shift your glass display case of anime figurines away from where you will be flailing your arms around with your eyes covered. Your grandfather’s ashes? Buddy, you don’t want that urn anywhere near where you’ll be playing Beat Saber.
With a little bit of planning and foresight, you can avoid the heartbreak you might experience after perpetrating such acts of destruction on your own home.
Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister’s copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he’s not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch.
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