Is Gravol the answer to gamers' motion sickness?

by James Ransom-Wiley { Oct 6th 2005 at 1:45PM }

keyboard with puke A few days ago, a friend told me how he'd puked the first time he played Medal of Honor—and then promptly went back to playing. Apparently, motion sickness among gamers is more common than I thought. Jenny, an avid gamer, has been getting sick since the days of Descent. Recently, she described her experience with DOOM 3: "I hurled something fierce after the first level… When the half-digested bits of food hit the screen I could hardly tell the difference between that and the gore from the game." Jenny's solution? Pop a couple Gravol—and put a plastic cover on your keyboard, line the floor with a protective tarp, and keep a trashcan nearby. Anyone else use a different form of preventative medicine?

[via digg]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Caleb @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

That pictures is repuslive. Who vomits THAT?

ymmv @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

For what its worth, I can't play FPS games because I always get queasy after 20-30 minutes of play. I have no problem with most 3rd person games, but FPS games literally make me sick.

1337Thespian @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

THAT makes me sick, not FPS games.

Fuzz @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Great. Nice picture. I purposly avoid viewing rotten.com while eating my lunch, and then you guys do this to me. Thanks. Thanks alot.

Lectoid @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I get carsick if I read or play games in a moving vehicle. Even on airplanes I have to look outside a lot. But video games have never made me sick thank jebus. I have never tried taking pills for the car sickness thing.

soco @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

i've found certain games make me more sick than others. i think it has something to do with the perspective and/or the camera. i've gotten sick from games as far back as Wolfenstein3d. the first PoP:SoT didn't make me that sick, but PoP:WW did make me incredibly sick. in contrast, i tried to play Halo with some friends and got sick within minutes, but Halo2 doesn't bother me. some games just take really long times to bother me, such as Katamari Damacy and Zelda WW.

i've tried motion sickness things and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. it entirely depends upon the game.

i really believe the sickness comes from something within the game engine. something unrealistic that throws some part of your brain off.

yay @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Haha, that picture is awesome. Way more disturbing than any game.

Back_lit @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I'd suggest if you have weak stomach don't game, or if you game do it while you have an empty stomach. However, the best solution in the long run is to desensitize yourself to the gore. Its fake, may appear real but its still fake. I remember my mom gettin queezy when I used to play Doom when I was about 10...god...and I even had it on the low res graphics!

GTG @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Ah man, that picture is rough...

I have a friend that has motion sickness problems. He can't play a lot of FPS games and many other first-person perspective games.

Princess Zelda @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

The game's that causes motion sickness for me is F-Zero GX and Mario Kart if I play them for more then 20 Minutes. The worse part is once I get the nausea feeling it last for 2-3 hours. I'm also trying to figure out what causes it in certain games but not others. I don't get motion sickness from Podracer but I do if I play F-Zero and Mario Kart.

JD @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I never had motion sickness playing video games until I played Perfect Dark on the N64. I don't know what it is about that game, but after about 20 minutes, I get dizzy and nauseous and have to stop playing.

Craig @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Has anyone collected a list of what games make people sick, then compare to see whether all sickness-prone people are sickened by the same titles?

Useful_Arts @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I have never gotten sick playing games, but HL2 totally makes me feel like crap to play. I can;t say I feel like throwing up nausea but close, I can only play it for like 30mins at a time.

guskof @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

That is, without a doubt, the nasty-ist picture I've seen on joystiq. Yeah, who vomits HAIR?

Jared @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I constantly get vertigo when I play videogames. Midnight Club III kills me without my meds. My doc is a badass, and prescribed me Meclizine 25mg tablets to continue my gaming addiction. If I take the meds half an hour before I play I'm fine, even playing Midnight Club III.

Frogbrother @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Dooood. I thought I was the only one. I always read those warnings in the instruction booklets talking about seizures and thought that maybe that was it. Gulp.

Anyway, DOOM3 made me so sick when I played that I sold the game off.

I was actually thinking about taking dramamine before gaming. Is that odd or what?!

SiN ViCiOuS @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Funny, it must have somethign to do with the brain. When you read the booklets games come with they give a warning about seizures and stuff. I know once i felt sick playing Doom 3, when i turned to my friend.. he freaked out because he says my eyes were flipping back .. but i didnt notice.

