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Don’t a significant minority of people vomit or otherwise feel ill with VR? Is that adoption limiting?

Arrath 4y ago
I tend to avoid more extreme carnival rides due to motion sickness, and must take drugs to be out on the open ocean and my own experience with VR was a mild feeling of being unwell that persisted for a few hours after the end of a session. This was only for the first week of owning and using VR, after that I acclimated to it just fine.
falcolas 4y ago
Pretty much everyone, when presented with a poor VR experience (high latency, low framerates) will get nauseous. But there is also a minority who can never get used to even an otherwise good VR experience. Especially if there's any kind of sliding. Sadly (note, my opinion comes from being in that minority who can't get used to sliding), the current VR player community has settled on sliding as the best mode of movement, and berate developers who create alternatives, when they even create alternatives (Boneworks, etc). Even many games which do offer alternative movement methods still expect you to crouch, kneel, lean, pivot, etc. I'm not 20 anymore. Combine the above with the lack of audience (largely due to cost), it's a positive feedback loop of mediocrity. The Quest2 was the closest we came to affordability, and it was still the cost of a middle-range cell phone with limited utility and way fewer games.
- AgentME 4y ago
  At least with social VR, teleport-style locomotion is a decent alternative to sliding controller locomotion, because you're going to spend most of your time planted in one spot and talking to people near you. When I was new to VRChat, I mainly played with teleport locomotion. (Well, "holoport locomotion": you point somewhere and hold a joystick, your point-of-view stays still while you and everyone else sees your avatar walk there, and then when you let go your point-of-view teleports into your avatar's new location. No unnatural nausea-inducing sliding.) Though there are some game worlds in VRChat that involve running around a lot that don't work well with holoport, and I would occasionally try sliding controller locomotion mode instead. Eventually, around the time I put in a hundred hours into the game, I found I could use sliding controller locomotion without issue, and switched to it for good.
potatolicious 4y ago
Even beyond acute reactions, current headsets are also pretty bad for eye strain, and for some heavier headsets also neck strain. Pretty much no current headsets are comfortably usable for very long periods. If the bar is "can spend as much time in VR as I currently do on PC gaming/console gaming" we're nowhere close to it. I can (and have) sat in front of a Playstation for 5-8 hours in a row, and even though my body feels like crap afterwards it's still a heck of a lot longer than I can stand being in a Quest 2. There's a reason the most successful applications are short-and-sweet. But if you want people to socialize in VR and spend a large amount of time there both the acute illness issue and long-session comfort need to be solved.
- rjh29 4y ago
  I use a third-party strap for the Quest 2 and it is comfortable enough for 5-8 hours (and has a battery so it'll last that long). The stock strap is not great, though.
  - potatolicious 4y ago
    Yeah, the fact that aftermarket mods are basically necessary to actually fully make use of Quest 2 is what leads to me think that this is not a fully-formed product yet. For example Quest 2 while usable while wearing glasses, is deeply unpleasant. If you're a glasses wearer a set of prescription inserts is practically required. Likewise for comfort aftermarket straps are a must. I get why FB isn't including these things out of the box (or has first-party consideration for it) but it overall makes the whole thing feel like a deeply unfinished product.
    - rjh29 4y ago
      It's a very affordable headset for casual or occasional VR users. Those who want to use it a lot can pay extra for a strap/interface. If Facebook had sold it that way, with a normal and a 'Pro' version, that would have cleared up a lot of confusion IMO. For glasses are you using the spacer? I find it okay with the spacer but it lets too much light in. And the aftermarket interfaces don't always support glasses. It's a bit of a mess.
nicolashahn 4y ago
I did, especially with Gorilla tag, but the more I've used it the less it affects me.
- wisnoskij 4y ago
  I cannot imagine Gorilla tag. I think I am extremely hard to get nausious. I did not feel a thing for months using the Quest. But grabbing onto things in vr and climbing around like that, I am still feeling nauseous from playing Bonelabs yesterday.
- Kyragem 4y ago
  You can adapt to VR sickness with enough exposure.

