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Comment by zeta0134 | Hacker News Reader

When I first got my VR headset and had exhausted the usual killer apps, I popped open Google Earth VR and was kindof blown away. I managed to find one of the old neighborhoods I grew up in, popped into street view, and proceeded to literally walk down memory lane.

It was really something. Sure the quality's not that great, but what's there works well, and you get a sense of presence with the headset that is considerably more convincing than viewing the same scenes on a flat monitor.

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Same. I spent hours as a ghost gliding around a frozen world. Then I suddenly had to throw the headset off and lie flat on the floor and take deep breaths and try not to throw up. Took an hour for the nausea to go away. That was it for Google Earth VR, unfortunately.

I find it endlessly interesting that some people have your experience, and some people do not.

I've never gotten motion sickness, ever. VR also has never given me sickness. A slight fatigue at most.

I get a light version of it sometimes, though it depends on the game. One thing I learned to not skip is the IPD adjustment on the headset; it needs to be pretty close in order for the difference in perspective to fade into the background for me. My SteamVR config likes to reset it from time to time, and I can tell instantly when it's wrong; it's like looking through a fisheye lens, but not as pronounced.

For me, any game where the camera moves independent of my headset can trigger nausea. Blade and Sorcery's jump implementation is really bad about it; anything that lets me "fall" when I'm not expecting it. That at least makes sense; if I suddenly fell in real life I'd freak out too. Of all things, the non-teleportation option in Minecraft's popular VR mod, Vivecraft, trigger motion sickness most consistently. But I can teleport around Skyrim VR for literally hours and be totally fine. I get the feeling that with a bit of practice, I could build up a tolerance to it, but it's definitely a persistent danger. It's got to be frustrating for developers, since it seems like there's such a wide range of individual variance in sensitivity. If I get around to making a VR experience, I'll stick to teleportation simply because that's what I personally find to be "safe" and comfortable.

With confort mode on I'm fine, confort mode off is still a gamble.

I mean, you’re wearing a VR headset for hours without a break and expect no ill effects? Doesn’t seem fair to blame the equipment, you’d probably get sick from watching a roller coaster or flyover video on a flat screen for hours on end.

I can play Elite Dangerous in the space ship for nine hours straight with no ill effects, but 30 minutes in a rover in the game destroys me for days. It depends on the setting.

I can't go on any revolving fairground attraction or use VR for more than a few seconds or I get nauseous and generally feel unwell and disorientated.

This feeling can last days in extreme cases (more from an intense fairground ride than VR - never taken VR use to that extreme!)

Yes it's really something you have to try to understand. My dream VR app would be a Google/MS cooperation to bring together the best of Google Earth VR and MS Flight Sim rendering in a single package :).

Me too except I would like GTA or some other driving sim on real streets so I could learn my town better. Would be sooo useful for Boston.

What stops you from actually driving around the same path?

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