Virtual Reality (VR) presents the potential to expand games, education, therapies, and others. Nevertheless, barriers to its adoption still exist. Among these barriers, cybersickness can represent a steep one for those not yet accustomed to VR. Cybersickness is a form of motion sickness that occurs as a result of exposure to immersive eXtended Reality (XR) environments, including those using VR head-mounted displays (HMDs). Depending on the immersive content and virtual movement required, 20%-95% of users typically experience some form of cybersickness, ranging from a slight headache to an emetic response. The most common symptoms include general discomfort, headache, eyestrain, stomach awareness, nausea, sweating, sopite syndrome (a.k.a. drowsiness), and disorientation. Only on rare occasions (~1%), an emetic response is experienced.
Researchers have investigated its origins and triggers, and proposed techniques to reduce its severity. Although the results have been encouraging, a deeper understanding of cybersickness and how to prevent it efficiently are still open topics of investigation. Moreover, though we know the common clinical symptoms of cybersickness, we do not yet completely understand how it interacts with the user experience. In other words, it is unclear how it affects and is affected by the interaction with the virtual content; what the non-immersive trade-offs are when trying to mitigate it; how it relates to similar situations in real-life (e.g., sickness when driving compared to a racing game); what development frameworks we can propose to guarantee that new VR experiences are enjoyable even when cybersickness has been factored in.
Aim: This special issue aims to bring high-quality articles that explore cybersickness challenges and consequences associated with VR user applications from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Scope: Specific areas of interest within the scope of this special issue include but are not limited to:
- Cybersickness in VR Games
- Cybersickness in VR Movies
- Cybersickness in VR Educational Settings
- Cybersickness in VR Therapeutical Settings
- Recovery after cybersickness from these exposures
Questions that are explored include: What factors in VR can increase or decrease users’/players’/viewers’ cybersickness? How is enjoyment/outcomes/memory affected by either the problem (i.e., cybersickness) or the solutions (i.e., the mitigation techniques)? Are these effects long or short term? What games/movies/applications are more likely to cause sickness, and is it persistent throughout the experience or sporadic? What are the effects of cybersickness for VR games/movies/application acceptability? How does cybersickness interact with other characteristics of these applications (e.g., stereoscopic view and controller type interaction)?
We welcome original research studies and systematic, design/idea/protocol studies and scoping reviews on the above topics that advance the understanding of how best to design and implement immersive VR applications such that cybersickness is reduced or its need justified.
Virtual Reality (VR) presents the potential to expand games, education, therapies, and others. Nevertheless, barriers to its adoption still exist. Among these barriers, cybersickness can represent a steep one for those not yet accustomed to VR. Cybersickness is a form of motion sickness that occurs as a result of exposure to immersive eXtended Reality (XR) environments, including those using VR head-mounted displays (HMDs). Depending on the immersive content and virtual movement required, 20%-95% of users typically experience some form of cybersickness, ranging from a slight headache to an emetic response. The most common symptoms include general discomfort, headache, eyestrain, stomach awareness, nausea, sweating, sopite syndrome (a.k.a. drowsiness), and disorientation. Only on rare occasions (~1%), an emetic response is experienced.
Researchers have investigated its origins and triggers, and proposed techniques to reduce its severity. Although the results have been encouraging, a deeper understanding of cybersickness and how to prevent it efficiently are still open topics of investigation. Moreover, though we know the common clinical symptoms of cybersickness, we do not yet completely understand how it interacts with the user experience. In other words, it is unclear how it affects and is affected by the interaction with the virtual content; what the non-immersive trade-offs are when trying to mitigate it; how it relates to similar situations in real-life (e.g., sickness when driving compared to a racing game); what development frameworks we can propose to guarantee that new VR experiences are enjoyable even when cybersickness has been factored in.
Aim: This special issue aims to bring high-quality articles that explore cybersickness challenges and consequences associated with VR user applications from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Scope: Specific areas of interest within the scope of this special issue include but are not limited to:
- Cybersickness in VR Games
- Cybersickness in VR Movies
- Cybersickness in VR Educational Settings
- Cybersickness in VR Therapeutical Settings
- Recovery after cybersickness from these exposures
Questions that are explored include: What factors in VR can increase or decrease users’/players’/viewers’ cybersickness? How is enjoyment/outcomes/memory affected by either the problem (i.e., cybersickness) or the solutions (i.e., the mitigation techniques)? Are these effects long or short term? What games/movies/applications are more likely to cause sickness, and is it persistent throughout the experience or sporadic? What are the effects of cybersickness for VR games/movies/application acceptability? How does cybersickness interact with other characteristics of these applications (e.g., stereoscopic view and controller type interaction)?
We welcome original research studies and systematic, design/idea/protocol studies and scoping reviews on the above topics that advance the understanding of how best to design and implement immersive VR applications such that cybersickness is reduced or its need justified.