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Virtual Reality Motion Sickness VR Simulator Illness Guide

OculusOptician
Explorer
*UPDATED AND REVISED OCT 10, 2014* APPLIES TO DK1 & DK2

Motion sickness while in Virtual Reality is correctly known as VR Sickness, Cyber Sickness and Simulator Sickness. Users who begin to experience VR Sickness while using the Rift should limit their usage times to around 10 minute intervals in order to build a tolerance against it and consider the guide below. Don't try and fight symptoms as conditions will only persist and you can literally get to the point of vomiting. Keep in mind, VR Sickness is not a serious problem and there are methods in reducing and completely removing it from Virtual Reality experiences mentioned further below.

Originally, OculusVR knew very little about simulator sickness (VR sickness), however they have made great strides regarding the problem over the past few years.

Since 2012 I have been actively researching this topic and seem to be more versed than the United States Army and even NASA at this point after frequent reading of their past reports on the subject which are obsolete and out of date at this time. As such, I was required to hire a vestibular specialist who proved very valuable in solving more complex concerns and answering specific questions that were raised. Below is a summary of what I learned over the last couple years.

Early methods of correcting simulator sickness have been developed by NASA due to frequent reports of astronauts showing symptoms in space and during simulator testing. NASA's solution was to introduce a pair of electronic shutter glasses flashing at a specific frequency and dwell time. These systems are not very effective. The US Army conducted a costly and extensive report back in 2005 regarding simulator sickness. The consensus of the report didn't specify any solutions to the problem, only statistical findings.

Motion sickness is the direct opposite of simulator sickness however they both feature nearly identical symptoms with the exception that Motion sickness is known in creating a sense of post movement afterwards whereas cyber sickness typically leaves a feeling of dizziness as a result. Shared main symptoms by order include nausea followed by vomiting, dizziness, reduced spatial awareness, sopite syndrome (exhaustion), increase in appetite and frequent bowel movements.

The cause of these symptoms is due for two reasons. First, the brain receives conflicting cues namely from the visual cortex, posture and vestibular system and secondly from erroneous data that's processed from the users perceptual system as a result. The reason for these symptoms are to protect the body from a false positive of neurotoxins which the brain believes the user has ingested or absorbed based on conflicting processed data from the perceptual, vestibular, postural and visual system.

Susceptibility to simulator sickness is a complete random occurrence in individuals. Gender and race make no difference with the exception of the Asian population. Asian's statistically are reported to have elevated motion and VR sickness related issues. A popular household remedy in Asia is rub eucalypti leaves together and inhale the scent produced from them. Resistance training for sensitive individuals is very effective. It's one of the most effective methods for significantly reducing to completely eliminating symptoms. Around 5% of all individuals will never acclimate regardless how much they try to build a resistance to it meaning there is a confirmed minority of individuals who will never be able to us Virtual Reality as a mainstream product over their lifetime.

Surgical methods have been considered in the past for corrective treatment options however they are only used as a last ditch effort to correct patients with severe balance and vestibular issues. Chemical injections are almost always utilized in these cases and the majority of patients who undergo injections usually go deaf from the surgery as a result since the vestibular system is linked directly to the hearing system. Interestingly enough, deaf people don't suffer from any forms of motion sickness and likely simulator sickness as well.

PROVEN METHODS FOR CORRECTING VR SICKNESS

- Utilizing a software process called Comfort Mode developed by Cloudhead Games.
- Utilizing the Comfort Mode 2 I developed which considerably reduces VR Sickness and significant GPU throughput at the same while still maintaining a great experience. Is fully compatible with Comfort Mode 1.
(PM me for details)

