Valve: If VR makes you sick, it’s the developer’s fault

Blame the carpenter, not the tools

Fear of motion sickness and living room ruining vomit is one of the sticking points surrounding the definitely-happening-and-not-at-all-actually-unlikely VR revolution. And while I kind of dislike the relative sensory deprivation of VR, the only time I was actually nauseous was during a Razer VR demo with messed-up calibration and the screen tracking against my actual head movements.

Speaking at EGX, as reported by GamesIndustry, Valve’s Chet Faliszek said, “The idea that VR must get you sick is [bullshit].”

“We have people come in who don’t want to do demos. In a party of ten people there will be someone who says, ‘I’m gonna be sick, I’m gonna be sick, I can’t do this.’ That expectation is based on either what they’ve seen before or what they’ve heard.

“As consumers and people in the community, hold developers to it. They shouldn’t be making you sick. It’s no longer the hardware’s fault any more. It’s the developers making choices that are making you sick. Tell them that you don’t want that.”

Earlier this year Valve claimed to have eradicated motion sickness completely. Faliszek also noted that it isn’t just (exactly) the developers, but that traditional controls (keyboards or controllers), “the easiest way to get somebody sick,” which is why Valve’s VR uses the Lighthouse system and trackable controllers.

Valve: “The idea that VR must get you sick is bullshit” [GamesIndustry.biz]