hey Oculus Rift users, for how long do you keep that thingy on you?

[Spiridon]

There are a lot of health warnings, like "30 minutes max, than you need to take a hour of rest" etc. So how do you use it?

- for how long in a session, without breaks?
- do you have any issues after the session? (sight, vertigo etc)

I'm planing to buy one, but I'm not a kid anymore (played this in 84 so I would like to hear your experiences - health wise.

Thank you!

 

[Bembledak]

I can play for hours without any discomfort but I do need to take a break for 5-10 minutes every hour or so for the usual toilet, drink, smoke

I've suffered with sickness and nausea when using the DK2 with other VR applications, usually software that requires mouse/joystick movement that can be disorientating. Elite is perfectly fine though due to being sat in your commanders chair

I would say wait for the consumer release as the screen door effect can get annoying but nothing beats wandering around your cockpit!

 

[StuAngel]

Spiridon,

I have found the rift somewhat similar to getting a boat, at first it took me a while to get my sea legs, meaning, every time I took it off I felt somewhat off balance etc. but now its like anything else, so I personally play for a couple hours straight in the rift without any issues whatsoever, at first it was a little off putting but now it feels really normal.

Stu

ps. I have tried to explain to people what its like to use the rift with something like elite, but I gave up trying, its something that people have to experience themselves to understand.

 

[remosito]

Have played 12+ hours a day a few times.

Usually I take a smoke break once an hour to hour and a half. And every three to four hours a half to an hour break for Cooking, forum readings, reddit, looking up some astronomical stuff on the web, whatnot....

 

[777Driver]

There are a lot of health warnings, like "30 minutes max, than you need to take a hour of rest" etc. So how do you use it?

- for how long in a session, without breaks?
- do you have any issues after the session? (sight, vertigo etc)

I'm planing to buy one, but I'm not a kid anymore (played this in 84 so I would like to hear your experiences - health wise.

Thank you!

Haven't heard about a 30 minute health warning? think the longest I've done is a few hours in one go. Only felt a bit strange for the first few day's, it forces you to fly the ships as if you where flying a real ship. A lot of people complain about motion sickness, if you could fly an Eagle for real pulling high G maneuvers and rolling all over the place you will would feel a bit nauseous! But your mind does get used to it.

I still get a bit of vertigo landing my Type-9 or when in low orbit around a large planet, but that's to be expected, everything looks and feels real.

If you do buy the Rift, make sure you setup your IPD correctly, that is very important, otherwise it can be blurry or things don't look the right size

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

There are a lot of health warnings, like "30 minutes max, than you need to take a hour of rest" etc. So how do you use it?

- for how long in a session, without breaks?
- do you have any issues after the session? (sight, vertigo etc)

I'm planing to buy one, but I'm not a kid anymore (played this in 84 so I would like to hear your experiences - health wise.

Thank you!

in elite I can play it indefinitely (I have done full afternoon sessions in it!). you may get more feedback in the VR forum, lots of us rifters in there

in other games I play in bursts but generally seated experiences are fine (for me - everyone has different VR limits)

PS I am a classic eliter myself as well...... but even my dad - pushing 70 - was impressed with the rift.

No side effects for me at all in seated experiences.

in HL2 however I do get vr sick... but I find people get a warning. Before you feel sick you will probably get a bit clammy - esp on forehead. If you get this, so long as you stop and have a break then you will probably be ok, just do not try and power through. After the sweats may come feelings of nausea and that will probably mean you will be done on VR for the day, and could put you off for good.

 

[Zephyriel]

I guess it can get tyring due to the focal adjustment of your eyes always being the same when using the Rift, since no matter how close or far away things are, they're always displayed at the same distance (determined by the screen and lenses).
Personnaly I don't feel any sickness in ED, but I do feel compelled to remove the headset after a while, usually about 1h30 I think. It just becomes uncomfortable for my eyes. After a break I can carry on.

 

[Red Fox Four]

If you are worried about motion sickness thing that doesn't happen much in Elite.

The whole motion sickness people get from using the Oculus Rift mainly comes from playing games where you move an avatar around, e.g. Alien Isolation. I found that mostly I start feeling nauseous becomes your character unexpectedly starts walking in the direction you are looking, even if your intention is to continue moving straight but just look to the side as you pass an object.

What happens in those cases is that your mind expects you to be moving in one direction while the Rift causes you to walk in a different direction (towards where you are looking). Basically what your mind expects and what your eyes see (object you looked at suddenly moving towards you) confuses your body...

I can play Elite Dangerous for hours and not feel a hint of motion sickness. I can play Alien Isolation for MAX 1.5 hours, but then I need a serious 2 hour break to get my body settled again.

Another thing to keep in mind with the Rift is that the resolution is very low compared to watching the game on a monitor. This becomes very apparent when you are dogfighting, especially against smaller ships, since they very quickly become just a colored dot when using the Rift, while on a monitor you would still see details on the ship.

Other than that, the Rift is an amazing experience which everyone should try if given the opportunity.

 

[Spiridon]

Thank you guys, much appreciated!

I have no problems with nausea, used to go on ships a lot. But was a bit worried with some warnings. You made it right now.

Will wait for the consumer release, and then will pay attention to IDP. And I like this line of yours, 777Driver: "it forces you to fly the ships as if you where flying a real ship". Oh dread... That's exactly why I want it!

EDIT
"I can play Elite Dangerous for hours and not feel a hint of motion sickness. I can play Alien Isolation for MAX 1.5 hours, but then I need a serious 2 hour break to get my body settled again."

Oh, now I get the point of those warnings. Thx!

 

[martinwright6]

I haven't suffered any sickness when using a DK2 to play ED. Alien Isolation on the other hand has me reaching for the chunder-bucket within a few minutes.

