motion sickness

[Rinnegan2]

hi champs

I'm getting motion sickness from pretty much all games with the exception being WoW.

Fall Guys, Assassins Creed, Fortnite ... the list goes on. all of these games give me motion sickness. the only game that works is WoW (zoomed out).

anyone know why that is?

[Paetolus]

I'd maybe see if motion blur is turned on in those games? That can make me feel motion sick sometimes.

[Tziva]

I get it too, real bad.

It's just the way your inner ear works (or doesn't). There are a number of things you can do to help but unfortunately there is only so much you can do if you have a physical predisposition to that kind of thing.

Things to try: max your FoV, disable motion blur, have a monitor with a high refresh rate and/or rig that can do high frame rates. Turn down your camera look and/or movement speed to really slow. Smaller monitors (or sitting further away) can help, as can playing in a smaller window rather than full screen. I've seen some studies saying that lighting conditions can help (although conflicting whether low light or bright is better), so if you usually play with lights on, try with lights off or vice versa. For games that have the option between first and third person, always pick third person, and as zoomed out as the game allows.

A lot of the things that help can negatively impact your performance or are annoying (like playing a game in small window rather than fullscreen) but IMO sometimes it is worth it over the alternative of not playing the game at all. Additionally, exposure helps so if these things help enough to be able to play those games at least for short times, the more you play them, the longer you'll be able to tolerate it.

Or you can just give up those games, but that isn't a reasonable option for me

[Orrik]

I get pretty bad motion sickness when playing games too. If I try to play for more than half an hour, I get a huge headache and feel really queasy. One thing I found that helped was putting an earplug in one ear. I learned about that trick from watching the Lost in Space series on netflix when one of the characters suggested it for seasickness. And I noticed improvements right away. I was able to play for about 2-3 hours before I started getting a headache.

[NightZero88]

Turn off motion blur is typically all you can do and take breaks. I've spoken with a doctor about this and their response was, as games get more realistic your brain can't differentiate between reality and fake and so your brain things it's real and thus nothing can be done. Admittedly this was years ago but I'd think it still stands. You can try taking motion sickness pills but for me just turning off motion blur fixes it mostly.

[dextersmith]

hi champs

I'm getting motion sickness from pretty much all games with the exception being WoW.

Fall Guys, Assassins Creed, Fortnite ... the list goes on. all of these games give me motion sickness. the only game that works is WoW (zoomed out).

anyone know why that is?

Sounds like the camera is moving too fast or is too shaky.

[Cidzor]

Things to try: max your FoV, disable motion blur, have a monitor with a high refresh rate and/or rig that can do high frame rates. Turn down your camera look and/or movement speed to really slow. Smaller monitors (or sitting further away) can help, as can playing in a smaller window rather than full screen. I've seen some studies saying that lighting conditions can help (although conflicting whether low light or bright is better), so if you usually play with lights on, try with lights off or vice versa. For games that have the option between first and third person, always pick third person, and as zoomed out as the game allows.

This is all good advice. Disabling motion blur is a big one for me. I don't necessarily max FoV, but I've found that most games have a "sweet spot" for me. I just drag the slider around until I get to something that feels comfortable.

Only other thing I'll add is that if you're playing an FPS game and can enable/disable crosshair (or some kind of targeting reticle, like a dot or whatever), it always helps me to keep them enabled. Having something in the middle of the screen to sort of focus on helps a lot.

And then sometimes, depending on the game and severity of the motion sickness for you, it's best to just leave it alone. I've played an FPS game where one of the missions is a train robbery. There's one bit where you're running along the top of a moving train and have to spin around to shoot enemies behind you. Something about spinning around and aiming at enemies, all while scenery is moving by really fast...that hit me pretty hard, and I'm pretty sure no amount of changing in-game settings could've helped. I just dropped that game right there and never got back to it. Even thinking about that right now is making me feel it a little.

[NightZero88]

And then sometimes, depending on the game and severity of the motion sickness for you, it's best to just leave it alone. I've played an FPS game where one of the missions is a train robbery. There's one bit where you're running along the top of a moving train and have to spin around to shoot enemies behind you. Something about spinning around and aiming at enemies, all while scenery is moving by really fast...that hit me pretty hard, and I'm pretty sure no amount of changing in-game settings could've helped. I just dropped that game right there and never got back to it. Even thinking about that right now is making me feel it a little.

This is some solid advice though sucky. I'm in agreement, I generally won't play completely 3D games like Subnautica or games that take place in space. Being able to float all over the place just gets me. I really want to try Subnautica but I'm not sure it'd go well. Sometimes you just have to say fuck it and skip it.