For the past couple of weeks, I have been putting together the top 10 VR games that could, or could not, cause motion sickness. I have also been gathering concepts from each of these games to re-create in Unity. My research comes from mainly using Steam’s VR motion sickness curator, but also by observing what VR motion sickness organizations say, as well.
What’s great about Steam’s motion sickness curator is that it’s dependent on the reviews of the people. If a game receives ample amounts of “does cause motion sickness” reviews by people, then it will be categorized as a game that causes motion sickness and simply be placed on the “Do Cause Motion Sickness” page. The same also goes for VR games that do not cause motion sickness; Which can be found here.
Now, according to various research cycles, it is much easier to categorize games that do not cause motion sickness due to the fact, well hey; who really wants to play a game that makes you get sick? According to Steam, the top 10 most popular VR games that do cause motion sickness and that are being played, right now, in August of 2023 are as follows:
- The Talos Principle VR
- Vanishing Realms
- Richie’s Plank Experience
- DOOM VFR
- Windlands 2
- GORN
- VTOL VR
- Elder Scrolls V | Skyrim
- Fallout VR
- DiRT Rally
Many of these games have very similar traits that distinguish them from the games that do not cause motion sickness. All of these games that do cause motion sickness have these vast virtual environments which gives the player the illusion of movement. In many cases, the player is moving the same they would in a first-person video game. It more or less tricks the brain in to thinking “hey I’m moving!” when you’re really actually not moving at all… And that is why we get sick!
To end this week’s discoveries, here are the top 10 most popular VR games that do not cause motion sickness and that are being played, right now, in August of 2023:
- Vacation Simulator
- I Expect You To Die
- Half Life: Alyx
- House Flipper VR
- Job Simulator
- Beat Saber
- The Room VR: A Dark Matter
- Trover Saves the Universe
- Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
- Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted
Many of these “do not cause motion sickness” games have large abstract environments with moving objects, similar to many of the games that do cause motion sickness, but there is a major underlying factor to take in from some of these games that do not cause motion sickness; And that is the ability to move yourself around. Many of the games that do not cause motion sickness have their player in a fixed position. Many of these games may have 360 degree turn radius, but they still do not allow the player to move from the spot they are standing in, unlike all of the games that do cause motion sickness where you are able to move about freely.
For the next several weeks, I will be trying to play almost all of these games using my own Oculus rig to get a feel for the characteristics they possess. I will also be trying to re-create and combine as many of these characteristics as possible and create a Unity application that will organize the features of these games, accordingly. I will post updates in the coming weeks of my progress. Cheers!
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Hello this is Alex one of the other students in this course, I find this discussion interesting as someone who does not get motion sickness a lot with some games like Gorn but did with others like The Wizard. So I would love to gain a better understanding of why VR games that are more likely to cause motion sickness sometimes doesn’t. I will be looking forward to your updates as you play these games and write about your experience.
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Hello again, Alex! I did already answer this in our class discussions a while ago, but I will answer it again here, as well, for others to see!
The reasons some people feel sick while playing certain VR games, but not others, can be attributed to many factors such as different locomotion methods, FOV, visual cues and world interactions, movement speed differentials, and many more; Even player expectations. For example, ‘Gorn’ and ‘The Wizards’ use different locomotion methods. The Wizards may use a smooth locomotion system (where you glide through the environment), which is known to cause motion sickness in some people. Gorn on the other hand, typically uses a more stationary combat system with limited movement, which might be less likely to trigger motion sickness. Personal sensitivity, and what your brain expects, plays a big role when jumping from different VR games. If you played Gorn a lot before trying The Wizards, you might have acclimatized to Gorn’s specific movement styles, but may still need time to adjust to The Wizards. Hope this helps 🙂
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