How I Felt After An Entire Day Of VR (Kotaku)

On Monday I ran an endurance gauntlet of VR demos: 10 games, 30 minutes each, one after the other

It was a showcase of all the Oculus Rift’s launch games, many of which I really liked...but it also brought up a question I’ve had for a while about VR: can you endure being immersed in it for more than a half-hour or so?...How does it make you feel after prolonged use?

As the picture above indicates, it didn’t exactly make me feel brilliant...after a morning’s worth of different Rift games, I felt disorientated, a touch nauseous, and distinctly headachey...after five hours I felt like I needed a lie-down in a dark room...It’s not that the games are badly made, or that the headset is uncomfortable to use: developers appear to have figured out the ground rules of VR now and no finished Oculus game makes you feel actively unwell, like some of the earlier demos could...but jumping between different realities turns out to be quite taxing on the brain...I also had very attractive red marks all around my face from wearing the headset all day...

Group

I’m also especially vulnerable to motion sickness; I get nauseous in the back seat of cars, so VR has always been a bit daunting.

So why does his opinion even matter?

Megalith said:

I’m also especially vulnerable to motion sickness; I get nauseous in the back seat of cars, so VR has always been a bit daunting.

So why does his opinion even matter?

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It's a girl. I think. Maybe.

And seriously someone who can't ride in the back seat of a car without getting sick is only going to five straight hours of VR demos so they can bitch about it afterwards.

I actually don't find Kotaku as heinous as some people around here, but even I can't stand the UK version.

Here's a much better report from someone who spent 12+ hours of running through various VR games demos at GDC:

PS4 $300 psvs $400= 700 cheaper for me to get a Rift. for pc but i think im going to have to pop motion sickness pills for VR. waiting for my samsung gear

Meh, I played Nvidia 3D Glasses for a really long time. I loved it, but definitely felt strange after long extended sessions. It took a couple days before it was unbearable. I'm sure you can find videos that say it's good, just like I'm sure you can find videos saying it's bad. I'm just going to wait for the jury to be out before spending 800$, personally. Eye fatigue was so much a thing, in every 3D technology/application I've used. It will be amazing if this is any different - hoping that it is, but I'm being realistic.

Everyone reacts differently to this stuff, so cherry picking videos to justify your purchase or tell you what you want to hear might be bad in the long term. Either way, thanks for sharing the feedback. I'm looking forward to longer playback periods testing effects.

Megalith said:

I’m also especially vulnerable to motion sickness; I get nauseous in the back seat of cars, so VR has always been a bit daunting.

So why does his opinion even matter?

Click to expand...

EXACTLY!!
This is like people that can't swim saying how much water skiing makes them uncomfortable.

Dr. Righteous said:

EXACTLY!!
This is like people that can't swim saying how much water skiing makes them uncomfortable.

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Since they aren't in the majority their opinion doesn't matter...good to know! We should always ignore the minorities and what they think...makes life easier.

Mystique said:

Meh, I played Nvidia 3D Glasses for a really long time. I loved it, but definitely felt strange after long extended sessions. It took a couple days before it was unbearable. I'm sure you can find videos that say it's good, just like I'm sure you can find videos saying it's bad. I'm just going to wait for the jury to be out before spending 800$, personally. Eye fatigue was so much a thing, in every 3D technology/application I've used. It will be amazing if this is any different - hoping that it is, but I'm being realistic.

Everyone reacts differently to this stuff, so cherry picking videos to justify your purchase or tell you what you want to hear might be bad in the long term. Either way, thanks for sharing the feedback. I'm looking forward to longer playback periods testing effects.

Click to expand...

The Rift is not really even comparable to those 3D glasses. Trust me. I'm not saying your experience won't be different, but I played marathon sessions of Elite Dangerous on the DK2 and didn't have any troubles aside from the headset not being as comfortable as I'd like.

Seriously though, the new VR tech is so far and away superior to crappy 3D glasses. Hopefully they'll set up some GOOD demos in stores. You really can't explain it--you have to try it, and you have to try it with a GOOD game.