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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 2</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
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              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

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              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.10/feat/index.html">Still 
                Sick of Games</a>: Jeff Solomon's follow-up article to the original 
                &quot;Are Sick of Games?&quot;</font></p>
              
              
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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"> 
          Are You Sick of Games? (continued)</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>&nbsp;</p>
        <p><font size="+1"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Can I 
          prevent myself from getting sick?</font></b></font><b></b></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Okay. So we know that games 
          are going to get better <i>someday</i>. But what about now? What can 
          you do to minimize your chances of experiencing simulator sickness from 
          the games that are around today?</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Since there are few quantifiable 
          facts about the specific biological causes of simulator sickness, there 
          are no known surefire methods that can be taken to prevent it, short 
          of not exposing yourself to a situation that causes simulator sickness. 
          There are drugs (such as Dramamine, Benadryl, Bonine, and Marezine) 
          and herbal remedies that offer varying degrees of protection from <i>motion</i> 
          sickness, but these work sporadically and are in no way a cure, and 
          do little or nothing to prevent simulator sickness.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Much like with alcohol, the 
          only way to not get sick for sure is to avoid it. And the only way to 
          eliminate the negative effects once they're there is to wait them out. 
          And speaking of alcohol…</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It is commonly accepted that 
          drugs and alcohol decrease the body's ability to compensate for rapidly 

          changing environments, and that using them can bring on the effects 
          of motion sickness or make people more susceptible to getting it. I 
          think we can all see why that would be true.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">With this in mind, the best 
          thing you can do to hedge your bets is to stay away from drugs and alcohol 
          while playing 3D games, as they further confuse the nervous system and 
          can often heighten the effects of sickness.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It's also a good idea to 
          stop playing right away if you begin to feel sick. Research shows that 
          the lingering effects of simulator sickness become more serious with 
          prolonged exposure. So, if you continue to play while you feel sick, 
          odds are that your symptoms will continue to get worse and last for 
          a longer period of time after you stop playing.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As mentioned earlier, there 
          has been some discussion of this issue in <b>Quake </b>newsgroups, and 
          a common "unofficial" remedy offered there is to switch from using hardware 
          acceleration to purely software. While there is no official research 
          to back this up, it seems to have worked for a lot of people. Changing 
          from hardware to software rendering reduces the game's frame rate and 
          use of lighting effects, which doesn't "invite" you into the game as 
          much. Some day, as discussed earlier, it will ultimately be best to 
          fully immerse yourself, but for now, until these games can truly reproduce 
          reality, it's probably best to stay on the sidelines if you begin to 
          feel sick. Of course, many new games are hardware only, which unfortunately 
          eliminates this method as a solution.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="+1">So what's 
          the bottom line, here?</font></b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So, I've just thrown a lot 
          of information at you, much of which is admittedly only theoretical 
          and hypothetical. What's the basic lesson that comes out of all of this? 
          We now have games that are sophisticated enough to invite our bodies 
          to believe that we're actually inside the world of the game, but once 
          we're there, the games aren't good enough yet to be fully convincing. 
          This discrepancy can cause simulator sickness. Someday, these games 
          probably <i>will</i> be realistic enough to safely reproduce virtual 
          worlds, but we're not there yet.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">If you begin to feel sick 
          while playing, stop. It's only going to get worse. If you're getting 
          sick from playing a game that's running in hardware acceleration mode, 
          try switching to software mode. Doing that reduces the game's ability 
          to "invite" you inside, and therefore doesn't "disappoint" your senses 
          as much.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">If you're a developer, it's 
          best to focus your best efforts on the 3D rendering engines and sound 
          systems in the games. In light of the facts about simulator sickness, 
          take this very seriously. If your games cannot effectively reproduce 
          a 3D world, complete with completely believable visuals and sound cues, 
          and, preferably, force feedback, your players are going to encounter 

          difficulties while playing. Everything else won't matter at that point.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In a sense, it's scary to 
          imagine that our technology has reached a point where many people can't 
          use it because it's too much of an affront to their senses. However, 
          as we progress, things will get better. We are the people on the forefront 
          of this push to make our games more enjoyable, and to eliminate these 


          kinds of problems when they arise.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is a very controversial 
          issue, and one that will surely excite and aggravate a lot of readers. 
          That's why <b><font color="#804000">loonygames</font></b> decided to 
          go with it. However, I want to stress that I am not a doctor, a medical 
          student, or a psychologist. And while I have done an inordinate amount 
          of research on this topic, and have tried to understand for myself, 
          and then clearly explain to you, what I have learned, there are inevitably 
          going to be things that I've discussed that people will not agree with.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">If you have any questions 
          about this topic, or if you can contribute facts, please send them to 
          our <a href="../../../feedback.1">feedback</a> section. This article is only 
          meant to begin the discussion about simulator sickness and video games, 
          and we look forward to further exploring this issue, learning more facts, 
          clarifying existing facts, and correcting any mistakes or misconceptions 
          that either we have made or are floating around in the widely available 
          research.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is cool stuff. This 
          is serious stuff. We have the power to affect the future of gaming. 
          We need to move forward with these issues on our minds!</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+1">(<a href="index6.php" target="">continued 
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Are You 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, as it 
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