Sleeping in VR is definitely a thing. Just head to any of the so-called ‘sleep worlds’ in VRChat to see avatars snoozing away whilst curled up on a virtual couch. Now a Steam overlay looks to make it easier for the VR sleepers among us to catch their forty winks.

Called OyasumiVR – VR Sleeping Utilities, the software is designed to detect when you’re asleep and automate various tasks, something its creator ‘Raphii’ says can help make VR sleeping “as comfortable as possible.”

https://twitter.com/Raphiiko/status/1689543002123845632

OyasumiVR can is also said to dim headset brightness, trigger avatar animations based on your sleeping pose, automatically handle invite requests so you’re not disturbed, and automate various SteamVR settings.

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There’s actually a pretty extensive array of features beyond those mentioned above, including the ability to create shutdown sequences so you can automatically turn off controllers, base stations, quit SteamVR, or even shut down Windows entirely—just what you need if you’re looking to drift off to asleep in VR, but want to wake up in your own bed.

Originally projected to land on Steam on August 25th, OyasumiVR – VR Sleeping Utilities is available for free starting today on Steam. You check out the full list of features on the linked Steam page to see if it’s right for you.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Nothing to see here

    Just when you think that VR could not be made more creepy … “to see avatars snoozing away whilst curled up on a virtual couch”. Ya, strange dudes staring at my avatar while I am sleeping … shudder!

    • It’s almost never strange dudes, typically if you sleep in vr, you either go to a private or friends only instance to sleep, so the only people who would ever see you lying there are your friends, like a sleep over.

      • CrusaderCaracal

        Yeah or you could just take off the headset and sleep normally. Geez, some people can’t get away from a screen

        • ViRGiN

          Vrchat has 202k reviews. Alyx 71k.
          Lmao.
          And i still remember the gate comings from the very same people who threatened to leave vrchat after adding “anticheat”. They all came back with twice the engagement rate.

          Randomly browsed random reviews.

          400h.. 500h.. 700h.. 1000h… 2000h… 10000k hours.

          Why try to get better in life when you can compensate for being miserable by becoming an anime girl and use voice changer, and for the first time in years, hear approval from other identically looking vrcitizens?

          • CrusaderCaracal

            Still baffles me how people would rather speak to other equally dumb people whilst pretending to be anime girls or furries than play something actually fun like Alyx or Tabor or Into the Radius

    • ViRGiN

      There is already first apologist! lol!
      It’s not creepy if you surround yourself with other creeps!

  • Andrey

    Man, I love VR with all of my heart and soul and, potentially, I am ready to wear AR (or MR) glasses/headset (if it’s light and comfortable enough of course) all day long even if people around me will think that I am weird, but sleeping in it…
    Why? Just why? Why can’t you remove it for the time being to sleep? Even with something compact it’s still fells almost like a brick tied to your head (especially when you try to relax and actually sleep) + there is still some amount of screen’s light (and heat from it too) falling on your eyes even if it’s closed. Is it so hard to just enable some kind of sleeping mode for your avatar or something if you want everyone to know that you are sleeping, then put your headset away, sleep as long as you need, put your headset on again and disable sleeping mode? Why could you potentially want to be tracked during sleeping in VR besides some kind of research in controlled environment? Please don’t tell me that there are people who not just sleep in VR, but also sleep with all those full-body trackers equipped for the “ultimate experience” of some kind. I don’t think much of VRChat and it’s inhabitants, but if something like this is actually true… Oh boy…

    • ViRGiN

      Make bullying great again.

      The toxic culture of today world lead to this. These individuals should be hiding their mental illness, but internet made it okay to surround yourself with other crazy anti social people.

      • Eno

        Man, wow, the projection here is palpable. It’s kind of inspiring, really, like if I could just get this ignorant, right, could I also be so arrogant to think anyone gave even a sliver of a fuck about my opinion? Even one as shitty as “make bullying great again”? That’s wild man, truly. I’m enlightened. Bravo… Anyway, no point in calling yourself virgin; you were obviously fucked out the gate.

        • ViRGiN

          You literally just made an account here, and this is your first comment ever. And you decided to get triggered about sleeping in VR? This isn’t your average vrchat community, “full of support”. Go being pathethic somewhere else.

