[HN Gopher] DIY Cybersickness Remedies
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       DIY Cybersickness Remedies
        
       Author : pseudolus
       Score  : 25 points
       Date   : 2025-05-24 13:08 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (spectrum.ieee.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (spectrum.ieee.org)
        
       | pavel_lishin wrote:
       | Really thought this was going to be about Johnny Mnemonic.
        
       | neilv wrote:
       | 1. Why would anyone want to give themselves motion sickness for a
       | VR game?
       | 
       | 2. Maybe people who are prone to motion sickness, or who have
       | vestibular damage, would benefit from some of these tricks, even
       | though VR game isn't their idea of fun.
       | 
       | 3. Will people who condition themselves too well to tolerate VR
       | entertainment also break their vestibular system, such as making
       | themselves less likely to be able to recover from a sudden
       | imbalance, or not automatically protect against a fall?
        
         | paulryanrogers wrote:
         | > Why would anyone want to give themselves motion sickness for
         | a VR game?
         | 
         | VR is fun despite some discomfort, much like other experiences
         | like roller coasters. I'd volunteer to participate in such a
         | study because I'd like to do more VR than my body can naturally
         | tolerate.
         | 
         | > Will people who condition themselves too well to tolerate VR
         | entertainment also break their vestibular system
         | 
         | Definitely worth studying! From the few I've heard adapt, no,
         | it doesn't make them significantly more likely to have balance
         | problems.
        
         | kelseyfrog wrote:
         | > Why would anyone want to give themselves motion sickness for
         | a VR game?
         | 
         | Cybersickness endurance games. The person who can make themself
         | the most cybersick wins. Ranked competitive matches with loot
         | box mechanics. People will do pretty much anything when
         | competition is involved.
        
         | dinfinity wrote:
         | > 1. Why would anyone want to give themselves motion sickness
         | for a VR game?
         | 
         | VR can be amazing. There is nothing on this planet that can
         | provide the same experiences it can. That _includes_ real life.
         | 
         | Something like experiencing floating through space, gazing at
         | an alien sunset and feeling like your body is _actually there*
         | without having to deal with pesky things like inventing FTL,
         | radiation shielding, and artificial gravity and whatnot is
         | pretty cool.
         | 
         | *_ It's amazing how easily our senses are fooled, even with
         | imperfect hardware.
        
           | monster_truck wrote:
           | I'm still waiting for HMDs where I can't see the pixels. I
           | have something like 20/12.5 vision (and can also count pixels
           | on a 27" 1080p monitor from normal sitting position)
        
             | esseph wrote:
             | Give it a bit, it won't last long
        
           | reaperducer wrote:
           | _There is nothing on this planet that can provide the same
           | experiences it can. That includes real life._
           | 
           | There are plenty of places on this planet where you can rent
           | a real sports car and race around a real track against real
           | people for real.
           | 
           | Until your VR headset emits the smell of burning fuel,
           | rumbles your body so hard that you feel it for hours
           | afterward, deafens you with engine and tire noise, throws so
           | much mud on the screen that your pit crew uses tear-off
           | sheets of plastic to clear it because wipers are useless, and
           | provides a non-zero chance of actually being hurt or dying,
           | your video game is just game.
           | 
           | IRL > VR
        
         | ThrowawayR2 wrote:
         | People got motion sickness from non-VR FPS games decades ago.
         | Those who overcame it didn't "break their vestibular system" so
         | it seems unlikely it's going to start now.
        
         | duskwuff wrote:
         | > Will people who condition themselves too well to tolerate VR
         | entertainment also break their vestibular system, such as
         | making themselves less likely to be able to recover from a
         | sudden imbalance, or not automatically protect against a fall?
         | 
         | The sense I get from the article is that "VR balance" isn't
         | essentially different from or opposed to ordinary balance; it's
         | just a greater test of one's balance than one ordinarily
         | encounters in daily life. People who have trained their balance
         | - like figure skaters - find VR less of a challenge; performing
         | exercises which improve one's balance - like the "flamingo
         | stance" described in the article - makes VR experiences easier.
        
       | paulryanrogers wrote:
       | Not surprising ice skaters could adapt best. Skating is a surreal
       | feeling of gliding without as much leg movement as a runner
       | covering the same distance.
       | 
       | Snowboarding was very unnatural to me too, yet I persisted and
       | adapted. Now it feels like second nature. It also involves a lot
       | of balance in positions very distinct from the usual human
       | movement. Sadly, it hasn't helped much with VR sickness in my
       | case though.
        
       | mattlondon wrote:
       | Honest question: is anyone using any kind of VR these days apart
       | from a few people using it instead of monitors (which presumably
       | don't suffer from motion sickness as the monitors won't move,
       | right?).
       | 
       | Surely no one is using them for games any more? Surely the
       | headsets are all gathering dust up in the attic next to the
       | gramaphone?
        
         | jermaustin1 wrote:
         | I use VR for games, monitors, and movies. They are great for
         | immersion. I can wear a headset for a few hours without
         | noticing any fatigue.
        
         | i_am_jl wrote:
         | VR motorsport is _fantastic_. With a good wheel, pedals, and a
         | rig to mount them on the immersion is intense, and the depth
         | perception adds so much to the experience.
         | 
         | It's not perfect. The FOV on lower-end/older headsets leave a
         | lot to be desired, you can't use button boxes/controls since
         | you can't see your hands, and doing any sort of long race gets
         | exhausting.
        
         | tlarkworthy wrote:
         | Used mine today for a workout. Super low friction compared to
         | going to a gym.
        
           | daveguy wrote:
           | How does that work? I generally consider working out to be
           | the complete opposite of VR. Was it a VR tennis-cardio type
           | thing?
        
         | graypegg wrote:
         | I mess around in VRchat every once in a while (maybe once-twice
         | a month?) because it still is really fun with friends that
         | don't live close by... but that really is about it. I
         | personally can only get about 30-45 minutes in VR before I get
         | a headache. (Even with breaks)
        
         | ranger207 wrote:
         | Unfortunately almost all VR games in my experience feel more
         | like tech demos than full games. Even Half Life Alyx felt like
         | a demo mechanically to me, but I had a good amount of VR
         | experience before I played it. The only couple of VR-native
         | games I've played that feel like full games are VTOL VR, a
         | flight sim designed from the ground up for VR including buttons
         | to press and switches to flip, and Pavlov, a shooter.
         | Otherwise, many of the best games are VR-additional that can be
         | played flat as well, like Elite: Dangerous, DCS, or the racing
         | games.
        
       | ranger207 wrote:
       | My experience with VR motion sickness was that it mostly went
       | away after a couple dozen hours. Occasionally it'll come back for
       | me when I try a new experience, but it's usually gone after
       | another hour or so. Not an insignificant amount of time of
       | course, but if you're designing an experience for existing VR
       | users, I think you can safely assume most of your users have
       | their VR legs at this point
        
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       (page generated 2025-05-24 23:01 UTC)