How do we Take the Headache out of Virtual Reality?

For some people, VR is still in its infancy and the quality of content and hardware is just to improve in years to come. Some players experience feelings of discomfort or nausea when playing games thanks to various headsets and gaming environments. Thus, this text is dedicated to help our readers avoid and prevent simulation sickness.

According to researchers, a lot of VR sickness happens because of the mismatch between the visual and vestibular systems, ‘‘our eyes tell us one thing while our other senses tell our brain that we should see something else.’’ Likewise, VR sickness and motion sickness are quite the opposite. Motion sickness happens when your eyes tell your brain that you are stationary while your other senses reveal that you are moving. Still, when it comes to VR sickness it is just your eyes that tell your brain that you are moving whereas all your other senses whisper to your brain that you are not.

Thus, in this text we have compiled some of the best tips for eliminating headache out of VR user experience. We also look forward to hearing from you what challenges you had and how you overcome them.

This is a challenge I can definitely testify that it is important to overcome in VR experience since I as a short-sighted woman find it sometimes challenging to follow VR content if it seems blurred and dizzying.

When the Samsung Gear VR came out, many people complained about not seeing clearly and also the image not being in focus. It turned out that once the users adjust the lens of their VR headset to the quality their eyes are used to, their eyes will not get tired.

One of the features that may change in the future is that the lenses of VR headsets become adjusted for those who wear glasses. You may notice that HTC Vive and Oculus Rift have some adjustment mechanisms on the headsets.

There was an internet joke that Millennials can relate to: our parents used to scold us 20 years ago for sitting too close in front of TV as we will damage our eyesight. Still, today we can actually wear small TV headset above our eyes directly which is VR gear.

Although the capabilities of all computer equipment have radically changed, be that desktop computers, laptops, cell phones or game consoles, we need to take a bit of break from that technology.

Likewise, we should take a break from using VR headset here and there in the same way as we would from playing video games. Avid VR enthusiasts advise that you should have a break for 5 minutes after every 20-25 minutes. Certainly, this is one of the best ways to rest your eyes from heavy stress, eye strain and headaches.

Have you ever thought how is using VR headset similar to riding a bike, driving a car or watching a 3D movie? In all those cases you should always look straight and never look in different directions. Otherwise you may get hit by other participants in the traffic.

When you wear a VR headset, your gaze should be really focused, especially if you are in the middle of fast-paced animation and if there are a plenty of moving objects. Not to mention that there is a higher likelihood that you will get the motion sickness or dizziness if your eyes are moving here and there. To avoid nausea, the best part of the screen to focus on is right in the middle.

In the same way as your eyes should not move too much when you use a VR headset, your body should avoid unnecessary fidgeting. Extensive motion of your body will just lead you to becoming nauseous. The rule for your eyes can be perfectly applicable for your body: keep focusing on one particular point, move slowly to reduce pressure on your body and strain on your eyes. Simplicity and modesty in movements and reactions are the best ways to avoid VR sickness.

Although this point sounds like a pretty much basic thing to bear in mind, the quality of your equipment matters so that we get top VR experience. According to experts, the screens inside a VR headset have a refresh rate of 90 Hz while the games should run on the range between 60 FPS to 90 FPS or even higher.

Remember that your video output will look very life like if your image is 60 FPS or higher, which is the true experience what VR should be all about.

Life-like, dynamic images that portray exciting creativity in VR cannot be rendered fully unless you have PC with these specifications: NVIDIA GTX 970 graphics card, 8 GB of RAM and an Intel Core-i5 processor or higher for your HTC Vive and Oculus Rift that are connected to a PC.

And this always brings us back to the basics… if your computer is not upgraded enough, and the content you view is not crystal clear, you will end up frustrated about the quality, as well as nauseous and feeling headache.

To conclude, the aforementioned small steps can really help you and save you from headaches when you use VR.

It goes beyond saying that we should always take good care of ourselves when using a VR headset. This is a relatively new technology and the more feedback equipment producers get from users, even the slightest chances for headaches and sickness caused by VR will be removed.

Image: Android Central