Nossy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Maybe that's why those Japanese gamer steered away from FPS? My college roomate threw up playing StarCraft. StarCraft! Of course he was on it like 24/7. Must've not been from motion sickness.

fuzzy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I have the same problem playing Half Life 2 on my work laptop, the most powerful PC I have access too. I hear that the reason people get motion sickness is if the game doesn't play at a good framerate, bogging down at parts and dipping below 30fps.

I never got motion sickness playing Q1-Q3, but as FPS games progressed and I didn't upgrade hardware accordingly, I started getting queasy.

TheTussin @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I feel really bad for those of you that get sick from playing games, i can't imagine how much that must suck. I'd never be able to have my uber long gaming marathons if that happened. :(

-TheTussin
tehtussin@yahoo.com

Martez @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Omega Boost for the PS1 got me to vomit, but only after playing it for about 3 hours.

funkonaut @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

What the hell? I come back from lunch and I see that god awful picture. I'd hate to see what the person who threw that up looks like...

Exbzurg @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

For me gaming sickness happens when I play 2d games for a long time then rapidly switch back to 3d games. When I have game nostalgia binges I usually have to steer clear of most 3d games for at least a week or else I get sick. Ive also learned that if I play a few 2d and 3d games in the same period instead of just 2d or just 3d, i dont get sick at all.

Mike @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

The only time I've been sick during gameplay was when I tried a virtual boy. I solved this by getting my money back for the crappy system.

Stakker @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Let me guess, cat vomit :-)

linus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

what the hell is that on the keyboard? at first i thought it was some nasty roadkill that had been photoshopped onto the image, but that made no sense.
anyway, i do get naucious sometimes from playing games. i don't remember any older titles now, but hl2 did not make me feel good. i could play for a while though before i had to quit. i belive i would've been able to play longer if i could change the fov in hl2, but i never did manage to do that. i can play q3 for how long i want but i use higher fov on that. might be what you are used to too.
i feel the worst when i cannot move where i want to, eg. if i try to strafe left but something is blocking. my brain prepares for the image to move but it doesn't and i feel ill. the hovercraft thingy in hl2 was bad because i couldn't turn around normally.
lately i've also noticed the same in some 3rd person games >.<

Gene @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I too suffer from this. Certain games (like Wipeout on the PS1 with 'in car view' turned on) are brutal while others aren't so bad. I remember having the dry heaves after 1 hour of Wipout...my friend was laughing her ass off as she continued playing.

FPS on the PC make me a bit ill however not as much. Someone suggested moving back from the screen so your eyes notice the fixed things around the tv / monitor (such as the cabinet, wall, etc) thus not confusing your brain (eyes are saying 'were moving!' + ear wax saying no baby, we ain't moving! = vomit).

I find it works most of the time.

Dignan17 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I thought it was just me! I have a story:

I used to love FPS games. I used to love roller coasters. I played marathon Goldeneye sessions in college and I've ridden the Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens, VA 23 times in a row until I had to leave.

Then one day, at the same park, I rode a coaster called the Drachenfire. This ride was notorius. It wasn't particularly extreme as far as coasters go, but it was known for having the least smooth "coast" of any. Several women left it with their ears bleeding, because their heads slammed against the headrests and their earings.

There was nobody in the park. I rode it eight times without getting off. Then I hurled something fierce.

From that day forth, roller coasters and FPS games have been out of the question. It takes a single coaster ride before I have to sit down for at least 15 minutes. I bought Half Life 2 because, well, I had to. It's freakin' Half Life 2. That's the first FPS I've bought since Goldeneye. I've only gotten about 4 levels in, because after no more than 5 minutes of playing, I have to lie down for at least an hour in a cool room with my eyes closed.

I'll try this stuff. I bought dramamine at the drug store, and even took twice the dose it recommended. I estimate it extended my FPS gaming sessions by at least...2 minutes.

It's strange, though. I've played Max Payne 2 all the way through in one sitting. Once and a while I got a little queasy (the camera spin on those bullet-time reloads sometimes get to me), but for the most part I'm fine.

Spiderman games, though, are simply out of the question :)

----------
Epilogue
----------

The Drachenfire went on to close only a few months later. I believe that section of the park has simply been cordoned off for years now to prevent earbleeds and motion sickness.

Alex @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

That pic is disgusting. :/

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

That picture is awesome! Cat puke 4tw!

JimyD @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

It looks like you should get your cat checked for rabies and in the meantime, hope he doesn't drop another ugly furball on your fancy backlit Saitek keyboard.

Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Haven't had problems myself, but my roommate gets horribly carsick when playing games or reading. He kind of carried it over subconsciously to handheld games and just can't play those at all.

