How To Prevent Motion Sickness In VR

Here are 6 things you can do to prevent motion sickness in VR. The main things that cause motion sickness in VR are sensory conflicting signals between what the eyes see and what the body is expecting.

Our subconscious mind is constantly processing motion cues, horizon placement, gravity, and a bunch of other information including motion signals from liquids within your ear.

Anything we can do to minimize that will reduce motion sickness.

Increase FPS

fs2020 VR landing las vegas detailed scenery

Lower latency means less delay between what's on the screen and the brain's perception.

Any poor FPS performance that may not be a big deal on a 23" monitor screen will matter a lot inside a VR goggle. 

Virtual Reality experiences are where high FPS and low latency performance must be achieved, otherwise, motion sickness will make the user feel very disoriented and uncomfortable.

Higher Resolution

pimax 5k

As VR technology continue to improve, higher definition up to 12K goggles with up to 200hz refresh rate are coming to the market. 

Nothing is worse than straining your eyes while looking at a low resolution image with screen door effect inside VR while looking at fresnel lenses.

Overtime, it can cause eye strain, motion sickness if moving around lot.

Avoid Poorly Designed VR Experiences

VR games fps

Not all VR experiences are created equal. Different developers may have different skillsets when creating immersive VR experiences.

VR experiences that didn't account for motion sickness, unoptimized stereoscopic 3D setup, unpolished 360 videos, poor control mechanics or confusing graphics will give the user a very uncomfortable experience.

Don't Pan Too Fast

dcs a10c attack run

VR experiences such as flying, first-person shooter games, and other fast-paced applications can strain the user's neck and eyes.

Panning too fast while the body isn't catching up to what the eyes are seeing, then the user will experience motion sickness.

For experiences such as roller coasters, fighter jet simulation, sports... please try a lightweight headset without a cable connection so the user can freely move his/her head.

Focus on a fixed spot or close the eye when rapidly panning. As VR technology continues to improve with foveated rendering and lower latency, this problem will be solved.

Motion Chairs

vr motion 6 dof platform

Motion chairs are getting very popular for hardcore VR users. These motion-controlled chairs synchronize with the VR experience so the user feels what the eye sees and what the brain expects.

This is very helpful for driving and flight simulators.

These experiences include:

  • Vibration
  • Leaning left or right
  • Pitching forward or back

VR Treadmills

vr treadmill

VR experiences involving treadmills can simulate walking while the user is actually standing. So the body is moving relative to what the eyes are seeing to significantly reduce any conflicting sensory feeling.

Take Dramamine

Take this several hours before any VR experience to help reduce headache and motion sickness as much as possible. 

This is a clinically tested ginger extract dosage to relieve symptoms of nausea caused by vehicle rides, watching tv, gaming, vomiting, and morning sickness.

FAQ

Can you build up a tolerance to VR motion sickness?

Yes, it's possible to overcome VR motion sickness and build up a tolerance without any tricks. However, it's not recommended to use poor VR goggles on poor VR experiences.

If the VR experience obviously has some technical problems such as low FPS, lag and low latency, Please stop.

When the body is standing or sitting still while playing, this can cause motion sickness to occur in the same way that moving vehicles do.

How Long Does VR Motion Sickness Last?

VR motion sickness can last a few hours, a day, or even a week in some cases. The industry calls it VR hangover.

Your eyes register horizon movement and the liquids in your inner ear did not, so our body reacts to this incongruity by making the user feel ill.

Leave a Comment