- Positional tracking and experiences which don't create vestibular conflict such as sitting or standing on the spot. For all other walking, running and motion experiences, Omni directional treadmills and 6DOF rigs can substantially reduce vestibular conflict as well.
- Properly calibrate the developer kit to your specific eye settings. Everyone has different eye measurements and these include pupil distance, distance from your eyes to the screen (field of view) and lens center (distance from the actual center of the lenses). This needs to be calibrated in the game and it's the number one contributor to motion sickness if not tailored to suit your personal requirements
- Make sure that you deal with any additional visual issues relating to prescription eye wear and adjust in software if necessary. If your IPD is off, check out IPD adjusters by VR Gear at http://www.vr-gear.com
- Maintain lowest latencies and accurate head tracking possible within hardware. Nvidia 9 series graphics cards feature additional features on improving this.
- Run higher resolutions
- Maintain Focal depth (it's controversial whether this actually helps for the moment)
- Reducing the field of view below 30 degrees stops VR sickness completely however it's not a viable solution. The higher the FOV past 30 degrees VR sickness incrementally gets worse.
- Random shapes and sizes are more preferred as opposed to staight and jagged lines.
- Play more slowly, turn your brightness level down on the rift control module and turn the volume down. This makes a big difference.
- Eat or drink food products containing ginger. This really helps reduce nausea. Don't rely on this however as it doesn't treat any other symptoms associated with cyber sickness besides feeling nauseous.

REASONS THIS WAS MORE OF AN ISSUE IN THE PAST & A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON

- 3D Games weren't actually just that back in the day, they just appeared to be. A good example of this is Duke Nukem 3D which against common belief wasn't actually 3D. It was actually a cleaver representation of a 3D environment. Ken Silverman created a very effective engine that utilized this false imagery and people could get sick just playing his games on their monitor. A game he wrote called Ken's Labyrinth was the perfect candidate for brutal motion sickness even while playing from a standard display. Doom was also another VR compatible game that caused serious motion sickness issues with and without a VR headset. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson actually got motion sickness the first time he played doom on the computer back in the day.

- Latency and frame rates were much worse back then. This makes a huge difference influencing motion sickness.

- The 3D dual image setups were not as accurate in the past. Again this makes a large difference regarding motion sickness.

- Head tracking wasn't as accurate and calibrations were likely not as accurate either. If the motion calibration is not 100% precise, our brains will subconsciously conflict what we are used to in the real world. Also if the tracker isn't accurate enough, this further enhances the problem. OculusVR actually built a temperature controlled room with a 100% level test bench for testing their exclusive motion system during development to ensure their system was as accurate as possible for developer kits. This in turn will significantly help users combat motion sickness.

- Graphics were not as representative to what we have today, poor resolution and motion blur was more of an issue as well. This actually has an effect and has only been improved. While game graphics, even for today's standards are still not perfect and motion blur still plays a role on HMD devices, these are mainly the only remaining issues that can cause motion sickness for Rift users. As game graphics are improved and made more accurate, resolution is improved and refresh rates in the actual screen are reduced, this will significantly improve over time.

- Positional tracking didn't exist.

HOW DEVELOPERS CAN REDUCE MOTION SICKNESS FURTHER

- Make sure the 3D rendering and shaders are setup perfectly. Provide an option for users to access full adjustment of their eye configurations. Everything has to be optically correct.

- Make in game motions as close as possible to 1:1. Slow walking speeds, a sense of jumping and awareness need to be consistent with how we experience the real world, this one is pretty obvious.

- Make games where a fixed reference point can be observed in the game world. For example a cockpit that makes the gamer feel they are inside an actual vehicle. Provide some form of solid reference in the game that gamers can focus on and to mentally understand their surroundings.

- Use darker textures, this claims to make an improvement for many users.

- Don't use repeated patterns, like checker board or strips and lines. Make natural dark textures that flow with nature.

- Use a proper sense of scale. If you feel really small in the game world, the ground will move even faster below you and this also sends conflicting messages to the brain.
34 REPLIES 34

SiggiG
Protege
"kingtut" wrote:
I've just created https://developer.oculus.com/wiki/ind ... n_Sickness to summarise the discussions. Obviously feel free to edit.