But yeah, my guess is that's cat vomit. Still horribly gross looking. The white suds + hair + small pile = cat in my mind. Blech.

Tiranus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I got motion sickness with any FPS, I gave up on them when I played Quake for 30 minutes and I had to stay in bed for 1 hour.

Are motion sickness related with roller coaster, I don't like those either. Although I haven't had motion sickness when I rode them.

Recently I discover that I get a mild motion sickness when I play Katamary Damacy for more than 30 minutes.

Zoe @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Posting that picture in the manner you did was not very thoughtful or professional. You know, there are people out here who have little switches switched in their brains that leave them unable to handle the sight (or at times, even the sound or terminology) of what you have pictured above. It's a phobia. More specifically, emetophobia.

I suffer from it. I didn't find the picture amusing in the least. Thank you for the wonderful post-lunch ride I just got. Please put more thought into those who may read your posts next time... or just post about something relevant in the first place.

Caleb @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Emetophobio is the fear of vomiting...not the fear of vomit.

Sure, it's gross. But come on... fear a picture of vomit?

Tenny @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

For those of you with this problem I recommend getting your eyes checked. If I read anything in the car I get carsick, but if I put on my reading glasses I can read or play games forever and not get sick. I'm betting glasses would solve the problem for a lot of people. Even if you have good eyesight this might work for you. I barely need glasses and have the weakest prescription, but it does the trick.

Ladyfox @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I'm actually someone brought this up. A LOT of games coming out are making more and more people motion sick myself included. It's extremely fustrating to bring home a game to find out that, after a 1/2 hour of play you wind up getting so sick you have to choose to either return it, sell it, or take drugs (dramamine or otherwise) to play. Doom 3? Wound up selling it at a loss just to get rid of it. Half Life 2 and associated mods? Have'nt installed it again since it was released. F.E.A.R.? Immediatly cancelled my preorder upon getting violently ill playing it.

I know some here will make the usual "Wahhhh, suck it up!" or "What's wrong with taking dramimine?" comments. But, game makers need to figure out that not only is this happening but it's starting to get worse. After dealing with it this last time on Doom 3 a lot of folks agreed that it had to do with either the field of view or camera being used that seems to be triggering it more here of late.

So, my question is when will they address this so we can go back to enjoying our hobby without having to worry about getting sick from it?

G-force @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Wow... Now that is devoted gaming, not stopping even after hurling! But I'm not sure about the hair thing... That's kind of disturbing...

Brian @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Half-Life 2 made a LOT of people sick when it first came out. There were stickies on the forums telling people how to deal with it.

One of the fixes was to change the field of view. Maybe that will help with some of you PC gamers.

I think part of it, however, is just getting used to the graphics. I've never gotten sick from a game, but my brother got sick from Mario 64 when it came out; however he got over that quickly

Zoe @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Caleb... emetophobia may be specifically defining the act of vomiting, but it encompasses more than that. Why there would even be an argument over this, I haven't a clue.

I apologize for being a f*cked up freak with a phobia that doesn't care what Webster's thinks it is.

Mike @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Caleb, don't be a dick. i know 2 people for whom seeing vomit causes them to vomit. it's a very common phobia - read a little bit about emetophobia and you'll see that it's a fear of both vomit AND vomiting, but sometimes just one of the two.

Zoe, i agree with you.. although i am not emetophobic i was pretty repulsed by seeing something i would expect more on rotten.com.. James Ransom-Wiley, please be more responsible in future posts - this is a GAMING blog.

and on the subject, i experienced very mild motion sickness when i first started playing true 3d FPS games like duke nukem and quake, but it was short-lived.. i know plenty of people who avoid those games, though.

i even have one friend who gets motion sickness watching/playing games 3rd-person games like neverwinter nights and GTA

Google Nazi @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I don't get motion sickness from playing games. However I do feel really bad when I play GBA / NDS in the car. I never throw up but i just feel bad like, umm... I dunno. It's not like i get sick while reading or watching tv though but it is a common thing to feel notious when playing games in a car. Same side effects happen with HUD visors apparently.

Probobly from the bad refresh rate? Anybody else get this?

Frexy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Google Nazi, that's just car sickness. Try reading a book in the car, same effect.

I get this too when reading/playing games in the car, if I don't watch the road (and the car makes too many turns, so I don't know how it'll react before it turns) I get carsick.

