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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"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <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 
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                &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 face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This theory can be illustrated 
          by what I call the "simulator sickness hump," because it traces the 
          prevalence of simulator sickness in conjunction with technology advances 
          along a line that curves upward for a while (more simulator sickness 
          with newer technology), then moves back down (less simulator sickness 
          with even newer technology).</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> In my theory, which is illustrated 
          in the diagram below, technological advances in gaming will continue 
          to contribute to greater instances of simulator sickness for quite some 
          time. At a point in the future (it's hard to make an estimate of when), 
          these advances will begin to reverse the trend, being so advanced that 
          they actually can mimic reality in a nonthreatening manner. Once these 
          technologies are commonplace, simulator sickness will not be a common 
          side effect of playing video games anymore.</font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="../../images/simsick.jpg" width="445" height="183"></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In the above diagram, the 
          red area represents the "danger zone," which is the period of time that 
          we're currently occupying on the timeline. In the danger zone, our technology 
          is good enough to invite us to immerse ourselves in games, but not quite 

          ready to hold up its end of the bargain. Simulator sickness can result. 
          We'll get beyond this problematic period of time eventually, but until 
          we reach a point where we can develop hardware and software that is 
          capable of providing a safe and accurate representation of reality that 
          "works" for our senses, there are going to be increasing numbers of 
          people who simply can't play these games.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is still just a theory, 
          of course, as is much of the information contained in this paper. There 
          is no clear-cut cause for simulator sickness, and no easy way to eliminate 
          a particular game's tendency to induce it.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="+1">How can 
          developers help fix this problem?</font></b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">With this in mind, what can 
          developers do to lessen the ill effects of simulator sickness in the 
          games they create? Focus on the rendering engine, and make sure it is 
          as accurate, stable, and realistic as possible. Sacrificing CPU cycles 
          from the rendering engine so that enemies look detailed and menacing 
          can lead to situations where the "reality" of the game breaks down. 
          It is essential that the 3D world of the game is presented as realistically 
          as possible, and that objects with physical properties behave as expected. 
          Compromises such as lag, dropped frames, outright pauses, and compensational 
          jumps ahead- things that we're all used to and take for granted in even 
          the newest and most sophisticated games and hardware- wreak havoc on 
          our senses.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sound is also critical. Games 
          that calculate sound effects based on the intrinsic physical properties 
          of a given environment will most likely help to ease simulator sickness, 
          if done well. In these kinds of games, the sound cues that we hear will 
          most likely match up with our mental image of the environment in which 
          we exist. An enemy stomping through a room right behind us will sound 
          much closer than someone firing a bazooka three floors below. The echo 
          of a shotgun blast in a large chamber will be much louder, and will 
          last for longer, than it might in a room shrouded with luxurious satin 
          curtains. Again, we <i>know </i>this to be true, and can make intellectual 
          allowances for games in which things don't work this way, but these 
          little details really help to put our senses to ease, and the absence 
          of them can causes problems.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In terms of realistic sound 
          design, <b>Trespasser</b> comes to mind, because it is one of the first 
          games to use a physics based sound system. It will be very interesting 
          to see if <b>Trespasser</b> helps solve simulator sickness problems 
          or actually makes them worse. In other words, how far along the simulator 
          sickness hump will <b>Trespasser </b>fall? Is it simply a better version 
          of our current technology, which invites us into the game but then confuses 
          us, or does it really work to make us feel more at home in the world 
          of the game?</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It boils down to a simple 
          statement: make virtual reality less virtual, and more real. That's 
          the bottom line. All of these problems arise because we are trying to 
          recreate reality and, so far, we have not been able to do a realistic 
          job.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But we're getting there. 
          The "some point in the future" on my simulator sickness hump diagram 
          will surely come sooner than we expect. Despite the fact that the games 
          we have today are "not good enough" in terms of how they present reality 
          (at least as far as our senses are concerned), this period of time is 
          a necessary adjustment while we continue to improve our technology and 
          learn from our mistakes.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Five years ago, developers 
          didn't have to worry about making people sick from sacrificing frame 
          rates. Now they do, and they will work to improve their games. In a 
          sense, we're now in the "touching the stove" phase of development. Once 
          we've burned ourselves seriously, we'll probably never make the same 
          mistake again.</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
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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 
      can make you (or us, for that matter) really sick.</font></i></td>
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