          • Eno

            You realize you also got triggered about ppl sleeping in VR right? Lmao, having such a strong negative opinion, you obviously care way too much man.

          • ViRGiN

            Touch grass. I commented on then front page article, you are 2 months late to the party absolutely fuming and triggered cause you actually are interested in this product, cause you have nothing going on in real life.

    • Tabp

      then put your headset away

      It shouldn’t be hard to imagine how some people would rather just relax and fall asleep on the spot instead of going through the inconvenience of getting up, removing the headset and trackers, putting everything away, etc.

      Personally I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep in VR anyway, but there’s a lot of people who just flop over anywhere, especially after drinking (including falling asleep on couches or even floors at real life non-vr parties, don’t get me started).

      Speaking of research in a controlled environment, there’s the phenomenon of social sleeping, which appears to be an evolved behavior from the time when tribes slept in groups for safety and lived outdoors or in caves rather than in houses with rooms. Sleeping alone by default is actually a modern phenomenon. VR sleep is an area of active research with studies you can search for, such as
      http://www.sciencedaily dot com/releases/2020/08/200826110330.htm
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih dot gov/pmc/articles/PMC7734477/
      dl.acm dot org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3544548.3580947

      • ViRGiN

        Stop trying to excuse this toxic behavior lmao.

      • CrusaderCaracal

        Wow taking off a headset is really inconvenient. You’re weird

  • ViRGiN

    This is what separates real VR enthusiasts from orthodox toxic nolifes who will educate you how vrchat isn’t all cringe weeb stuff and you just need to find equally fuced up individuals who want to have a tail.

    Absolutely disgusting. Just like theythem who think there is “full body tracking” in steamvr.

  • ViRGiN

    Oh and yeah. Yet another dead news day for road to vr. I’ve suggested well over half a year ago to cover the success story of contractors, but that never happened. And it never happened cause they paid for advertising once here and now it’s not in r2vr interest to cover it ever again for free. Stop claiming you can’t possibly cover everything. Delete your Twitter. Stop going into extremes. Be more critical of everything. Covering this, painting as a normal thing or even cool use case is ridiculous.

    You haven’t even got any advertisers lately. Is this website dead?

  • Zantetsu

    On a tangentially related topic, I played so much Fallout 4 VR a month or so ago that I woke up in the middle of the night (not in VR, just in my bed like usual) and in a confused fog believed I was in the Fallout 4 VR world. Some soft light from a clock illuminating my lamp kinda looked like the corner of a room in Fallout 4. I lifted my hands in front of my face and was confused about why I could see my hands.

    • CrusaderCaracal

      That would be sick waking up in Fallout 4. I’d run off and join The Brotherhood of Steel

    • Jeroham Ortiz

      I’ve noticed my dreams are more realistic and usually feel gamey.
      I’m in usual game situations, like fighting with zombies and I reach out for usual game assets like weapons and such.
      However, most are not 100% lucid, to my disappointment.

  • CrusaderCaracal

    I’ve never understood sleeping in VR. I’d rather lay in my bed and just go to sleep rather than on the floor of my VR space with a huge hot monitor strapped to my face. Your eyes are closed so what’s the point. Also, someone could start screaming in your ear and wake you up. Doesn’t sound like a good night’s slumber to me, but then again the same people who sleep in VR also sit infront of mirrors all day in VRchat with their full body tracking anime avatars

    • ViRGiN

      There is a reason why vrchat is considered a social platform for anti social.

    • implicator

      Sometimes you just end up playing for a long time and pass out.

      • Jeroham Ortiz

        I would think that to be the only reasonable explanation but, so far, VR headsets aren’t very comfortable, so I don’t understand how could someone fall asleep with one on.

      • CrusaderCaracal

        Bit concerning mate, you should make sure you aren’t passing out in vr

  • kool

    I’ve fallen asleep with my headset on before in like a peaceful menu or world. It wasn’t that bad like sleeping at a park. I can see how this is a thing, because I have to a TV going to fall asleep.

    • ViRGiN

      falling asleep during a movie or something = hsit happens
      falling asleep in vrchat = done on purpose, weird ass fetish, 100% mental illness

  • Can it also do the work for me while I sleep? :D