Motion Sickness from Video Games

Do you feel like you have motion sickness from video games? This is normal for some people, although the downright is unpleasant.

Few people talk about the nausea they get while playing video games. For some, this may be seen as a sign of weakness. Others probably don’t make the connection, either because they drink alcohol while playing or because it’s a funny thing. But motion sickness does affect some gamers, especially when playing 3D games.

Symptoms of motion sickness from video games

The symptoms are the same as in a car, boat or plane:

Headache
Dizziness
Profuse sweating
Profuse salivation
Nausea

What causes motion sickness from video games?

This problem is usually caused by three factors. First, there are the games that require you to look vertically. It can be looking around at a realistic (but not perfect) environment like in Bioshock Infinite, Dishonored, Gears of War or The Last Story or scrolling vertically in Assassin’s Creed that you feel nauseous.

Virtual reality and its terrible roller coasters also make those who are susceptible to motion sickness heartbreak. In the case of the Oculus Rift, this is caused by unnatural refreshing of the images. Removing images (or adding black planes) in some motion will prevent seeing multiple blurry images per second and should fix this issue. Already, the last generation is a thousand times better than the first.

Finally, in other games like What Remains of Edith Finch, it’s not being able to control movement that plagues our lives. The game forces us to look at certain places and offers heart-breaking resistance.

Why is my body doing this to me?

These games confuse us. And as with motion sickness, it is the inner ear, the one that manages the balance of the human body, that is involved. When we play, our eye perceives movements while our inner ear does not.

For some reason, when our bodies don’t fully understand what’s going on and get mixed signals, it always concludes that throwing up is the best solution. Maybe he suspects that we have (AGAIN!) Poisoned ourselves.

“Yeah, but I want to play FPS and it’s disgusting!”
If this is an issue that affects you, you can change your surroundings first. Step away from the screen and play in a well-lit room. You can also increase the brightness of the game in the options.

If that doesn’t work, chew gum, eat ginger capsules (or fresh ginger tea), and drink water.

You can also play for a shorter time when you start a game. When I first started Bioshock Infinite made me feel so sick that I couldn’t play for more than 15 minutes at a time. After a while it was half an hour, an hour and finally I got used to it.

If you have any tips for combating gambling evil or any funny and rather gross stories, drop us a line.

We will have motion sickness together.

Photo source: Pxhere