Shooters, the sickly side effects

I want to say I really started to attempt shooters back in late 2009 or early 2010.  The genre always interested me because I saw how much skill it involved and it seemed fun to shoot aliens in a fast paced world or just moving targets if you're shooting other stuff.  

In order to play shooters you need concentration, twitch accuracy, some stealth skills depending on the game, to learn your arsenal, etc, etc.  You get the idea.  Jumping into my first shooter, which I believe was Metroid Prime on the Gamecube (alright so maybe it's not a shooter in YOUR eyes) I was excited to say the least.  Just a few minutes later, maybe 5, my stomach was so twisted and my nausea so intense that I needed to turn off the system and lie down.  Sadly, I was never able to beat the game because of this intense illness that later I would research and learn to know is called "simulation sickness".  It's very much like motion sickness but in a simulated environment. Apparently the mind can't handle the sound/video interpretation because it isn't "real" and makes your body do strange and bad stuff. 

I laid off the shooters for a bit and later tried again because I was determined to beat at least one throughout the course of my life.  To my deep sadness, again with the simulation sickness.  Of course, nothing had changed.  I decided to research some remedies to it.  Surprisingly I found some.  Even more surprisingly, they worked.  It's quite simple actually.  I learned to always do the following:

1. Make sure I'm well rested before playing

2. Drink a lot of water before, during, and after playing.

3. Take a break the second I start feeling ill

I am pleased to inform you, reader of my humble blog, that simulation sickness is a concern that is somewhere on the back burner now.  My body got used to the simulations, I still follow the remedies just in case, and when the situation of illness does arise it's few and far between.  I probably feel the illness once every few months.  That's a huge improvement.  Stay tuned for more on my slippery road to the land of shooters.