Even though some have praised Playstation VR as the landmark of a new generation of gaming, there was still doubts about its performance. It was always going to be difficult to wholly optimise the experience for everyone and for every game that was released on the format.
Notably, some fans were worried that the experience would produce feelings of sickness or dizzyness. And it seems that these fears were not unfounded, as some players have been experiencing just that. Some even actually vomiting.
It’s not the best outcome for consumers who have already spent hundreds of dollars on the new hardware, not to mention the additional accessories that the headset requires in order to work properly.
It may not be that confusing to some people with the release of games such as Driveclub VR. Truly replicating high-speed and high-octane driving is not the most comfortable on the eyes. Thus, it has led some players to feelings of sickness.
One streamer was actually sick:
Was just sick. Been excited for PSVR for years and I can’t play it more then 15 minutes haha
— Voltsy ( Hayden ) (@HeroVoltsy) October 13, 2016
One user on Reddit has even commented that he had to resort to ingesting ginger in order to subside the feelings. A simple remedy, but not exactly one that gamers should be expected to use just so they can put their stomach at ease while using the headset. Other gamers have found removing their contact lenses before playing to improve the experience.
One user of the hardware has raised an interesting point on using the new technology. Nick Halstead widened the discussion of PSVR on Facebook where he shared his opinions on the tech:
Essentially, Halstead notes two major problems with PSVR causing feelings of sickness in its users. One, that PSVR and Sony at large, have been focusing on action-orientated titles and this alone can cause sickness due to the nature of the gameplay and its presentation. Additionally, Halstead notes that:
The problem I think (which is never going to be fixable) is that we have a mechanism (no idea what is called) that when we turn our heads rapidly, or move our eyes rapidly the brain edits out the movement, we just see two frames, start location, end location. The VR headsets cannot recreate that function.
It’s an interesting discourse that Halstead promotes and one which Sony seriously need to check out if they want sales of VR to keep on an upwards scale.