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After-effects of using Oculus Rift

draemn03
Explorer
Maybe someone's mentioned this before. I've been using the Oculus Rift for about a week now, and I notice that when I'm not using it, or even the next day after using it, that my vision occasionally dilates (not sure if that's the right word) or kind of squeezes, as if I was looking through the head set.

Does anybody else witness this kind of effect? In particular, I'd like to hear from someone who's been using it a bit longer, if maybe the effect continues or improves.
73 REPLIES 73

MangaCorps
Honored Guest
"candiedbug" wrote:
Could this side-effects be worse on a person that suffers from anxiety?



Yes
{}\/{}anga

FaiRaider
Honored Guest
I used the Oculus on the rollercoaster demo for the first time a little over a month ago and felt fine. I then played a tank demo and felt sick after only about 4 mins of play. I felt very nauseous and dizzy and had problems focusing my eyes for the rest of the night. The next day it was a little better, but not totally. It took about 2 days for the side effects to wear off, but....I still get major motion sickness now. I've never had issues with motion sickness. Now I feel dizzy and nauseous looking at my phone in the car or even when I'm walking. I love to fly and I've been on 2 trips in the last month and both times I felt very sick on the plane. Is anyone else experiencing long-term effects like this? I also had a migraine bugging me for a few days about a week ago, and I never get migraines.
I didn't realize feeling tired was also a symptom people were getting. I've been sleeping like crazy for the past month and just started feeling better in that department this week....so maybe my syptoms will completely fade away soon.

kevinm1278
Explorer
I sometimes feel like I'm still in the Rift when I close my eyes to go to sleep at night. It's hard to explain, but for me being in the rift feels like a sort of waking dream. So when I actually close my eyes to sleep it's a similar feeling. It's not a bad thing, just different. I'm not worried about not being able to distinguish between reality and the Rift due to the graphical limitations, but I imagine that as the Rift improves and becomes more realistic that line could become blurred...

alcyon13
Explorer
Only side effect i had was pretty nice 🙂 .
After playing Euro Truck Simulator, almost 3 hours every evening during a week, i had some "memory mixed-up", i mean, while i was driving my real car going to work i was remembering roads, songs on the radio, but wasn't sure if it happend IRL or in the game, quite disturbing.

You should try to remember some part of a game you played a lot with the rift, i bet you'll be amazed on how the brain/memory can remove the screen door effect/low res/small fov 😄

aparsons671
Honored Guest
My biggest issue with the Rift affects my work productivity. I work harder and focus so that I can try to put out of my mind that I'M NOT AT HOME PLAYING ON MY RIFT, which eventually gives out and I start to rush my work so the clock will wind faster and faster allowing me to get home and mess with it.

Also, it has caused me to get out some old games and dust them off and try them again in the Rift and, as expected, the new experience is like a Source modification of Half Life where the graphics are tremendously better and smoother and its like playing a new game again.
Aaron Parsons Developer of the FPS Revolution Site Under Development

morenosuba
Explorer
i have had the Rift not for just over 3 weeks.
I've never felt sick or nauseated. the Tuscuny demo gave me a hint of queasy but i quickly moved onto to funner games.

i have had that "post Rift" difficulty in focusing for 5 to 10 minutes but only after a long Rift session.
However, i do see that the more i have some long Rift session the less this problem occurs. It's as if my brain and eyes are getting used to it.

the first time that it happened (also first time i did like 4 hours on the Rift) i was quite worried, but now it's not nearly as bad.then again, maybe i'm just getting better at calibrating the OR for games.

keep in mind guys that if you go a few months without looking at any sort of screen and then use one for a few hours you're going to get a headache and your eyes are going to be hurting. Eyes just get used to certain tasks.

i do believe that proper eye calibration tutorial is one of the most vital tools the consumer version must come with.

360FOV
Honored Guest
The only time I noticed any strange results were when I deliberately set my IPD to the wrong setting on purpose. When I had my IPD off where it should be my eyes were slightly crossing for a few minutes afterwards. I thought "oh crap I screwed my vision up" but it returned to normal a few minutes later. Lesson here, set your IPD to the correct setting for the best experience. Even if you think you have it set correctly it may still be wrong if you are having odd affects from using your Rift.
“My ally is the Force. Life creates it, makes it grow. It’s energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we…not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock…everywhere!"

raidho36
Explorer
Time to time I experience slight lack of screendoor IRL, like my brain really expects it. Other than that, nothing happens. I also don't experience hard time optically focusing on objects after using the Rift.

I'm not a professional doctor, but I did studied a lot about brain and neural networks in particular. What happens is perfectly normal process, and it's revertable too - once you stop using the Rift, all induced effects will be cancelled over short time.

There's nothing you should worry about. You can also enjoy it instead, if you like cyberpunk.

Anonymous
Not applicable
ive been using the rift for a few weeks and ive experienced what your talking about, but its certainly nothing to worry about
if you've ever worn military night vision for long periods of time its a similar effect,

if you suffer from vertigo itll happen, theres a little bush trick for getting over it, drink lots of fluid after you play, and walk outside in the fresh air the more dehydrated you get the worse itll be, also play with the lighting of your environment, you might find that having a small amount of background light can help.

theres a common condition called 'football eyes', some people get it worse than others but its commonly known that vertigo is usually worse in people with this condition.

thats what ive learnt anyway 🙂

cheers

lordvegeta
Honored Guest
Got sick the first day, very sick. The next day I only got a little sick. The next day I got a tiny bit sick after 3 hours of continuous use. Today I haven't gotten sick. The smell of the Oculus is part of what made me sick, the smell also gave me VR sickness flashbacks.