Why virtual reality makes a lot of us sick, and what we can do about it.
Some people even get sick just from the wrong FoV and motion speed combination in 3D games, this is just 10 times worse.
For those with nausea, I’ve had some good results with ginger candy. Something chewable that is comprised entirely of ginger.
I take it with me whenever I give a demo somewhere.
Works in seconds.
As you get older, ginger is basically a cure for most things, and I’ve gone from hating it to craving ginger whenever I feel down.
Ginger candy and ginger beer are fantastic, as long as you’re using the stuff without sweeteners. Sadly, some brands load their stuff with lots of additives and artificial sweeteners to save costs/reduce sugar.
Look for sea sickness remedies, you should find ginger chewing gum. Chewing gum itself reduces motion sickness and at least if you follow this study peppermint is actually more effective – though ginger itself (without the chewing part) is known to be effective so have you salt shaker ready to sprinkle on their sample size.
Try stuff and see what works for you, it’s not like you’re injecting chemotherapy meds.
Why though. So I might be able to reduce nausea to do… What. Be forced to see ads for shit I don’t want?
What do ads have to do with anything? I use vr to play video games.
There are more headsets than just Oculus.
Maybe I’m just old, but I never want to adopt VR, just like I never wanted to adopt 3-D Tvs.
Have you ever tried VR?
Does the Nintendo Virtual Boy count?
Damn that is exactly the face you make to a cheeky comment like that. Damn Denzel had it.
Meanwhile I’m over here still wanting to try it out.
The closest I’ve ever gotten was trying out virtual boy when it was brand new in stores and had one set up for people to try out.
I’d love to try it before buying. Not really interested in buying without it, but that’s not how things work anymore. So I guess I’m just gonna skip it unless it gets massively popular and it’s just everywhere and I’m stuck missing out on something huge if I don’t have it.
Some best buy stores have demos in the US where you can try it out for a bit. I honestly find the social aspects to be the most interesting part of VR (and I’m not a people person). A 10 minute demo isn’t probably going to completely sell you on VR but they can answer questions etc.
Well apparently mine doesn’t. But I really don’t go there anyway. I went there for something specific a while ago to buy for someone else, but in general everything they would have I can get cheaper online somewhere else. Their online store occasionally has a good deal tho. If they had a demo for it I’d go to check it out tho.
I am highly susceptible to motion-sickness and figured I’d need to test drive before spending $200+ on some new VR gear.
I suspected this was a problem.
I see VR arcades in suburban malls fairly often, maybe give that a shot first. The VOID experiences were great but they went out of business during the pandemic.
You just need a bit of knowledge that is tough to get without knowing it exists.
The main component of VR games that causes problems for people is when the motion in game doesn’t match the motion you are really doing. There are plenty of games that don’t have any of that. And even when you are ready to start trying games with that, you can overcome it if you experience it bit by bit. Just play until you start to get a warm/sweaty face or a bit dizzy feeling, then go do something else for a bit. You will build up the time it takes to trigger that feeling and it will be more mild as you keep training out of it.
I’ve been demoing to people for 10 years and have had less than 5% of people even get mildly nauseous during a demo, even fewer recently. The methodology of the test in the article can’t have been anything other than them picking the worst possible experience and having people endure it for an hour or until they felt sick with no explanation of what to look out for. Since 30% of people are literally completely immune no matter how bad their test could have possible been.
Even back with the DK2 and the crappy choices for software back then it was still pretty uncommon to make someone sick, and usually it was either my fault or a hardware issue rather than something that could be attributed to VR as a whole.
I am never sick when doing roller coasters or reading in a moving car, but I was really nauseous after my first 15-min VR session. I was pretty scared I fucked up buying a Valve Index only to get that much sick playing… But I had a feeling (hope?) that I could get used to it: After about 2 weeks of playing a bit every night I was no longer getting sick at all. I can go until the controllers run out of battery now.
To me the effort was worth it, but I have a friend that was the opposite and didn’t enjoy experiencing virtual worlds that way…
My advice: If you ever try it then try to ignore the sickness -as you can get used to it- and focus on how much you enjoy being immersed in virtual worlds.
1990s: VR is the future. Put these on!
2000s: VR is the future. Put these on!
2010s: VR is the future. Put these on!
2020s: VR is the future. Put these on!
They really really want to sell us new trinkets.
In my mind they look like little Goblins or Ferengi who dream about all the other VR related stuff people can start buying when finally VR headsets become common.
It’s almost as if we shouldn’t listen to the marketing types that are trying to sell a product, but rather what the end users say.
I remember trying VR in the 90s: from the VirtualBoy to expensive and bulky setups in malls. I’ve tried 3D TV, google cardboard, and the range of consumer VR across the decades. They were all fundamentally flawed and like everyone else I was jaded. Then I tried what the 2020s had to offer.
