Hey there folks,
During the closed beta I made a topic where I did some really light research into Simulation Sickness because I was feeling ill while playing the game for extended periods of time.
However, now I am still feeling those symptoms days after having played. When I wake up I find it much more difficult to get my footing and tend to wobble a bit. I've noticed my head has been swaying very lightly and if I take a walk and then sit down I can feel a swaying sensation starting from my head and going down my body. It feels like I'm on a boat and I have some nausea. I've found it more difficult to eat because of the nausea and rocking, so I've sort of inadvertently changed and cut down my diet to avoid things that may make me feel like vomiting. I also feel a bit dizzy and this goes on throughout my day and has been going on for the last few days (whenever the beta ended).
I looked it up and apparently this is common with people who go on boats or cruises and it can take from a minute to several days for people's brains to forget the "model" of standing on a boat. Normally people return to normal very quickly after getting off the boat, but for a very select few it can never go away (apparently?).
My sensation of swaying or rocking hasn't subsided at all yet, I actually think it's gotten a bit more noticeable. Upon doing some reading on the subject, in real-life scenarios it's called "mal de debarquement" and it relates to the internal model that your brain creates of the boat or moving platform you were on. People with mal de debarquement can have it for years, but it's extremely rare (in fact a Dr. Hain found it difficult to even find 26 patients for a study who had this condition!). I don't think I have mal de debarquement or anything, at least not yet lol, but I found it really interesting because I've been sailing before and never had this feeling for so long after. I couldn't find anything on this phenomenon in regards to Simulation Sickness in particular so I just assume it's not been researched very much yet because there's very few cases to draw upon that branch both conditions.
I was mostly wondering if anyone else felt this way after playing? At first I thought it was just the minor adjustments of having played SoT for long periods of time but maybe it's something else? I've noticed it get much much worse with things like caffeine and tobacco, it makes the swaying MUCH too intense for me. The closest thing I can think that it compares to is what people call "The Sways" when they take a lot of marijuana or smoke too much tobacco.
I don't have vertigo or anything like that, and this could all just be in my head (which, according to research, it is in your head duh blurg) but I'd love to have a discussion with anyone else who has had this feeling after having played the game. I just think it's super interesting and idk how realistic it is to keep playing SoT if this continues each time I play. Maybe I just need my "virtual sea legs" but because there's so little written about this (that I could find, at least. I'm not a professional in any of this) I'd appreciate any discussion on the topic. I haven't done a lot of research on this myself, but because it's impacting my daily life I figured maybe someone else here knows something I don't.
Cheers.
Home Vestibular Exercises
