Barry sobbed as he begged for his job. VR is getting heavy, man

Barry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He didn't know why I'd called him into my office, but he knew it couldn't be good.

I told him we had gotten another report of inappropriate behavior - his sixth this year.

"Oh come on, everyone is so sensitive," he said. "You know, it wasn't like this 10 years ago."

Barry was in his 60s. Finding another job to fill the years before retirement wouldn't be easy.

"It doesn't seem like it now, but this may be a good thing for you," I said.

Comforting lies were not the move. Barry buried his face in his hands, sobbing. Then everything went black.

I took off the virtual reality headset, and the real-life offices of the Culver City VR studio Talespin, the architects of Barry's very bad day, came back into focus around me.

I had failed the termination simulation.

Kyle Jackson, Talespin's chief executive, started the company in the thick of 2015's VR hype cycle,