Apparently, there were good sales numbers for VR equipment prior to the holiday season, and therefore a host of new VR users are coming in just about now. This meta-post collects a bunch of stuff I’ve written (or presented) in the past that might be of interest to some of those new users. These questions/answers are not hardware-specific, meaning they apply to any current-generation VR system (Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, all the Windows Mixed Reality headsets, PlayStation VR, …), and go beyond basic tech questions such as “how do I plug this in, install drivers, …).

There is one other issue for which I do not have a full article, but it’s quite important for new users: VR sickness (aka motion sickness, simulator sickness, …). Today’s VR headsets, at least the ones doing full head tracking (that means Rift/Vive et al., and not Gear VR, Oculus Go, Google Cardboard, …) should not cause VR sickness per se. These days, it is primarily caused by artificial locomotion in games or applications, as I explain in the second presentation I linked above.

The important message is: do not attempt to fight through VR sickness! If you try to stomach it out, it will only get worse. Stop using VR the moment you feel the first symptoms, take a long break, and then try again if you want to continue with the application/game that made you sick. If you try to power through repeatedly, your body might learn to associate sickness with VR, and that might cause you to get sick even when merely thinking about VR, or smelling the headset, or similar triggers. Just don’t do it.

That’s about it; now go ahead and enjoy your shiny new VR systems!

Want to Know More?

Here are a couple of other, more hardware-specific, topics: