We could always make things SUPER realistic and have riders get clipped by a car now and then! Boy, that would make you wear a helmet!
For the record, I ride - outdoors - with a helmet at all times. I also have Varia rear radar with a light, an additional light on my seat bag, and one on my helmet. Super bright flashing headlight during daylight hours. Oh, and a 360 degree Rylo camera mounted on the end of the handlebar nearest the road. Yes, I was hit by a car.
However, my avatar doesn’t wear one.
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Damn, it’s hard enough trying to spot my avatar in a group ride when everyone has the same jersey one. Imagine trying to do it with everyone wearing the same head wear.
I don’t wear a helmet on the trainer so for maximum realism neither should my avatar. In my country it is the law to ride with a helmet on the road so I enjoy the little bit of freedom that Zwift gives me from a nanny state government.
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Part of the fun of Zwift is that it’s a fantasy world. In Zwift, we never, ever have to use the brakes or yield to traffic. Does this make people less likely to use their brakes or look for cars in real life? Should we demand that Zwift give us close calls with trucks, so we can heighten awareness of traffic safety? Should we also get virtual flats, so we can practice changing tires?
I wear a helmet on outdoor rides. But I see no reason to wear a pretend helmet on a virtual ride–unless you simply like the look.
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My avatar wears sunglasses because you just never know when road debris will get flipped up and hit you in the eye - and then your eyesight would be impaired and you could end up crashing half the Zwift peloton. So, I’d like to see all avatars wearing eye protection.
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I only wear sunglasses in Zwift because the avatars don’t blink and it really creeps me out.
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Zwift has had avatar blinking since the head type update. Still creepy though and it’s the same reason I always have sunglasses on.
Really? I’ll have to check that out. Haven’t taken the glasses off since I started.
I always wear a helmet in IRL, which is the same as putting on your shoes, you won’t forget that either! I still wonder how many people cycle IRL without a helmet!
I totally agree its sensible to wear a helmet when cycling outside,
so whilst Zwifting I feel I can do what I want.
I like wearing a cap as it reminds me of many years ago when all
I needed was a cycling cap as traffic was less and driver concern for
cyclists was more. Happy days.
Drivers should be re-educated with more concern towards towards other road users and held much more responsible if found to have caused any road accidents involving motorcyclist, cyclists or pedestrians.
I was hit from behind by a motorist who overtook me this year and their initial approach was that I hit them. What a joke. I’m lucky to be alive and still able to cycle.
Now, I feel physically sick when I hear that a child or cyclist has been hit or killed.
I don’t think it is meant to represent real life - i wear a cap on zwift but always a helmet in real life.
if you want to look at ways zwift encourages unsafe riding you may want to concentrate on turning without signalling or shoulder checks, randomly darting all over the road to overtake, taking up the whole road and probably the most dangerous thing of all - actually cycling through a volcano!!
it is a computer simulation and should be treated as such in the same way all computer games are
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My avatar didn’t wear a helmet at first, mainly because the default Zwift one looked terrible and I don’t think you unlocked a different one until you had reached a certain XP level (which I was ages away from acheiving at the time).
However I then completed Alpe Du Zwift and got the Lazer helmet on the prize wheel, and as this looked almost identical to the helmet I wear IRL, I decided to start using it in game. To be fair I was also riding the closest bike to my IRL one I could get in the shop and trying to keep the rest of my kit also similar to stuff I actually rode in, so it made sense.
LOL! It’s a game and the only place I get to show off my beautiful mane. I don’t have hair IRL.
I always wear a helmet IRL - it is the law here and we won’t get far without it.
PS. Nobody likes an evangelist. You do not want to know what I think of doctors who get up on their soap boxes.
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It’s a game. I always wore a helmet when riding outside. I no longer ride outside. I count riding outside as riding on borrowed time. I’m not putting a helmet on an avatar on a computer game, while riding safely in my man cave.
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Eelco, chill, dit is een vrituele wereld. We fietsen hier in deze vrituele wereld bijvoorbeeld ook door een actieve vulkaan heen. Lijkt me ook niet heel erg wijs vanuit een dokter’s oogpunt gezien. Mensen vallen in Zwift gewoon niet van hun fiets af en er zijn geen autos. Ga fietsen.
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But does anyone wear an actual helmet inside on the turbo? After all, many accidents happen in the home.
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Just like life imitates role playing games, I tell my kids to wear a helmet on Zwift. I don’t want them to hang out with elves in the real world, so I won’t let them hang out with elves on WoW. And I hate it when orgs attack the house, so they are not to provoke them on Wow. Don’t get me started on them leaving their battle axes all over the house, this isn’t WoW!! I’m sure 99% of Zwifters wear helmets outside of the game, so I don’t really think allowing my avatar go without one is going to make me want to not wear one in real life. I don’t need a “doctor” to tell me to wear a helmet on a video game, instead I’d expect there are other things they can apply their energy to, such as T2 diabetes rates increasing in western culture and Asia, curing cancer, or addressing other health crisis.
My avatar does not wear a helmet in Zwift but I always wear one in IRL on my road bike.
I don’t wear a shirt/jersey on my trainer bike but my avatar is never topless in Zwift.
My guess is most people in Zwift are “advanced” enough in age to distinguish in-game versus real life.
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A standard-helmet should at least be an option-out from the start, not after some rides.
Then we can see who is a real (wise) man (or woman).
Standard a helmet you is also giving guys with a receding hairline a relief from having to (self)suggest having a fullblown hairdress!
If you really want to promote wearing a helmet then wear a real helmet while riding your trainer 
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If you enforce helmets, what use is hair color or no hair on your avatar? 