Oculus Rift Allowed Dying Grandma To Experience The Outdoors

Are there memorable moments that the Oculus Rift is able to deliver to those who are dying? Apparently so, as game artist Priscilla Firstenberg managed to spend some time with an Oculus Rift dev kit in order to assist her grandmother to experience the outside world before she is called home to glory. Cancer patient Roberta Firstenberg was too weak to be able to take a walk around her yard, which has led to her granddaughter Priscilla to use the Oculus Rift so that her grandmother is able to enjoy the great outdoors from the comfort of her home, albeit in a virtual manner.

Customer service lead Kevin Crawford responded to Priscilla’s request for a dev kit, as he shared, “Unfortunately, we can’t send you out a brand new unit as we’re still trying to fulfill our backlog queue of existing orders, but, we have just received a few developer loaner samples back in the office. Keeping with the spirit of these specific Rifts, it only makes sense that we loan a working developer Rift to another game dev.”

Roberta was immersed in the Rift’s Tuscany demo, where she managed to explore a virtual villa without getting tired, walking up and down stairs as though she is a sprightly 18-year old again. Not only that, a Street View demo enabled Roberta to walk down memory lane by enjoying an old photo of herself. Priscilla happened to work on a special VR experience just for her grandmother, where it will comprise of butterflies, waterfalls and a forest that has fairies, being a backup solution when Roberta’s condition worsened. It was a month after Roberta first used the Oculus Rift that she passed away.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: oculus