The biggest problem I have with perlonged use of a DK2, is that it the straps mess with my hair and I end up looking like a Flock of Seagulls reject.

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The whole motion sickness people get from using the Oculus Rift mainly comes from playing games where you move an avatar around, e.g. Alien Isolation. I found that mostly I start feeling nauseous becomes your character unexpectedly starts walking in the direction you are looking, even if your intention is to continue moving straight but just look to the side as you pass an object.

What happens in those cases is that your mind expects you to be moving in one direction while the Rift causes you to walk in a different direction (towards where you are looking). Basically what your mind expects and what your eyes see (object you looked at suddenly moving towards you) confuses your body...

I also think that, when you move in real-life, there's a small element of (centrifugal?) force which would affect the balance in the inner ear. Because that doesn't happen when you move in a DK2, it confuses the brain. Anyway, it's just a thought - I could be completely wrong.

 

[catanonia]

5+ hours at a time, been using it since 2nd week was available like this. Took a bit to get used to it.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I guess it can get tyring due to the focal adjustment of your eyes always being the same when using the Rift, since no matter how close or far away things are, they're always displayed at the same distance (determined by the screen and lenses).
Personnaly I don't feel any sickness in ED, but I do feel compelled to remove the headset after a while, usually about 1h30 I think. It just becomes uncomfortable for my eyes. After a break I can carry on.

the opposite is true actually...... in the rift your eye is completely natural, as it totally fools you that you are looking into infinity.

OTOH using a monitor your eye is at a fixed focal point. (unless you look away)

 

[777Driver]

the opposite is true actually...... in the rift your eye is completely natural, as it totally fools you that you are looking into infinity.

OTOH using a monitor your eye is at a fixed focal point. (unless you look away)

Yeah true, I didn't quite understand his post, it was the complete opposite of what I see. To the OP - One more thing about IPD and lenses, it can make a huge difference to what you see/feel, am convinced that is why people's comments on the rift vary so much.

When I purchased my rift, the guy let me try out his, it was cool but a huge disappointment. I bought it anyway, took it home, did some research on the correct IPD setting, and a bunch of other stuff. The difference between using mine and his was like night and day, exact same piece of kit, totally different experience.

Be prepared to tweak with settings, or wait for the CV1

 

[Belsameth]

I only use it in small bursts, since I smoke like an industrial chimney park and smoking with the rift on is ill advised (I know this for a fact. I tried )
but Elite is the only game in which I never had any discomfort wearing it. That said, it is not yet ready for prime time and I'll strongly advise you to wait for the consumer version which'll probably land somewhere this year.

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

I think the longest session I did was ~8 hours. I was quite surprised how long it was when I finally took it off for a toilet break.

The biggest problem I have with perlonged use of a DK2, is that it the straps mess with my hair and I end up looking like a Flock of Seagulls reject.

Yeah - had that problem as well - shaved my head within days of receiving the rift - problem solved.

 

[TargetLost]

I played a lot the last days. I play maybe 1 or 2 hour than do a break.
It's as the other say. After acclimating you will feel hardly motion sickness with ED however Alien Isolation is very different chapter. I so liked to play it but after several attempts I stopped. There is something very wrong when you turn in AI. I don't know if this is the exception or the rule in first person games where you walk.
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Back to Elite.. I don't want to make panick but I am not that sure if it has no bad health side effect on intense using. Forexample I just make a longer break (3 or 4 days) because I lately feelt as my brain was melting (headache). I can't really nail it to oculus, it can really come from a lot other things, but then it's the first thing I thought about could cause this and so I decided to be carefully.
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The Oculus is one of the best experience you can have. Wouldn't want to miss it.

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

I only use it in small bursts, since I smoke like an industrial chimney park and smoking with the rift on is ill advised (I know this for a fact. I tried )
but Elite is the only game in which I never had any discomfort wearing it. That said, it is not yet ready for prime time and I'll strongly advise you to wait for the consumer version which'll probably land somewhere this year.

I smoke in the rift all the time - even uploaded some boring video of me doing it some time around September (cbb to find it, I'm on my cellphone...). What's the problem?

 

[tim74uk]

If you are worried about motion sickness thing that doesn't happen much in Elite.
Another thing to keep in mind with the Rift is that the resolution is very low compared to watching the game on a monitor. This becomes very apparent when you are dogfighting, especially against smaller ships, since they very quickly become just a colored dot when using the Rift, while on a monitor you would still see details on the ship.

Other than that, the Rift is an amazing experience which everyone should try if given the opportunity.

This alone is the reason everyone who is considering a Rift for Elite should wait for the CV1.

Though if you do wait for CV1 you had better get yourselves a gtx980 as it will need to run 90hz refresh stable at 1440p.

Peace,

CMDR NeoN HaZe

 

[777Driver]

I smoke in the rift all the time - even uploaded some boring video of me doing it some time around September (cbb to find it, I'm on my cellphone...). What's the problem?

I tried a few times, feels too strange smoking in the rift, I use it as an excuse to cut down. Also don't drink booze with the rift... When I had trackIR I would get pretty drunk on Whisky during some sessions in Gamma, would sometimes find my ship in a far off location and large sums of cash missing :/

large amounts of alcohol and VR do not mix!

 

[martinwright6]

I tried a few times, feels too strange smoking in the rift, I use it as an excuse to cut down. Also don't drink booze with the rift... When I had trackIR I would get pretty drunk on Whisky during some sessions in Gamma, would sometimes find my ship in a far off location and large sums of cash missing :/

large amounts of alcohol and VR do not mix!

Unless the VR is Vodka Redbull!