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.


Comments

Gamer007 on April 11th 2014:
Good list. I will be using the increased lighting and fixing my sitting posture.
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.
PJSOFT on January 18, 2015:
According to my experience, playing in a cool place (25 Celsius or lower) can help preventing motion sickness also.
Joe on July 29, 2015:
Good article. I will be trying these. One thing I found that helped me a little when gaming is using a smaller screen and sitting far away from it. And yes, not playing in the dark. I once got really dizzy and started puking after playing inFAMOUS First Light on a huge screen in the dark.
Russ on October 11, 2015:
One more comment here to add is computer hardware. Older gear won't realize high frame rates and produce stutter, those two things will just make me want to hurl. I upgraded my vid card to a AMD R9 270, wow what a difference. The FOV is a good trick!
anonymous on May 15, 2016:
Why on earth they make such games? if 10% people get sick, it is 10% loss in sales.
tranton on January 23, 2017:
Good tips. Wider field of view might help some however for others it does not work. Some games don't allow it because it provides an unfair advantage. Try instead track IR or something similar so you can look around, then fix your view on something in the distance.
anon on January 30, 2017:
Because things HAVE to improve over time. I can't play those new games without getting sick myself, but I have to admit, they're several steps up from the games we had a decade or two ago. You can't expect developers to stick to the Famicon age forever.


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