It happened to me about a month ago while playing Serious Sam. A falling motion mixed with a quick side glance then a strafe to shoot an enemy. The second the bady went down my body immediately became hot and while I have been on the edge of it playing Subnautica, I was experiencing my first real bout of VR motion sickness.
I am not alone in fact it was reported last year by fortune.com that around 25-40% of users have reported motion sickness. It's thought to be caused when different sensory information is conflicted. While your eyes are seeing one motion your inner ear is saying nothing is going on, the body thinks something is wrong, and it responds. It was crazy because, unless severely hung over, I never feel any form of motion sickness in cars or other vehicles. Then again I have never jumped down 10 feet, strafed to the left while looking right, and shot at anything in the face.
Luckily this was not nearly as debilitating as some stories I had read but I had to take off my headset off and sit down for a few minutes. A few deep breaths later and I was able to feel good again. I played for a few more minutes before getting the second bout and it being enough to stop me from wanting to keep going.
Immediately I looked up if there were any quick cures for what ailed me and I found that there really wasn't too much outside of the realm of how people normally deal with motion sickness, with one exception. A lot of people have trained themselves past it.
While most games try to avoid free motion that is thought to cause people to get sick, I really don't want to be stuck warping from one location to the next...and I am still waiting on my VR controllers. The motion to move around as you please in an environment that completely surrounds you is what I wanted so I had to get used to it. The game I decided to use was a bit more forgiving in the motion, Subnautica. It has free motion but the fact you underwater help keep the mind from having expectations of motion. I did once or twice feel a bit uneasy but as soon as it started I took the headset off. Took some deep breaths, drank some water, waited until my body eased, then jumped back in. After a long stint, I tried my luck at Serious Sam again and happily was able to play a few hours with little discomfort. Not sure if it was a cure but for the past few weeks there hasn't been anything to complain about.
This method seems to be a solid method for training your mind to get used to VR. Hopefully, I can finish both games pretty soon to report my time with them but now I will be able to get through them. It's just funny having a new video game experience in which you actually have to train yourself to be a part of.
I am not alone in fact it was reported last year by fortune.com that around 25-40% of users have reported motion sickness. It's thought to be caused when different sensory information is conflicted. While your eyes are seeing one motion your inner ear is saying nothing is going on, the body thinks something is wrong, and it responds. It was crazy because, unless severely hung over, I never feel any form of motion sickness in cars or other vehicles. Then again I have never jumped down 10 feet, strafed to the left while looking right, and shot at anything in the face.
Luckily this was not nearly as debilitating as some stories I had read but I had to take off my headset off and sit down for a few minutes. A few deep breaths later and I was able to feel good again. I played for a few more minutes before getting the second bout and it being enough to stop me from wanting to keep going.
Immediately I looked up if there were any quick cures for what ailed me and I found that there really wasn't too much outside of the realm of how people normally deal with motion sickness, with one exception. A lot of people have trained themselves past it.
While most games try to avoid free motion that is thought to cause people to get sick, I really don't want to be stuck warping from one location to the next...and I am still waiting on my VR controllers. The motion to move around as you please in an environment that completely surrounds you is what I wanted so I had to get used to it. The game I decided to use was a bit more forgiving in the motion, Subnautica. It has free motion but the fact you underwater help keep the mind from having expectations of motion. I did once or twice feel a bit uneasy but as soon as it started I took the headset off. Took some deep breaths, drank some water, waited until my body eased, then jumped back in. After a long stint, I tried my luck at Serious Sam again and happily was able to play a few hours with little discomfort. Not sure if it was a cure but for the past few weeks there hasn't been anything to complain about.
This method seems to be a solid method for training your mind to get used to VR. Hopefully, I can finish both games pretty soon to report my time with them but now I will be able to get through them. It's just funny having a new video game experience in which you actually have to train yourself to be a part of.
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