Have you ever tried to introduce someone to video games for the first time, and after a few minutes of playing, they tell you that looking at the screen makes them queasy?
Well, it's not just all in their head. (Well, it is, but it's not all just made up.) It's a well-documented phenomena called "simulation sickness". Today we'll be talking about it, how to avoid it, and why it matters today more than ever before. The basic idea behind simulation sickness is that your brain is getting mixed-up signals. You're getting all this perceptual data that tells you you're moving, but your vestibular system (or inner ear) doesn't detect any movement https://uscasinosguide.com/best-online-casinos-for-usa-players/. At least, that's the theory. There haven't been enough studies yet to really say anything conclusive about this, other than that it exists (which the military proved handily with fighter pilots running simulations in the 90s). Personally though, that explanation makes sense to me because simulation sickness is most pronounced with first-person games or third-person games with really close cameras. A person who has no problem playing Bejeweled or Final Fantasy may encounter a feeling of nausea when playing something like Bioshock or Gears of War or even Minecraft. And that seems totally reasonable to me. Trying to project yourself into someone else's perspective and looking through their perspective while not actually physically being in their body is a very weird thing. In fact, it's such a weird thing that some of you who played lots of games may still have trouble with it. What little research has been done on the subject says that the vast majority of us can acclimatize to the disembodied motion of games, but some noticeable percentage of people either never fully acclimate or do so very slowly. Still, if you don't play a lot of first-person games and they tend to make you feel a little sick, know that it probably will get better over time. Now, I'm not saying go make yourself ill playing games. But if this is something that you really want as part of your life, yet feel like you can't participate in it because of simulation sickness, don't worry. You will probably be able to eventually. It's likely to get easier over time. But if you're one of those whose body just can't adjust and games matter that much to you that you're gonna play anyway, Here's a few things that should make it easier for you. First: turn off the screen bob when the character moves. You know that bobbing camera motion that you get whenever your character takes a step? It seems like it exacerbates simulation sickness problems for a lot of people. Many first-person games offer this as a toggleable option. In fact, designers, if you're listening: ALWAYS make this a toggleable option in first-person games. Consider it an accessibility option. Second: dim your screen.
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