The cases of people making insurance claims for breaking objects while wearing Virtual Reality (VR) headsets shot up by 31 percent in 2021 in the United Kingdom, according to a report by Aviva plc, a London-based global insurance company. The report adds that the reason behind 68 percent of all the insurance claims for breaking home objects was the use of VR devices last year.

It is common for people wearing a VR device to lose their spatial orientation and break objects around them. But the sales of VR devices are going up. And so are the cases of insurance claims due to their use. In fact, several cases of injuries have also been reported due to the use of VR devices.

As is already well-known, several of the new-age video games require people to wear a VR device over their eyes. The device disconnects them from the real world and puts them into a virtual one. To ensure that the person is totally invested in the virtual world, VR games also require the gamers to actually make movements while wearing the VR devices. However, a lot of people playing such VR games in a closed space tend to misjudge their surroundings and end up hitting real objects.

As per the Aviva report, the average claim for VR-related accidental damages was about $880 in 2021. The maximum number of cases were of people mistakenly breaking their TV sets while playing VR games.

According to experts, such cases are expected to rise further in the coming months as the sale of VR devices is not going down any time soon. According to a report by the International Data Corporation, the sale of VR devices has shot up 20 percent since 2020 to a whopping 7.9 million units.

Meanwhile, studies related to VR-related accidents suggest that gamers should take frequent breaks to "realign their senses with the real world" and VR gaming set-up should not be kept in the corner of the room like a TV set. Instead, a VR game set-up should always be installed in a big room that doesn't have a lot of stuff kept closely. Last but not the least, gamers are advised to always be aware of their surroundings.

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(Edited by : Thomas Abraham)

First Published:Feb 15, 2022 11:42 AM IST