VR Comfort - Movement
I wanted to give people a resource to learn a bit more about motion comfort, and VR. It can be an overwhelming experience, and people react differently. I hope you find this useful.
Movement in a virtual world sounds breathtaking, and it is, but only if you are not easily affected by motion discomfort in VR. There are a few ways of moving around in VR, mostly because sometimes moving in VR makes certain people fell unwell.
FIXED TELEPORT
This is the most basic, and widely accepted forms of movement in VR. For those who are new to VR, or have already determined that they can’t handle anything more, a fixed teleport system lets the player instantly “zap” to another location instantly, however only to predetermined spots. These teleport spots are usually marked in some way with some sort of glowing shape around them.
FREE TELEPORT
Free teleport allows the player to point to a spot on the ground, and push a button of some sort on the controller, and they will instantly appear in that spot. Many gams have this as a standard method of movement. Either method of teleporting works very well to avoid motion discomfort because the motion has been removed, and you will just magically appear in the spot you choose.
Some titles that use this method may also incorporate some way to determine which way you are facing when you “zap” to the new location. Sometimes tilting the controller, sometimes the joystick, and sometimes it’ll just copy the direction you are looking when you teleport. You might have to try it out and see for yourself.
Because you instantly appear where you want to, this method is very light on the motion discomfort and is generally preferred for those who are on the more sensitive side of motion discomfort.
FREE MOVEMENT
can be paired with either Snap Turning, or Smooth Turning, depending on how you want it set up. In most cases, pushing in any direction on the joystick will make you move in that direction.
One thing to keep in mind is that the direction of movement can either be relative to the direction the controller is facing, or the direction that the headset is facing. some titles allow you to choose, some do not. Some titles have other unique methods of movement such as swinging your arms to move around.
In general, Free movement is a milestone achievement if you found yourself not able to handle anything more than teleporting around. Once you can upgrade to using Free movement without feeling any motion discomfort, many more games will be available to you.
FLYING
Some games allow you to fly around. This is free movement to the max, because you are now also moving up and down. Fear of heights can come into play. It might sound like a dream to fly around, but it can be overwhelming if you are easily affected by motion discomfort.
DRIVING
Driving in Virtual reality can be pretty intense. It’s free movement, and usually done pretty fast. Many driving games benefit by having a view of the cockpit to help reduce motion discomfort, serving as a visual anchor.
JUmping and GRAPPLING
Jumping is allowed in some games, and can be very intense at first. Be ready for this. Another one of those things you may have done without issue on your 2D games… but it’s different in VR. It may catch you by surprise. It’s pretty cool, but just know it could be more than you think it will be.
Some games allow you, in some way or another, to shoot out a grappling hook of some kind, and pull yourself to whichever surface it’s attached to.
Climbing
is used in many games, even if for just short moments. Some games are built entirely on climbing. Climbing can be tough to handle with motion discomfort, because of the drastic movement, and vertically too. Games that have this will give those arms a good bit of a workout.
Vertical Movement
Any game or app where you move up or down in some way is going to affect some people’s level of motion comfort. It’s one of those things that sounds really cool to try, but it can be intense so be ready to close your eyes and take off the headset if you aren’t sure if you’ll respond well to vertical movement.