The virtual nose provides a fixed point of reference, much like a cockpit in a flight simulator David Whittinghill/Purdue University image

Nausea experienced by some people when playing virtual reality (VR) games could be solved by inserting a virtual nose into the centre of the display.

So-called simulator sickness, caused when the brain can't work out whether the body is moving or not, could become a major pitfall for VR games.


Computer graphics researchers at Purdue University in Indiana found that VR games and simulators with a cockpit in them, such as driving games or flight sims, were less likely to induce sickness as there was a fixed point of reference. The dashboard or cockpit is always located within a player's field of view, removing the confusion that can lead to nausea.

The solution? Add a virtual nose into the game. "It was a stroke of genius," said David Whittinghill, assistant professor at the university's department of computer graphics technology. "You are constantly seeing your own nose. You tune it out, but it's still there, perhaps giving you a frame of reference to help ground you."

Simulator sickness occurs when a person's eyes and ears can't agree if they are moving or not. While muscles in the eye move to keep track of the game, liquid-filled tubes in the ear don't detect any motion. This causes people to become disorientated and feel sick.


Forty-one volunteers tested how well the virtual nose worked under different levels of motion intensity -- from a stroll around a Tuscan villa to a roller coaster ride. Some of the volunteers played games with the nose and some without, but nobody was told it existed.

Researchers found the addition of the nose allowed people to play the villa level for an average of 94.2 seconds longer without feeling sick. On the roller coaster the difference was much smaller at 2.2 seconds. Surprisingly, nobody noticed the presence of the nose in the games, suggesting the brain recognises it is there but then tunes it out.

Research will continue with the goal of creating a "predictive model of simulator sickness" to rate games for how nauseating they could be.