I tend to avoid more extreme carnival rides due to motion sickness, and must take drugs to be out on the open ocean and my own experience with VR was a mild feeling of being unwell that persisted for a few hours after the end of a session. This was only for the first week of owning and using VR, after that I acclimated to it just fine.

falcolas 4y ago

Pretty much everyone, when presented with a poor VR experience (high latency, low framerates) will get nauseous. But there is also a minority who can never get used to even an otherwise good VR experience. Especially if there's any kind of sliding. Sadly (note, my opinion comes from being in that minority who can't get used to sliding), the current VR player community has settled on sliding as the best mode of movement, and berate developers who create alternatives, when they even create alternatives (Boneworks, etc). Even many games which do offer alternative movement methods still expect you to crouch, kneel, lean, pivot, etc. I'm not 20 anymore. Combine the above with the lack of audience (largely due to cost), it's a positive feedback loop of mediocrity. The Quest2 was the closest we came to affordability, and it was still the cost of a middle-range cell phone with limited utility and way fewer games.

AgentME 4y ago
At least with social VR, teleport-style locomotion is a decent alternative to sliding controller locomotion, because you're going to spend most of your time planted in one spot and talking to people near you. When I was new to VRChat, I mainly played with teleport locomotion. (Well, "holoport locomotion": you point somewhere and hold a joystick, your point-of-view stays still while you and everyone else sees your avatar walk there, and then when you let go your point-of-view teleports into your avatar's new location. No unnatural nausea-inducing sliding.) Though there are some game worlds in VRChat that involve running around a lot that don't work well with holoport, and I would occasionally try sliding controller locomotion mode instead. Eventually, around the time I put in a hundred hours into the game, I found I could use sliding controller locomotion without issue, and switched to it for good.

potatolicious 4y ago

Even beyond acute reactions, current headsets are also pretty bad for eye strain, and for some heavier headsets also neck strain. Pretty much no current headsets are comfortably usable for very long periods. If the bar is "can spend as much time in VR as I currently do on PC gaming/console gaming" we're nowhere close to it. I can (and have) sat in front of a Playstation for 5-8 hours in a row, and even though my body feels like crap afterwards it's still a heck of a lot longer than I can stand being in a Quest 2. There's a reason the most successful applications are short-and-sweet. But if you want people to socialize in VR and spend a large amount of time there both the acute illness issue and long-session comfort need to be solved.

rjh29 4y ago
I use a third-party strap for the Quest 2 and it is comfortable enough for 5-8 hours (and has a battery so it'll last that long). The stock strap is not great, though.
- potatolicious 4y ago
  Yeah, the fact that aftermarket mods are basically necessary to actually fully make use of Quest 2 is what leads to me think that this is not a fully-formed product yet. For example Quest 2 while usable while wearing glasses, is deeply unpleasant. If you're a glasses wearer a set of prescription inserts is practically required. Likewise for comfort aftermarket straps are a must. I get why FB isn't including these things out of the box (or has first-party consideration for it) but it overall makes the whole thing feel like a deeply unfinished product.
  - rjh29 4y ago
    It's a very affordable headset for casual or occasional VR users. Those who want to use it a lot can pay extra for a strap/interface. If Facebook had sold it that way, with a normal and a 'Pro' version, that would have cleared up a lot of confusion IMO. For glasses are you using the spacer? I find it okay with the spacer but it lets too much light in. And the aftermarket interfaces don't always support glasses. It's a bit of a mess.

nicolashahn 4y ago

I did, especially with Gorilla tag, but the more I've used it the less it affects me.

wisnoskij 4y ago
I cannot imagine Gorilla tag. I think I am extremely hard to get nausious. I did not feel a thing for months using the Quest. But grabbing onto things in vr and climbing around like that, I am still feeling nauseous from playing Bonelabs yesterday.
Kyragem 4y ago
You can adapt to VR sickness with enough exposure.