Oculus Rift helps people experience internet lag in real life

Lag on the internet is not fun at all. This means pages load slower, videos buffer slower, and when you play games, the delay could mean life or death. So what’s it like to experience lag in real life? Well that’s what fiber internet provider, ume.net, is trying to demonstrate in their new ad that features a group of volunteers wearing Oculus Rift headsets. Basically they will attempt to perform a bunch of tasks, such as playing ping pong, dancing, and so on. 

Lag is the worst. Anyone who has ever used technology can tell you that first hand. But what if your whole world lagged. With the Oculus Rift you can find out. Spoilers: It sucks. As part of a project/ad for fiber internet provider ume.net, four volunteers donned an Oculus Rift outfitted with an outward-facing camera, and experienced different degrees of real-life video lag, from slight to totally absurd. The results are understandably hilarious and kind of unsettling. It looks like being drunk, but without the fun. Of course, being subjected to seconds of video lag for every part of your life isn’t the only thing that would be disorienting about this set-up. Wearing a headset and having your POV lifted a few inches is probably disorienting as well. Still, it makes you appreciate that the real world isn’t quite as slow as all your tech can be.