Simulator Sickness
I feel like my tolerance for becoming nauseated while gaming has been going downhill to the point where I should try to do something about it. Background information:
- I primarily play on my living room HTPC with an 85" front projector ~15 ft away at eye level. I usually sit offset from center by about 4 ft.
- I have no problem with TF2, Portal, KSP, Dust, EVE, Unreal 2k4, Overwatch, Skyrim, Battlefield (any), or MechWarrior (any).
- I have never been able to play the original Half Life for more than 15 minutes at a time on any computer/setup I've ever owned. Unreal Alpha, Fallout 4, Obduction, and the PC version of Beyond Good and Evil all make me sick in less than an hour.
- I don't ordinarily get sick while playing console games but recently felt ill after watching friends play Twilight Princess on their TV.
- Handhelds don't give me any trouble.
I've been thinking about getting a SHIELD or some sort of handheld streaming device since I don't own another TV/monitor and don't have a desk. I'm also worried that VR is going to suck for me.
Do any of y'all have similar responses and what are good solutions for you? Any other suggestions?
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@drasnor I got an HTC VIVE and tried War Thunder the flight sim on it... I cant do flight sims in vr and its a whole you're moving or tilting in game and your body isnt but it should, and it just... it made almost puke. its probably something on that level of why with simulators might throw you off.
there's also something to be said for watching and not playing, theres a disconnect and a level of not being in control that might throw you or anyone off.
you could also adjust fov/motion blur/occlusion to try and help with other games and game types to see if that helps. a steady refresh/frame rate would also cut it down
I try lots of different FOVs but haven't really found one that works for me in the ones that make me sick. I always turn off motion blur and view bob; I'll have to look into occlusion as that's a new one for me. I have VSync turned on as well; not sure if that addresses the framerate.
I'm generally not sensitive to this sort of thing myself but I know others who are sensitive to motion sickness from things like 3D movies also find VR to be nauseating. I have experienced nausea from VR, it's usually because of sensory mismatch. For example in a 360 degree image, you can turn your head and look around but if you try to tilt or lean nothing happens so when you do those things most senses are telling your brain one thing and your vision is getting something else which causes the nausea; it's the same reason I got motion sickness in boats. Low framerates can have the same effect. If you move your head and the image doesn't keep up, so to speak, it can make you nauseous, especially if you're sensitive to that sort of thing to begin with. I also don't like it if the image isn't crisp and clear, my eyes keep trying to focus but can't and that can be bad. Then I've heard there can be problems any time the game takes control of the camera for you too, so you might want to stay away from things like roller coaster simulators at first. I have also only tried the Oculus though which is pretty clunky for adjusting the focus through the lenses so I wonder if maybe the Vive or Sony one are better in that regard.
Basically if the game is handling the VR well, you might be fine, but I also suspect that some people are just too sensitive to it. It's difficult to get people who have been nauseous from VR before to keep trying it though, especially at work (because who wants to be nauseous at work?). One of my VR-nausea people at work tried the AR in the HoloLens and didn't report any nausea, even when it was obscuring their vision as fully as it could so I wonder if having that little bit of peripheral vision makes a difference.