The advent of VR: Will we be sick of playing?

When enjoying ourselves online the last things we expect to feel is ill, but that is what is happening to many people when they pop on their virtual reality headsets to enjoy sometime in a VR world of their choice. It could be a Facebook experience or Xbox, nevertheless, VR sickness has caused many people to think about not using their headsets anymore and when you consider that virtual reality sickness has many of the same symptoms as motion sickness then you can’t really blame them.

Technology is improving our lives – even our more intimate relationships – but no-one wants to play on a game that causes nausea, dizziness, disorientation, headaches, and sometimes actual vomiting. But before you consign your headset to the darkest, deepest vault there are a few tips that you can try to help you either alleviate or eradicate those awful symptoms.

Firstly, remember that much VR sickness is because our brains and our bodies are telling us different things. Our brain is telling us that we a moving forward, through a lush forest, or playing football in a major competition whilst our body is telling us that we are actually sitting or standing up.

To help adjust to the virtual reality environment, little and often is a good place to start. Playing for only a few minutes then having a break can often help us adjust to the strange environment we find ourselves in. Taking breaks whilst playing teaches us to adjust to the VR environment without feeling ill.

Another tip when you first use your VR headset is to use the teleportation way of moving from place to place instead of the locomotion options. This means that you will be taken to the next stage of your game without having to move, and although this can deter from the game a little it is well worth considering if you are apt to get VR sickness.

Games do vary in the amount of travelling you have to do and it might be a good choice to play one that has less movement to break yourself into the virtual world.

Another tip which might sound confusing is “keep an eye on how you breathe”. This is because when we become excited about a game we breathe faster and take shallower breaths. When we do this our brains will not be getting enough oxygen and that means we could prompt the onset of VR sickness.

No-one likes to feel ill and VR sickness symptoms can stay with us for the whole day, ruining it completely. In the future, there is sure to be a technology that can stop these symptoms but until that day making your VR time online as good as you can for yourself is well worth the efforts instead of giving up completely.

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