Note that discussions etc should definitely take place on the forums, but I think the wiki is a better way to collect and collate the different threads which can and will pop up on this subject.


Great idea and I totally agree 🙂
CCP Games, EVE: Valkyrie developer | @SiggiGG

SSJKamui
Honored Guest
I think One Question which would be interesting is also, how anomalities in perception and the processing of perception data might influence motion sickness. (I am thinking about differences in depth and color seeing and neurological phenomena like Autism Spectrum Disorders, which also influence how different sensory inputs are integrated into one "worldview".) People, who perceive their environment in a different way than normal people, might have differences on the occurence of motion sickness as well. (For example stronger effects or weaker effects or different effects.)

msat
Honored Guest
"OculusOptician" wrote:
One good idea I have to deal with the strafing issue is when the head tracking consumer version roles out you will be able to simply move your head side to side at a 1:1 ratio to provide that immersive experience. However when you move your head to the sides even further you start to actually strafe in the game. This is a natural instinct I noticed when Imps were throwing fireballs at people playing Doom 3. I think this is the best idea and many people will appreciate it as it should seriously reduce motion sickness because this is a very natural concept and your brain will likely adapt to it very easily.



I had also thought along this line myself, though not just for strafing, but moving forwards/backwards as well. While I haven't seen a plot of accelerations for human gait, basic physics of motion can at least enlighten me somewhat. For a human walking at a consistent rate, horizontal accelerations will primarily occur when you start or stop walking (I say primarily because I assume the body doesn't move completely linearly so there will by cyclic accelerations), so leaning into the direction of movement might give the sensation of that initial acceleration. However, it seems to me that the greatest levels of acceleration while walking or running occur along the vertical axis. That makes me wonder if simply bobbing your body while you move in the game is enough to fool your senses, as you're not unnaturally gliding in the world anymore.. If so, what about a haptic device that does it for you, such as a backpack with a vertical moving weight, or something you sit or stand on? Could this also be applied to turning on the spot?

jwilkins
Explorer
"Sawersadam" wrote:

I'd like to experiment with a simple device that could be strapped to a users' chair that would generate a gentle pulse synchronised with game speed somehow (I'm thinking of the painted lines on a road that increase in frequency when nearing an intersection for example or the vibration of a car tires on a concrete road).


I wonder if a sub-woofer would be enough for this.
(╯°□°)╯︵┻━┻

OculusOptician
Explorer
Palmer was working on something like this with a Buttkicker strapped to his office chair.
Check it out here: http://www.thebuttkicker.com

OculusOptician
Explorer
Will be updating this guide heavily in the next fews weeks. I'm currently compiling information and have a huge amount of changes to make here. Have been working with a software engineer and senior vestibular specialist regarding the matter of cybersickness and have devised a large number of hardware and software solutions into solving this problem as well. Ignore this guide for now until I make all the necessary changes, or send me a PM for more information.

Species5618
Honored Guest
"jwilkins" wrote:
"Sawersadam" wrote:

I'd like to experiment with a simple device that could be strapped to a users' chair that would generate a gentle pulse synchronised with game speed somehow (I'm thinking of the painted lines on a road that increase in frequency when nearing an intersection for example or the vibration of a car tires on a concrete road).


I wonder if a sub-woofer would be enough for this.



That could work, some cars use special type of subs under the seats build just to viberate to simulate strong base. So why not use a simular tech for this.

As long as head tracking is correct i have no sickes issues when just looking around. However One of the things that does make me sick when using the oculus, is suddent fast movement (like fowards or a other direction ). It feels very strange, and i beleave one of the things casing this is your missing the acceleration forces. Your eyes can see your accelerating, but you senses dont pick up anychange in your accual movement.

So Maybe by just adding some sensation, this could help to lower sickess.

