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VR still makes 40-70% of players want to throw up, and that's a huge problem for the companies behind it (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/games@lemmy.world
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Why virtual reality makes a lot of us sick, and what we can do about it.

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[–] 9 points 2 years ago* (5 children)

I wonder if this 40-70% demographic has actively tried to play it a couple times? My first experience with VR was incredibly disorienting, and yes, made me feel nauseated. But after playing for 2-3 hours across a handful of 15-20 minute sessions (passing it around a few friends for an evening) that just went away. Once the body uses it a bit and learns, even high-movement non-teleport movement games stop being an issue.

I wonder if I happen to be in that upper percent, or if the numbers in question are a matter of people who tried it once in their life and felt sick. Clearly the author has put real time into trying to move past it, but that doesn't say anything for the study he quotes the "40-70% of players are 15 minutes" numbers from.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago

    Heard somewhere that it can get worse if you try to power through the nausea and sickness. Like your body remembers that it made you sick before and wants to actively avoid going through that experience again. So if you start feeling sick, especially when you first start out, stop playing.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    That’s just it; the first-time experience is so critical in every game, and often every console.

    The systems that needed users to follow 30 steps to set them up, or try them 8 times until they could avoid nausea, often failed.

    Convenience is important.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Since you're asking for anecdotes: my VR headset consistently made me sick following 30 min to an hour at the absolute max. I still played dozens of times for short spurts, but it never got better for me.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    I played VR and had a blast. It was usually the ones that were mounted to the ceiling at a mall arcades. I could play no big deal for hours. My brother in law got a vr headset for Christmas and I tried to use it and got unbelievably sick after 20 minutes of playing it.

    I played super hot, some moving zombie game, and that plank game on thw vr headsets at mall arcades with no problem moving around, twisting, and moving fast. I played a stationary puzzle game on my bil's. I dont know what causes the sickness but it was veey bad on his unit. I womder if the suspension at the mall arcades made the difference, rather than having a free roaming headset.

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