Oculus CEO Palmer Luckey is on the cover of Time magazine, but the image does little to make virtual reality seem appealing.

The increasingly influential 22-year-old is shown wearing the Oculus Rift VR headset on a beach, apparently either dancing on his toes or floating above the ground.

That Luckey – clearly originally photographed seated – is composited onto an uninspiring stock photo does not help.

Twitter jokesters and industry alike have mocked the image, creating Photoshops and calling the cover, in 3D Realms co-founder George Broussard's case, "the worst PR that virtual reality could ever have."

Time's artwork is a good example of how difficult it is to visually convey how virtual reality feels - which, in our experience, is every bit as amazing as the Time cover isn't.

Aimed at a largely unaware public, the article itself is more in-depth and charitable, but still treats the technology as something of a curio.

The Oculus Rift headset is set for a public release in early 2016. Judge the magazine cover for yourself below.