My take away is that the technology available has finally reached the point where consumer VR is starting to become viable. We’re seeing the first real prototypes that have the capacity to evolve into something practical. It’s still expensive, bulky, and limited – but the fundamental issues that plagued previous generations of VR have mostly been addressed.
I went on a a VR rollercoaster with my new girlfriend (asian) at a amusement park where they move the cart according to the movement in VR.
She was totally OK, and I was totally wet of sweat, down to my underwear. I really almost puked.
But I have that problem even on a bus and in a car as a passenger (so I basically always drive if possible). Big ships, trains and airplanes are totally ok.
When I was about 9 I had to puke on the bus and my dad didn’t want to have to clean the buss so he let me puke into the pocket of his jacket 🤪
Chad dad
What does your gf being Asian have anything to do with this?
Owned by a guy that actually read the article we are discussing. Story of my life
Because the article said that women have a higher chance to feel sick and Asian people have also a higher chance, and she is the combination of being a woman and being Asian, and despite that not having any problems. I thought it was noteworthy.
My girlfriend (asian 4’5, big booba)
start chewing bubblegum (with mint) if you have issues with vr, it sounds stupid but it really helps
Or take a Dramamine - it is identical to sea sickness. Treat it that way.
Your body will eventually get used to being on the sea if you do it even slightly correctly. Same with VR.
But I don’t see why for example my Grandma is gonna do that, or my neighbor.
It’s cool but it isn’t that cool, and I say that as someone with 2000+ hours in VR with arguably the best VR headset (Index).
Or take a Dramamine - it is identical to sea sickness. Treat it that way.
I would go with chewing gum, less invasive ;)
I tried a VR headset in an electronics store once and I vomited almost immediately.
I bought a box of cookies for the janitor the next day.
I can spend hours doing VR, prefer standing but some games are sitting. High paced jumping/spinning/flipping games. Elite dangerous, Sorento (sp), robo recall, windlands. No issue of sickness at any point, even with fps drops and frame hangs
Good for you, I could do all that on a ship out at sea using a laptop with a 1070 and a wired headsetand and could also not get sick.
Doesn’t change the fact that literally like half the people I ever tried to introduce to VR have immediately felt violently sick to their stomach within minutes and some did try to get over it. With multiple attempts.
Idk about 40-70% that seems ludicrously high. I play all the time, mild motion sickness when I could not run the game well, otherwise no issues.
All those who get sick obviously stop playing. So if you ask the users, basically no one gets sick. Because those who get sick are not users any more.
Nah, it’s quite real and quite accurate (even though the range is high).
40-70% seems reasonable if it includes the people who eventually get used to it.
That seems high to me as well. Obviously this is anecdotal, but I’ve introduced probably 20 friends/family members to VR and none of them have had issues with motion sickness.
Simulation sickness is real, and more common than most gamers (a population that tends to self-select for people without that trait) think. This prevalence doesn’t surprise me at all. It’s not severe for everyone. You might not notice if a friend had it, except that they might play fewer video games with you. (They might not, some people are fine unless in full VR.) People aren’t generally keen on going “You know that thing that you like doing and that I’ve seen 5-year-olds do on the internet? I can’t do it, it makes me vom.” It doesn’t exactly feel cool.
That’s a true statement. They might just be macho, or they might be just sparing your feelings about a really expensive device you own. I know it made me nauseous, but I didn’t say anything because my buddy was excited and spent a lot of money on it. It’s not like I have to play it forever… it’s just that one time.
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I started by playing while standing and moving smoothly in game and I couldn’t last long before getting sick. Now I play seated with snapping in game movement and I can play for hours without issue. Depending on how you define it, I don’t think it’s surprising to see so many people say VR makes them sick.
The statistic quoted is for “users”, so presumably the measurement was made against randomly selected individuals of the general population (though the article frustratingly fails to cite a source). This is important because the effect is not evenly distributed among demographics, per the article:
What’s more, we don’t know why some people are so much more susceptible to it than others, but we know that there are numerous markers that make us more likely to experience it. Women, as mentioned previously, are more likely than men to get VR sick. Asian people are more likely than other ethnicities to experience motion sickness in general. Age is another factor—we’re more likely to experience it between the ages of 12 and 21 than in our adulthood… until we reach our 50s, upon which the likelihood increases again.
How many have the same issue with regular FPS games? Since Half Life 2 on a monitor (pre-FOV patch) was worse than any VR game I played so far.
I read this as “40-70% of VR developers don’t know what they are doing”. What needs to be done to avoid motion sickness has been known for a long while now.
VR still sucks, but didnt boats make people want to throw up. Then trains, then cars. They still do sometimes, but it’ll be worth it
I think the challenge is that with transportation, there are approaches to reduce the impact such as looking at the horizon, sitting in the front where the motion impact isn’t as severe, etc. With VR there’s less way around it, and fewer ways to redirect your perception (yet). Which is why the percentages are higher than car users
What we can do about feeling sick is to ignore VR and never use it again.
