photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Hunting zombies is one of the most popular virtual reality experiences at VR Lawrence, a new downtown virtual reality arcade.

Whether it is killing zombies or diving to the bottom of the ocean, there is a new downtown Lawrence business that can simulate those and a host of other activities for you.

Heck, VR Lawrence — the VR stands for virtual reality — even has a simulation that probably can replicate your actual job. One of the “games” is a job simulator that lets you choose from a large list of professions.

I know what you are thinking: Simulating your job isn’t that fun even when there is a real time clock involved. Rest assured, though.

“This is more like a tongue-in-cheek simulation,” Prabh Arora, co-owner of VR Lawrence, told me. “They are not trying to make you bored. They throw a lot of challenges at you. There is a lot of entertainment aspect to it.” (Just think, you could test out your theory of whether using the external defibrillator would un-jam the copier.)

Most people, though, would prefer to tangle with the undead. (I don’t blame them. Copy machines are frustrating.) A game called Propagation is the most popular offering at VR Lawrence, which is located in the basement of the building at 911 Massachusetts Street.

“You basically are killing zombies in that one,” Arora said of Propagation. “It is the scariest one we have.”

If you are not familiar with the idea of virtual reality, players normally wear a headset and other sensory components. Those components allow a player to control the game by simply moving about instead of moving a joystick or a controller. If you wanted to swing a bat at a zombie, you simply would swing your hands and arms rather than push buttons on a controller. (Good luck, though. A bat is not going to faze a zombie.)

Many gamers love virtual reality systems because of how lifelike the effects are. But Arora said non-gamers have been customers too because they like the idea of having a fun experience — perhaps with their kids — without having to learn the functions of a game controller or other devices.

“That is a selling point,” Arora said. “You are completely immersed in the game. It becomes real. We have had people screaming quite a bit in the zombie rooms.”

Each room accommodates one player, although there are couches available for your friends to watch you play. The business, though, has four rooms. Many of the games — VR Lawrence has about 60 currently — allow for multiple players. That means one of your friends might be competing against you in an adjacent room. Some of the games also allow you to join a computer network and compete with people from all over the world.

The business charges $19 for a one-hour experience in one of its standard rooms. In addition to the standard rooms, VR Lawrence also has a pair of auto racing simulators, complete with steering wheels. Those rent for $10 for a 30-minute session.

The auto simulator lets you pick from more than a dozen different vehicles to drive on more than a dozen racetracks around the world. Arora tells me the simulator will help me answer a question that I once thought was only knowable via larceny: Just how much different does a Porsche drive than a Ferrari?

“Yes, yes, yes,” Arora said of whether you can actually tell the difference between vehicles on the simulator. “A lot of them with a lot of horsepower, people just slam on the gas and then wonder why they keep spinning and spinning.”

The list of games and simulations available at VR Lawrence is varied. There are plenty of guns-a-blazing type of simulators, and there are some sports-oriented ones too, such as a boxing simulator and a table tennis simulator. There also are games that simulate escape room experiences, and one called Zero Gravity that puts you on the International Space Station. There’s another that allows you to view some of the world’s finest pieces of art.

But in a sign that I’ve maybe watched too much Food Network, I’m intrigued by one called Clash of Chefs, which challenges you to make masterful creations under the pressure of time. (Even in virtual reality, I would still worry that I’d get stuck doing all the dishes.)

VR Lawrence only has been open for a few weeks, but Arora and his business partner and spouse, Sheyenne Fishero, already are planning to expand the business. The business is planning to open and equip two more virtual reality rooms.

“We already are getting quite full on the weekends,” Arora said, noting that the business is open for walk-in business but there are many days people go online and reserve all the available spots.

VR Lawrence also is planning to add alcohol service to the business, once it gets all of its necessary permits. Arora said the business doesn’t intend to operate a full bar, but rather will serve beer and other alcoholic beverages that can be served in cans.

Arora said he thinks the business is on the cusp of an emerging trend, not only in the world of gaming, but just general living. Virtual reality and the “metaverse” are gaining an increasing amount of attention from technology leaders.

But Arora said it was the attention of his wife, Fishero, that made all the difference in the creation of VR Lawrence. Arora said last year he had purchased a virtual reality gaming system for their home. He played the system often, and was meeting new people and forming a new community of friends in the process.

“She saw that I enjoyed it a lot,” he said. “She just looked at that and (said) ‘hmmm, what if we can give this experience to other people, also?'”

The couple already operated a business in the 911 Massachusetts building. Budget Repair, a business that repairs all types of electronics, operates in space near VR Lawrence.

No need for a job simulator for Arora and Fishero. They now have two in the real world. But Arora said the extra work has been worth it, and he thinks it will be exciting to see how the technology develops. He said new VR systems will have full-body tracking, down to the level that if you want to signal to one of your fellow players by giving a wink of the eye, the game will recognize it.

“And that is just the short-term future,” he said.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

VR Lawrence is located in the basement of the 911 Massachusetts Street building, with its ground floor entrance essentially next door to the Chipotle restaurant.