Sure, the brain is trickable. We had people jumping out of the way of the train and gunshot in "The Great Train Robbery" as well, of course. Notably the guillotine simulator that is so effective is a virtual environment, which is what I was suggesting will be the rule for a while in VR.

See also this guy's reaction (around 1:20):

https://youtu.be/Odax7F3tWhM?t=1m20s

You can get the same reaction from playing any other game with an element of surprise on just a normal display.

I differentiate between jump scares/immersion and presence.

Imagine playing a hack and slash game. A user is not reacting every time their character is hit. They may have an initial reaction to a surprise attack that catches them off guard, but no more. There is some level of immersion but there is no level of presence. They never feel like they might be in danger and their body does not react as if it is in any danger.

Presence would be having a feeling of discomfort anytime your avatar was injured. The brain having tricked itself into thinking it is the avatar. When the avatar gets hit by a weapon, the user's body sweats and tenses up, believing it was just hit by an actual weapon.

Air-pressured tactile gloves can help develop a sense of presence. For example, pressure when grabbing a rock may trick your brain into believing the rock is real.

I wanted to focus more on the studies than the .gif. Having a mannequin stabbed and the participant's body reacting is a sense of presence and not simply a jump scare. The brain couldn't tell its own body from that of a mannequin.

How does something like this compare? I would like to try it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cML814JD09g&feature=youtu.be

(The bit with the spider webs especially registered with me as something that might be a trigger for making your brain go wonky.)

If they have material so when you swing your sword - you actually hit something. Or when you shoot your gun - it provides some kick and feedback as if you were firing a real weapon then I can see this working really, really well.

The audio cues are there - the visual cues are there. Add in some haptic feedback and maybe even smell (ie. make a room full of dead bodies and blood smell rancid) and you've hit every sense but taste. I can easily imagine it would cause a state of presence if done right.

Obviously their graphics will have to be "good enough" (although sadly it won't reach their CGI'd video editing level anytime soon :( )

That's the stock, first time seeing VR reaction for alot of people.

What really matters though is persistence of engagement. Outside of those of us who've drank the koolaid or have a vested interest, how often the general public will come back to VR and how long they will stay inside it will be the critical factor for success.

That rate is still well below the threshold needed.

> Pay careful attention to her reaction: > https://i.imgur.com/avVTybvh.jpg

Note: This jpg is actually a gif (?)

That's the power of Virtual Reality

You can get immersed easily in any video game (I felt vertigo the first time I jumped from a building in Minecraft), but you can always tell what is real.

It's not about whether the brain can be tricked or jump scares will work, it's about whether you'll go "Oh wow" or "My head hurts this looks stupid"

Like an 8-bit guillotine vs this one.

The original commenter actually made the exact distinction between VR (what you linked) and capturing real life video