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posted by janrinok on Friday December 09 2016, @08:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the comfort-of-your-own-home dept.

Wearing a VR helmet seems to cause motion sickness in a majority of people and it affects women more frequently than men.

In a test of people playing one virtual reality game using an Oculus Rift headset, more than half felt sick within 15 minutes, a team of scientists at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis reports online December 3 in Experimental Brain Research. Among women, nearly four out of five felt sick.

So-called VR sickness, also known as simulator sickness or cybersickness, has been recognized since the 1980s, when the U.S. military noticed that flight simulators were nauseating its pilots. In recent years, anecdotal reports began trickling in about the new generation of head-mounted virtual reality displays making people sick. Now, with VR making its way into people's homes, there's a steady stream of claims of VR sickness.

"It's a high rate of people that you put in [VR headsets] that are going to experience some level of symptoms," says Eric Muth, an experimental psychologist at Clemson University in South Carolina with expertise in motion sickness. "It's going to mute the 'Wheee!' factor."

Abstract: The virtual reality head-mounted display Oculus Rift induces motion sickness and is sexist in its effects. (DOI: 10.1007/s00221-016-4846-7)


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09 2016, @10:46AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09 2016, @10:46AM (#439101)

    I have a PSVR and found I get sick really easily. It's full on travel sickness like I used to get in the back of cars as a child and on ferry journeys, combined with headache and profound discombobulation which can last all day. Some things which help:

    * Smoking weed before a VR session
    * Chewing ginger sweets - these are sold as natural travel sickness aids
    * Direct a fan on your face while playing - this also helps with immersion. Standing on a rooftop of Gotham city with a breeze blowing on your face is awesome. A fan also helps prevent fogging up of the lenses which can happen before the headset warms up.
    * Choose which types of game to play carefully and ease yourself in. Don't overdo it when you first start or you'll turn yourself off VR.

    I think you gain your VR legs over time and I'm not expecting VR sickness to be a problem for me in the future. I can play games now that I couldn't on day one.

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