However, on the highway, when a car only rides in straight lines without stopping, I can easily play and read. So, no problem there.
Your problem really is car sickness... there are pills for it...

And gaming, never have gotten sick of any game. Not even bright flashy mario games ^^;
So... mm... well, I do get sick when getting up too fast after I played a game... but that's just normal sometimes =)

Andrew Bang @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

ahh this happened numerous times to me.. well i never really vomited but i had motion sickness. At first i thought i was the only one with this behavior and my friends had it also. We tried various games and saw which ones gave us motion sickness. Because most of us have played games which require low thinking levels, games such as Medal of Honor, which requires you to do missions with brain power, causes motion sickness. Other games such as Counter Strike which uses no brain power but to shoot and kill, had no symptoms at all.

Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

"I have the same problem playing Half Life 2 on my work laptop, the most powerful PC I have access too. I hear that the reason people get motion sickness is if the game doesn't play at a good framerate, bogging down at parts and dipping below 30fps.

I never got motion sickness playing Q1-Q3, but as FPS games progressed and I didn't upgrade hardware accordingly, I started getting queasy."

while that sounds logical, my mother gets motion sick from even WATCHING first person game. i was watching the Oblivion video the other day and she came in and watched with me for a minute and had to leave cause she said she was getting sick.

also, japanese people tend to get sick more frequently from playing FPSs (probably one reason the xbox isn't too popular in japan).

ill trooper @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Very real phenomenon that affects a few of my friends, fortunately not me. My good friend is so bummed, he is a big video game head, but starting with GoldenEye, he was unable to really play FPS games for more than a half hour or so. He gets a little depressed as he sees all video games going 3D, and wonders if he'll every really play anything more than Madden, which he can still handle.

I have talked to various people about this, and apparently it's a result of inconsistant info being delivered to the brain by the eyes and the inner ear, specifically the vestibular system that uses fluid and air pressure to help you keep your balance and know which direction you are leaning or turning - seems that when the eyes see the amazing motion of Battlefield 2 or Halo but the inner ear senses you are sitting still on a couch, it can cause nasuea or motion sickness in some people. Conversly, when the eyes register stillness from focusing on a page of a magazine or book, but your inner ear can feel how you're moving around turns in a car, motion sickness can creep in.

I was talking to another guy that had been at a technology/gamers/interface conference in L.A. around the time of E3 (although it wasn't E3, sorry I don't know the name of it), and he was telling me about a crazy thing that someone was presenting that was a device you could wear like a pair of headphones - by software manipulation of the gizmos inside the headset, it could mess with your inner ear and make you lean almost involuntarily in whatever direction they wanted, or even make you lose your balance. I speculated that this system could not only be used for making you feel like you're going around a turn in Gran Tourismo 10 or whatever, but also be used to help people out with this problem, by matching the signals of what the eyes are seeing with what the inner-ear is feeling.

But in the meantime, I feel fortunate to not be affected by this common problem, and I do hope that something can be done for those of you who are.

Ash @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Whoa. I'm lucky to never have faced anything like this. Most gamers I know where I live (Malaysia) spend upwards of 2-3 hours at a time. I've heard how people watching could get sick though - it happened to my mum when I was playing Doom 2. So is this endemic in the Northern Hemisphere, or do we have other Asian Joystiq readers with the same malady?

Chris McDowell @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Those fast pased laser shooting games like unreal champ[ionship make me a little sick. None of the others do like halo or call of duty. I can play most of them fine. It is those quick turning close quarters games that get to ya.

Mark @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

#45 nailed it.

Motion/sea sickness is tied to your genetic make-up. Some people are more susceptible to it than others. Many people of Asian ethnic heritage get seasick quicker than others. But all people get motion sick -- there's a variance of tolerance levels among people. However, more and more games released today are breaching the tolerance levels of more people than previous generations of 3D games with less advanced graphics.

The gaming industry really needs to conduct more research into how to create 3D graphics engines which prevent or ease the effects of motion sickness. The fact is, this problem is going to become WORSE as gaming graphics become MORE realistic looking. This is why more and more people are getting sick from these games, when they didn't with previous generations of games.

The industry really needs to look into this, because in a few years, this could become a serious medical problem, which could bring about legal trouble for them.

Skye @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Do you ever wonder if after reading this, maybe YOU will start to get sick when playing games? Maybe you just never noticed it before but now that you've heard about it, maybe it will affect you all.

What if this whole post and everyone who read it and commented just screwed themselves over?

Half-Life 2 makes me feel sick.