Identifying cybersickness causes in virtual reality games using symbolic machine learning algorithms

2026-06-10

AI Summary

This study addresses the complex etiology of cybersickness in virtual reality (VR), a key barrier to its widespread adoption, by introducing symbolic machine learning into cybersickness research for the first time. Through systematic analysis involving two distinct VR game genres and six experimental protocols, the work investigates how operational factors—such as rotation and acceleration—and user experience modulate discomfort. Findings reveal that rotational and accelerative movements in flight-based games more readily induce symptoms, whereas in racing games, higher user control freedom amplifies the protective effect of prior VR experience, with novice users exhibiting greater susceptibility overall. Notably, the triggers of discomfort differ between short- and long-term exposure scenarios. Building on these insights, the study proposes targeted mitigation strategies, offering both theoretical grounding and practical guidance for designing personalized VR experiences.

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) and head-mounted displays are constantly gaining popularity in various fields such as education, military, entertainment, and health. Although such technologies provide a high sense of immersion, they can also trigger symptoms of discomfort. This condition is called cybersickness (CS) and is quite popular in recent virtual reality publications. This work proposes a novel experimental analysis using symbolic machine learning to rank potential causes of CS in VR games. We estimate CS causes and rank them according to their impact using classical machine learning. Experiments are performed using two virtual reality games and 6 experimental protocols along with 37 valid samples from a total of 88 volunteers. Our results show that rotation and acceleration triggered cybersickness more frequently in a flight game in contrast to a race game. We could also observe that subjects that are less experienced with VR are more prone to feel discomfort. Former experience plays a more important role on the race game, as this game provides more liberty to the user in terms of controllers, more displacement alternatives and a more user-controlled acceleration. Furthermore, different causes that trigger discomfort arise based on short or long term VR exposures. We suggest strategies for mitigating CS for these two scenarios: short and long term exposure experiences and compare the two highlighted scenarios (race and flight).

Problem

• cybersickness
• virtual reality
• VR games
• motion sickness causes
• user experience

Innovation

• symbolic machine learning
• cybersickness
• virtual reality
• cause ranking
• VR exposure duration