The Game Dame

[digg=http://digg.com/xbox/How_to_Prevent_Motion_Sickness_from_Halo_3]In my previous post, I described how I got simulator sickness (a form of motion sickness) from Halo 2. Since then, people have asked about ways to prevent or relieve motion sickness with Halo 3. It seems that Halo 3 is particularly bad for simulator sickness sufferers because of its high frame rate (60 frames per second vs. 30 frames per second for previous Halo titles).

So I’ve done a bit more research on the problem. It seems our friends at the Army have known about this problem for a long time because of their experience with aircraft and combat simulators. They have even developed a set of guidelines for prevention or minimization of the effect. Since it’s a very long, technical PDF document, I thought I would highlight the results for you.

GENERAL STRATEGIES

• Adaptation: The only reliable way to beat simulator sickness is to play often and build up your resistance.
• Play short sessions at first.
• Play only one session per day at first.
• Don’t go for more than a week between sessions when you’re in the adaptation phase because you’ll “unadapt” yourself.

BEFORE YOU PLAY

• Don’t play if you’re extremely tired or if you have a cold/flu
• Turn off all other lights in the room.
• Sit far away from the TV — as far back as you can while still being able to read small text. Try to make the field of view around the TV set as large as possible to give your eyes some “grounding” room.

WHILE YOU PLAY

• Short sessions! Short sessions! Short sessions! I know this is frustrating when you have a cool new game, but try to stop playing BEFORE you get sick. Play for only 10 minutes at a time if you can. As you get adapted, your game time will last longer.
• Minimize your head movements.
• Close your eyes when you press pause and turn your head away from the screen before opening them.
• If you can help it, don’t do too many “fancy” maneuvers like airplane rolls or spinning around excessively until you get adapted.

I hope this helps everyone who is feeling squeamish from their new game! Let me know how it goes.

Truth be told, I actually haven’t played Halo 3 yet, but Halo 2 gave me motion sickness so bad that after 10 minutes of play I had to lie down for several hours! I didn’t know what was happening to me. I’ve never had motion sickness before (nor since) despite airplane and boat travels that made large men weep. My entire brain was banging up against the top of my skull, my stomach was trying to crawl out of my mouth, and when I opened my eyes I got dizzy from The Bed Spins. I thought I was dying. It was like having the world’s nastiest hangover but without the previous night’s fun to justify it. I had no idea that it was related to playing Halo at first but my husband figured it out because he’d gotten car sick once.

You’re probably thinking that I’m the wussiest gamer on the planet right now. But guess what? What I experienced is a legitimate malady called “simulator sickness” which affects 20% to 50% of the population. (Other bloggers have even written about it.) It’s a type of motion sickness related to virtual environments, simulations, and video games. Air Force and Navy pilots are even tested for it when they sign up. It’s actually more common in people who do NOT get motion sickness from other things. In fact, if you get motion sickness, you can be pretty sure you won’t get simulator sickness.

It seems nobody knows what happens in the eye/ear/brain connection that causes simulator sickness. I didn’t get it when I played Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath, where you can switch between FPS and 3rd person play. I’m not getting sick now while playing Bioshock. But still, because I associate the simulator sickness with Halo, I have THE FEAR of Halo 3.

See this post for ideas on how to prevent simulator sickness if you get it.

There is an additional theory that Halo 3 in particular can cause simulator sickness because of its high frame rate. Some people cannot play games with frame rates higher than 30 frames per second without getting sick. Halo 3 runs at 60 fps. I’m not sure if there’s a way to convert to a lower frame rate for Halo 3, but if someone knows how to do it, please let me know.

Due to my success with Bioshock as a straight FPS, I’m looking forward to giving the entire Halo series a re-try using my new simulator sickness battle tools. Maybe by the time I finish playing Halo and Halo 2 there will be copies of Halo 3 to rent at Blockbuster. I’ll start with a rental… just in case.