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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>

<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">New!!</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments <a href="../../../index.html">on the front page</a>!</font></p>
              
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              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.10/feat/index.html">Still 
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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 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+1"><b>It probably 
          won't happen to me...</b></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">How common is 
          simulator sickness? Are you likely to experience it? While we don't 
          have any numbers that might explain the odds that a given person might 
          experience simulator sickness from playing video games in particular 
          (anyone interested in participating in a study?), there is research 
          from the military that shows that between 20% and 40% of tested pilots 
          experienced some form of simulator sickness following exposure to a 
          flight simulator.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> That's a very 
          high number. However, the situation grows even more grim when you consider 
          that the pilots who participated in the study were less prone to <i>motion</i> 
          sickness than the average person. This would imply that they are also 
          less likely to suffer from simulator sickness. Since pilots are less 
          prone to suffer from motion sickness, and they still had a 20% to 40% 
          chance of getting simulator sickness, we can assume that these tests 
          underestimate the effect of such exposure on the general population. 
          The number is probably, therefore, higher than 20% to 40% for average 
          people!</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It's important 

          to note that the simulators that were used in this study were "immersive" 
          simulators that completely surrounded the test subjects and provided 
          motion feedback (essentially very high-end versions of the "sit down" 
          race car games in arcades). In this regard, the study does not provide 
          an accurate comparison to virtual environments like video games. Typical 
          video games are far less immersive than military simulators.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is changing, 
          however, as gaming technology continues to improve, and the hardware 
          and software that support and create the virtual environments that we 
          inhabit in first person games advances. It won't be long before home 
          entertainment systems begin to catch up with the immersive virtual reality 
          offered by simulators. Obviously, we're not going to have full-size, 
          full-motion F-16 simulators in our living rooms, but someday we <i>are 
          </i>going to have devices that can make it seem like we do.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The bottom line: 
          the existing research (coupled with a few assumptions) shows that, very 
          roughly, about half of the population can expect to experience <i>some 
          form</i> of simulator sickness from exposure to immersive virtual reality 
          situations.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This doesn't 
          necessarily mean that they'll fall down from dizziness, suffer migraines, 
          or vomit. The symptoms could be as minor as a slight headache or strained 
          eyes, but they could also appear as a complete loss of balance, nausea, 
          and vertigo that lingers well after the game is over. There could also 
          be a sense of vection, which is a feeling of bodily motion when there 
          is in fact none. In some cases, the effects of simulator sickness can 
          be present for <i>hours</i> after exposure to the virtual environment 
          has ended. In these cases, people could run into serious problems if 
          they're driving or, to use a familiar phrase, "operating heavy machinery" 
          after experiencing a situation that gives them simulator sickness. These 
          consequences are, obviously, very serious.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Studies show 
          that a person's susceptibility to both motion sickness and simulator 
          sickness increases with age. The older you are, the more likely you 
          become to experience both sensations. There is also evidence to support 
          the fact that women are slightly more likely to experience motion sickness 
          than men, which could imply that one of the causes of motion sickness 
          is linked to hormones. In addition, some psychologists believe that 
          people who are easily agitated or who get nervous easily have a higher 
          propensity for getting motion sickness than people who have a calmer 
          disposition.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+1"><b>Specifics! 
          I want some examples!</b></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Theoretical 
          conjecture and lab experiments can only take us so far. There have been 
          several reported cases of simulator sickness by people playing games 
          in real-world scenarios. The <a href="http://www.planetquake.com/qwf">Quake 
          Women's Forum</a> mailing list contains several posts from people who 
          claim to have experienced simulator sickness symptoms while playing 
          <b>Quake II</b>.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Most people 
          who suffered from symptoms reported dizziness and headaches that subsided 
          shortly after they stopped playing. Most often, these people were playing 
          <b>GLQuake </b>in hardware mode. Some suggested that switching from 
          hardware to software mode helped ease the symptoms dramatically.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Why? Well, it 
          seems that games like <b>Quake II</b> have only recently become realistic 
          enough to causes these symptoms in the first place. In the past, with 
          games like <b>Duke Nukem</b> and <b>Wolfenstein 3D</b>, the animation 
          and virtual environment were simply too cartoonish for the nervous system 
          to take seriously. The virtual "worlds" created in those games were 
          perceived by the body to be just that- an exercise in entertainment 
          that existed within a clearly defined real world (much like watching 
          TV).</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">However, <b>Quake 
          II</b>-era games have crossed a threshold that seems to exist for simulator 
          sickness. These games are so immersive, and demand such a high level 
          of concentration and involvement from the player, that the body loses 
          touch with the real surroundings and begins to think that it's actually 
          inside the world of the game. <b>Quake II </b>played with software acceleration 
          seems to be on one side of the fence (not too immersive for most people); 
          <b>Quake II </b>with hardware acceleration, which dramatically increases 
          the game's feeling of reality, is on the other side of this theoretical 
          boundary.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ironically, 
          simulator sickness is coming about now because technology in games is 
          improving. The better games get, the more realistic they become, and 
          the more likely we are to experience simulator sickness while playing. 
          We have never been as engaged by playing video games as we are when 
          we sit down and play <b>Unreal</b>, for example. But these games are 
          still far from perfect. Even with the most advanced hardware and software, 
          frames drop, side to side motion can cause a slowdown in performance, 
          and there is little to no force feedback from playing the game (depending 
          on available hardware and software support). These discrepancies lead 
          to simulator sickness.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So, we've reached 
          a point where a game can convince us to "dive in" completely, but once 
          we're in, it can't really live up to the expectations that it's going 
          to give us a completely believable world to inhabit.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">However, as 
          technology continues to improve, these limitations will most likely 
          vanish. Eventually, high frame rates, more accurate depictions of physics 
          and lighting effects, and sound simulation will cross another threshold. 
          Force feedback will become standard and realistic. At this point, playing 
          a VR game will be so similar to reality that the body will be able to 
          make the necessary concessions and avoid simulator sickness. This panacea 
          is probably a long way off.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT">&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+1">(<a href="index4.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>. 
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