Anonymous
Not applicable
Regarding what msat said about bobbing your head (msat: "That makes me wonder if simply bobbing your body while you move in the game is enough to fool your senses, as you're not unnaturally gliding in the world anymore..") Cymatic Bruce was talking about this in one of his videos (the one featuring an OR version of Unity's "Angry Bots" demo).

He said that it actually helps him considerably with motion-sickness to "act" the part will moving, even going as far as to increase bobbing frequency when moving down a slope, to simulate the shorter, heavier steps one takes when walking downhill.

He also mentioned something that points to how VR will need to be a VERY customizable gaming experience. I've seen many suggestions that any artificial head-bob will not be preferred for VR gaming, as it induces the motion sickness for some users. Bruce, however, stated that the head-bob is quite pleasing to him, and reduces sickness. Hence his decision to physically act out the head-bob in demos/games that do not use it. Some users will feel more comfortable with artificial head-bob; some will want to act it out themselves; others may want it turned off completely and to just sit/stand mostly still while using the Rift.

My Rift should finally be here Friday, so I can't wait to begin experimenting with this stuff instead of just talking about it and watching videos... 😛

boggers
Honored Guest
I'm making a little hovercraft tank game, and had some pretty good results so far with minimising motion sickness. Most of the main points people have brought up already - not accelerating or changing direction too fast, and having a static point of reference (ie cockpit interior) but a couple of other things I added seemed to help a lot. My static interior is not actually static... the camera is mounted on a sort of heavily damped spring which mirrors the vehicle motion... as you accelerate, the camera is pushed back a little, returning to center slowly as you reach full speed, likewise strafing throws the camera left and right a little relative to the tank, and hitting the ground hard causes a very distinct and visceral bump, as the camera suddenly moves a few centimeters toward the floor before springing back. The other thing that I can only get away with because it's a hovercraft game, is tilting the entire vehicle a little in the direction of travel, ie strafing causes a little roll, and forward / backward acceleration causes a little pitching. The strafe-roll kind of encourages you to lean your head a little in the opposite direction while strafing, so you intuitively keep the cockpit level and tilt the world by tilting your head. I found this to not only reduce motion sickness, but also provide a much better sense of immersion, not to mention that in combat you can usually tell exactly the direction you were hit from, when the camera lurches from the impact. I'm finding that I really get the sense of being there, to the point my stomach drops out as I launch over hills, and bounce around the sand dunes and I even brace for impact before hitting the ground or another tank... maybe I just got used to the rift (and it was never that bad for me in the first place) but it isn't making me motion sick at all anymore, not even while doing barrel rolls and backflips just meters off the ground or getting buffeted around by enemy fire.

leftbigtoe
Protege
there is actually quite a bit of research done in that area, however mostly back in the 90s so I'd say it can only be applied to the rift to some degree since a lot of factors changed. Nevertheless I think when talking about VR we should definitely draw on that knowledge. I worked a bit on motion sickness issues and VR (actually in a lab headed by one of the authors of the paper vsn11596 posted above) and will try to compile a little list of interesting research papers soon. Just waiting for OculusOptician to post his guide and try to contribute to that.

Still I wanted to share the upshot of a conversation I had with an aspiring jet fighter pilot recently. He told me that some of the pilots have massive problems with air sickness which is somewhat related to motion sickness. He told me, they have a special program for pilots to help them cope with it, having a success rate of around 80% tho overcome airsickness. Interestingly, one of the major points of the program is to help the pilots deal with stress. Those guys are overwhelmed with a crazy amount of stuff to do in parallel and apparently this stress somehow makes them more prone to motion sickness. I would be interested if that matches somewhat with your observations. Could that be one the reasons why repeated exposure helps...not only because your perception learns to deal with the mismatch but also because you become more relaxed since you already know the game? This could also explain why playing the game on a monitor beforehand might help. You know the game mechanics and the interface, so more cognitive load is free to deal with the VR experience itself.