I am not a sailor, but I've done some offshore work for companies like Heerema and other offshore oil companies. I don't get sea sick, ever.

However, I get sick trying to play games with my google cardboard. Nasty, nasty feeling and it takes a good hour to feel normal again... Not a big fan of VR after a few sessions of sickness. I don't think I will play it more to "get over it" either.

I've had the same experience and it made me wonder, like the OP, about the overall future of VR.

But still I'll hold out, and still I'll try :)

Hopefully higher response and faster refresh rates with quicker and more accurate tracking will evidence the difference between Caraboard and near-term future VR.

fingers crossed

I have a decent amount of off-shore sailing experience in small yachts, and like you, I never get sea-sick.

I haven't tried VR yet, but I was hoping my apparent immunity from motion sickness might carry over to a nice VR experience. Now I'm not so sure it will.

I would like to go sailing, but don't because I get motion sickness easily (I can prevent it though by 1) keeping my eyes fixed on horizon and 2) taking dramamine). Do you think using techniques 1 and 2 I'll be able to manage symptoms of motion sickness when sailing? Is dramamine popular in sailing circles to prevent motion sickness?

AFAIK, dramamine is still pretty popular for sea sickness. It's what I use if I need it. Like other antihistamines, though, it makes me really groggy so that may be the effect as much anything. Other things I hear people using are Scolpamine patches and just wristbands; no personal experience in either case.

I find being on deck and actively engaged helps me a lot too. For this reason, I suspect that I wouldn't be particularly bothered by VR but I've never had an opportunity to check it out thoroughly. You get to just sitting and going to yourself "I will not get seasick" tends to lead to problems.

as ghaff says, dramamine is used by many though I think the side effects can be harsh. I've heard good things about the patches and especially using a smaller dose (cutting the patch in half) to reduce the side effects. I've also heard that it can take a while for the drugs to pass through the blood/brain barrier and therefore its useful to actually take the drugs the day before you go on board. We have a different drug over here in general use in the UK (Stugeron) which is cinnarizine which is an antihistamine. I am dubious about the pressure bands but then I have used them and was not sick and when I took them off I didn't feel very good for a while so perhaps they do something I don't know.

I know of many people who join a sailing club and sail all size boats in the evening/weekend races but never really go out into the sea - for some of them, the whole social scene at the sailing club afterwards is important, perhaps some of them because its actually pretty exciting to be sailing in close quarters in that way. Some might do it for nausea related reasons I don't know. I am more of a cruiser though, I like to spend some weeks on board poking around in little coves, etc.

In my experience of sea sickness, I may feel funny the first day and not want to eat or drink, then (especially if cold and bumpy) would be sick overnight or the next day - then I would be feeling strange for a day but mainly I think because I was low blood sugar and dehydrated but I would eat some, then the next day I would be ravenous but having bowel problems probably because the food I ate the day before was having difficulty digesting as my stomach had been cleansed. after that I would be fine. Also around the 4 day mark (I have done a 29 day passage) you become much more attuned to the movement of the boat, you become much more comfortable with everything swaying around, you have started to tidy away all the bits and pieces that keep falling on the floor or clanking in the lockers and the whole experience can turn very pleasant.

I think people work out their own method for dealing with sea sickness, but I think that often its just denial that its happening and trying to stave off the inevitable (lying on a bunk down below, clutching the bucket works well). If you work out a technique for vomiting (head well back, mouth well open) that doesn't leave any residue washing around in your sinuses then thats probably best. I always feel better immediately after getting something out, though I pity anybody else around as I can't silence the hideous choking sounds. In order to treat the secondary problems I have some high sugar high caffeine drink handy (flat coke) and some high sugar biscuits (gingers are great - supposedly ginger is good for nausea too) and keep getting it in. I don't care if it will come out again in 2 minutes because you absorb that stuff into your blood pretty quickly, and you can eat healthily once you get over it.

Yes, it does wear off. (From personal experience and reading others' experiences in the development kit forums.)

That said, it requires several weeks of repeatedly exposing yourself to awful motion sickness that may take hours to disappear.

Doesn't have to be awful. The collective wisdom is to stop immediately if you start to feel ill. Trying to push through will not go well. Eventually, most people build up a resistance to motion sickness ("VR legs"). Bonus is that this motion tolerance carries over outside of VR. Several VR users have reported being able to read in the car for the first time!