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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 10</font></b></font></p>
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              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
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              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.2/feat.1">Are 
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      <td width="428" height="936" align="LEFT" valign="TOP"> 
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8">Still 
          Sick of Games!</font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Jeff &quot;<a target="_self" href="mailto:jeff@solomania.com">nonick</a>&quot; 
          Solomon</font></b></font></p>       
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">From all of the feedback, though, 
          there seems to be some common ground between both camps. While we can't 
          say for sure if newer technology makes sickness more or less likely 
          (though it does seem for most to make things better), it does appear 
          that scenarios that involve fast running through corridors, tunnels, 
          or other enclosed areas are more likely to cause sickness than slower 
          action played out in open spaces. While this might seem obvious, it 
          is important to note because it is one of the only consistent scenarios 
          that seems to make people sick. Most other situations are more subjective. 
          </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> It also seems that people 
          who experience gaming sickness are more likely to feel it while watching 
          others play (or while watching demos or movies) than when they're actually 
          playing themselves. Tony Fabris sums the situation up nicely: </font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>I discovered 
          that, although I am fine while PLAYING the game, I get motion sick very 
          quickly when I am watching a DEMO. I also get the same symptoms (to 
          a lesser degree) when I'm watching someone else play. </i></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> While this is not true for 
          everyone who wrote in, it does seem to be common for the majority of 
          people. Perhaps watching a simulated 3D world without actually participating 

          in it removes a person's control of his "world," and causes even further 
          confusion between the senses. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Either way, and whatever 
          the cause, there were several people who wrote in with some interesting 
          solutions to the problem. While it doesn't seem to work for everyone, 
          it does appear that people can condition themselves to avoid feeling 
          sick. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Greg Patterson wrote in 
          with the following story about a friend of his: </font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>At first 
          he was ill every time he played, it was funny yet sad to witness this. 
          Eventually he became immune to the effects though! He had "trained" 
          himself not to become ill anymore! It was amazing. He could play<b> 
          Quake</b> with no problems, yet <b>Quake</b> was the worst game for 
          him just a few months back. Something else to note: He stopped playing 
          for a month and when he started up again, he started to get the simulator 
          sickness again. </i></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Chuck Underwood contributed 
          the following, which helps explain why this might work: </font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>Your body 
          has an incredible ability to adapt to something that isn't right. Eventually 
          the effects become less as your body and senses get used to it over 
          a period of time. One example of this is a special that the Discovery 
          channel did on the visual system of the human body. One study they mentioned 
          was a test case where the subject wore special glasses that inverted 
          everything that the subject saw so that everything was upside down. 
          After about a week the brain corrected this and flipped the image back 
          over. Of course, when the special headset was removed everything was 
          upside down again. The point here is that the body can and will adapt. 
          </i></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Other readers wrote that 
          taking short breaks when they began to feel sick often alleviated the 
          problem. Derek Piasecki's sentiment seems typical of many readers: </font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>I have 
          found that even a one minute break every ten minutes (or 5 every hour) 
          keeps [gaming sickness] from happening to me and a number of other people 
          I play with. It would be quite simple for a game to implement a break 
          timer. I am not sure how best to do this for a single person game (since 
          they could walk the level for quite a while), but for deathmatches the 
          enforced break could happen at the frag-limit or time-limit. </i></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> This is an interesting proposal, 
          and one that could be implemented in a non-invasive manner, such as 
          a trip to a map screen, a live-action movie, or something of that sort. 
          Of course, this would have to be offered only as an option, since many 
          people wouldn't want to be forced to stop playing an action-oriented 
          game against their will. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> So, we know that people 
          get sick from playing games, and we've seen that the conditions that 
          bring this on are varied and often unpredictable. We also have a few 
          suggestions for how to overcome the problem. But gaming sickness is 
          not the only risk associated with playing games on a computer. To this 
          point, Anti Seppanen wrote: </font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>Much more 
          serious [than gaming sickness] are broken wrists and elbows and backs 
          and so on. They are caused by [the] mouse and bad chairs. Treatment 
          is usually quite expensive and long. In worst cases broken hands need 
          operations and healing that can take a long time. </i></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Anti's got a good point. 
          Repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome are common for 
          people who use computers often, and back injuries can occur from slouching 
          over and leaning toward a monitor. In many respects, these problems 
          represent a more serious- and underreported- threat from computer use 
          than does gaming sickness. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Hopefully, technology coupled 
          with insight and proactive behavior on the behalf of hardware and software 
          developers will improve this problem. We've already seen ergonomic keyboards, 
          mice, and chairs. As technology improves, the interfaces that we use 
          to communicate with computers will advance to become more natural. The 
          next generation of input hardware will most likely be speech based. 
          It's tough to tell when that will become as common as the mouse and 
          keyboard, and if speech input will ever replace the keyboard and mouse 
          for good (I can already hear the shouts of protest from many people), 
          but it's coming. </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT">&nbsp;</p>
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Illustration &copy; 1998 Mike Sanzone. Still Sick of Games is &copy; 1998 
      Jeff Solomon. All other content is &copy; 1998 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
      productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so don't 
      do it...it can totally make you (or us, for that matter) sick.</font></i></td>
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