Why virtual reality makes a lot of us sick, and what we can do about it.

  • ky56
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    1 year ago

    Today l learned that some people get motion sickness from playing flatscreen games. How do you even survive a car? Let alone an airplane?

    • blind3rdeye@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Being in a car or aeroplane is totally different from playing a game, VR or otherwise. The motion sickness is a result of a mismatch between the sense of your own motion from what you are seeing, and the sense of your own motion from your inner-ear (which is basically an accelerometer).

      In a car or an aeroplane, as long as you are looking at the window then there is no problem. (But often people get car-sick if they try to read a book or something, because then they can’t see the motion - they can only feel it.) But in a game, you can see the motion but not feel it - so that can also give motion sickness.

      Many modern first-person games have an option for ‘mouse smoothing’ (or something similar), and that generally help reduce or eliminate motion sickness.

    • FriedCheese@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The problem is in a car, your body is actually moving and your sense of movement aligns with what your eyes are seeing. I’m not an expert but there’s something about fluid in your ears moving?

      When it comes to gaming on a flat screen, your eyes are interpreting movement but you are not moving. This, from my understanding is what causes the motion sickness.

      I can’t use these VR headsets because they make me sick and give me migraines. I’m just fine playing on a TV or monitor though.

    • rckclmbr@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I would get so incredibly sick when playing the original wolfenstein and Doom. But I could play halo for hours. Really weird