Top 10 tips for preventing 3D Movie, Gaming & Simulator Sickness
1. Choose where you sit... and sit up straight!
When watching an IMAX or 3D movie, sit in the centre of the auditorium, as far back from the screen as possible. Similarly when gaming, sit a good distance away from your screen. Good posture - sitting up straight, with your head squarely above your shoulders - will help by minimising visual distortion from the screen.
2. Keep well hydrated
Dehydration is a major simulation sickness trigger. Have regular drinks - water, ginger ale or herbal teas are best (avoid caffeine and alcohol!)
3. Watch/play in a well-lit room
Watching or playing in a darkened room where the only light is coming from the screen can quickly disorientate your brain and trigger game and simulation sickness. Turning on the lights exposes your eyes to fixed visual stimuli in the room and will therefore help to ward of motion sickness.
4. Move with the game/movie
Sitting on a swivel chair or rocking chair and moving roughly in sync with movements on the screen can help prevent gaming & simulator sickness. For computer games, fitting a rumble pak may also help.
5. Gamers - disable the 'bobbing' action for characters and weapons
Switching off the 'bobbing' action brings great relief for some people. In addition set your monitor to the highest refresh rate, and the game to highest frame rate. Experiment with view options ('always centred' is generally the best).
6. Look away from the screen regularly
A quick glance around the room/auditorium will reassure your brain that you are not actually in the movie or game! This should help to prevent, or at least delay, the onset of nausea.
7. Take regular breaks
Limit the length of your gaming/watching sessions. Take a time out every hour or so, have a drink and walk around and do some stretches.
8. Try natural remedies
Remedies such as
ginger, peppermint or lemon may help, and it's worth giving
acupressure a try.
9. Make an appointment with your optometrist
It's possible that your inability to watch 3D movies / play 3D games is due to a problem with your binocular vision. This is a treatable condition, so it's worth checking out.
10. If all else fails, close your eyes!
Gaming, simulation and 3D motion sickness is visually induced, so by cutting off the visual messages to the brain you should immediately start to feel better.
See also:
Another thing that has helped for me is to increase the game's field-of-view (FOV). The FOV in most games is normally about 90° to 100°. Increasing to a wider 120° or so has really helped me over the years. Individual tastes, along with monitor size & resolution & aspect ratio, will cause the best FOV number to vary but I've found most games to have too narrow of an FOV.
A wider FOV also lets you see your environment and enemies better. Today's powerful CPUs and GPUs allow large resolutions so you can still see detail. Along with today's inexpensive large 24"+ wide screen monitors, a wider software camera FOV is better now than ever.