Skip to main content

YouTuber sets Guinness World Record for longest amount of time gaming in VR

Spending 36 Hours in VR | Official World Record Attempt
When the HTC Vive headset first released, room-scale virtual reality made it possible to truly transport to a virtual world. Gaming in VR has largely stuck to a bite-sized experience though, letting people get back to the real world before too long. But earlier in 2017, Australian YouTube personality Jack McNee said goodbye to real life and spent more than a day in virtual reality, winning a world record in the process.

The marathon, which was documented on the LPVR YouTube Channel, had him playing Tilt Brush for 36 consecutive hours, 2 minutes, and 16 seconds. It has now been confirmed by the Guinness World Records, beating the previous record, set by tech journalist Georgie Barrat, by roughly 11 hours.

One of the requirements for the record is to stay within a single VR app. McNee’s game of choice was Tilt Brush, smartly picked for its freedom. Throughout the event, McNee drew characters from The Simpsons, Adventure Time, Pokémon, and more. Since the whole event was live-streamed, he was able to entertain himself by playing rounds of Hangman and Pictionary with viewers.

According to the official guidelines, McNee was allowed a few small breaks to relieve himself, but meals were hand-fed during play. He was also not allowed to sleep throughout the gaming session.

While the goal of the stream was to break the previous world record, a secondary goal was to collect donations for The Reach Foundation. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to aiding children in need, whether physically, socially, or financially.

For those looking to break a VR world record, there are other records using a virtual reality headset. In April, Alejandro Fragoso and Alex Christison of Cyberlink set the record for continuous hours watching VR Movies. The duo watched for more than two days straight, totaling 50 hours without any sleep.

Before challenging either of these Guinness World Records, be sure to contact the organization for official confirmation. It is also a pretty good idea to keep a few people around who can properly monitor vitals. With the HTC Vive now $200 cheaper, the bar for earning a world record just got a little bit lower.

Editors' Recommendations

Garrett Hulfish
Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…
Volgarr the Viking 2 will take you back to your Ghosts ‘n Goblins days
A viking slashes a tree in Volgarr the Viking 2.

Developer Digital Eclipse is working on a surprising project: Volgarr the Viking 2. The 2D retro sequel will launch on August 6 for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The news is an out of left field reveal. The first Volgarr the Viking game released in 2013 and was made as an ode to 1080s classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins. Despite being a small release, it sold over 1 million copies over the past decade. As revealed during today's Guerrilla Collective stream, the series is coming back with a new sequel by Digital Eclipse, the team behind this year's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.

Read more
3 Days of Play PS Plus games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Key art for Streets of Rage 4.

June 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty great month for PlayStation players. Not only are we coming off an entertaining State of Play showcase, but a new Days of Play initiative surrounding all the video game showcases this month is bringing a lot of new PS Plus additions with it. Many of those games hit PS Plus this week, and three in particular stand out to us.

For owners of Sony's oft-neglected PlayStation VR2, the first game is one of its rare exclusives that take full advantage of the headset's eye-tracking by seeing how often players blink. The next is a new PS Plus Essential game that's a revival of Sega's classic beat-'em-up series for the modern gaming era. Finally, the last title is an atmospheric and eerie fishing game that should entice fans of Lovecraftian horror.
Before Your Eyes

Read more
3 first-party Xbox Game Pass games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Gears 5 Kait Hero Close Up

Microsoft will hold an Xbox Games Showcase and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct. this Sunday. These shows will provide a much better idea of what to expect from Xbox over the course of the next year or two. That's really needed right now, as Microsoft has struggled to keep online discussions around Xbox positive as it went multiplatform with some games, laid off thousands of developers, and outright shut down the developers of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall. Based on leaks and my personal expectations for the showcase, there are three games you can play on Xbox Game Pass this weekend to prepare for the event.

The first is the latest first-person shooter in a long-running series by id Software that might be getting a medieval-set spinoff. After that, we have the fifth entry in a sci-fi Xbox series that still looks fantastic on Xbox Series X/S even though it came out in 2019. Finally, you can prepare for Avowed with the latest RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, a satirical sci-fi game where player choice is critical.
Doom Eternal

Read more