‘Bob’s Burgers’ Pokes Fun At The Not-So-Wonderful Parts Of Virtual Reality
Virtual reality has progressed tremendously in the past years. Yet, adoption isn’t as fantastic. Meta itself is bringing its Horizon Worlds metaverse to desktops and mobile devices, even though it’s building its own headsets.
There are countless reasons why virtual reality isn’t the new normal yet. Besides the usual complaint of the gear being too heavy, the graphics can sometimes be blurry for those who wear glasses or have a specific eye shape.
As shared on Kotaku, the endearing animated comedy Bob’s Burgers brings many of VR’s stumbling blocks to light in its November 13 episode, Ready Player Gene.
In the episode, a VR arcade opens next to the burger joint, to the family’s excitement. The owner charges an eye-watering $45 per hour for each player, so Gene uses all his savings to spend an hour of quality VR bonding time with his dad.
At least Gene didn’t leave him hanging. “Ready Player Gene” is now available to watch on @hulu! pic.twitter.com/wT41xp6HWG
— Bob's Burgers (@BobsBurgersFOX) November 15, 2022
As they later discover, the experience isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Bob and Gene have a hard time keeping up with the gameplay, and the visuals are clumsy.
Back to reality tonight!
— Bob's Burgers (@BobsBurgersFOX) November 13, 2022
All-new Bob's Burgers starts at 9/8c on @FOXTV, next day @hulu. pic.twitter.com/E2oHCdt3PZ
Bob gets motion sickness but keeps going so he doesn’t disappoint his son. The two also struggle to remove their headsets while the owner steps out for a minute. Eventually, Gene learns to enjoy the broken version of the game.
Rare you hear that from an 11-year-old. pic.twitter.com/ItsD7Ip3c0
— Bob's Burgers (@BobsBurgersFOX) November 14, 2022
Bob's Burgers did a VR episode tonight and man did they dial right in on representing the current state of the art.
— Michael Jones @ BFVR Labs (@Moike_the_Squid) November 14, 2022
All these hiccups are still part of the reality that is virtual reality. Then again, players wouldn’t want it to be too true to life. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey recently made the news after inventing a headset that can physically kill its user if they die in a game.
[via Kotaku and Bob’s Burgers, cover image via Bob’s Burgers / IMDb]
