Topic: Game-induced vertigo, or 3D sickness, a new problem for me

[Cobra951]

This has never been much of an issue for me in the past, and I wonder why it is now.  Last night I was playing a 3D ball puzzle game on the 360 followed by Portal (wicked game) and then a short while in H-L 2 (man this looks and moves good on the 360).  I ended up having to quit because simple dizziness flourished into a headache and nausea.  If I hadn't, I think I would have passed out.

I'm wondering what has changed so drastically to cause this.  I'm thinking maybe the culprit is the screen.  It's wide, it's perfectly flat, and it's close.  I'd say it fills a good third of my horizontal field of vision right now.  I could always try to solve this with drugs, I guess.  Is dramamine habit-forming?  Does overuse make your dick fall off or something?  Any thoughts?

[Quemaqua]

Odd.  I'd agree with you that it must be the screen if you've never experienced it before.  Makes me a little worried, because I've never gotten those symptoms either, and I wonder if going widescreen would have the potential to muck that up.  I've never used one before.

[Pugnate]

Actually a lot of people are claiming to have nausea after some intense portal gaming.

[sirean_syan]

The UT engine (in the UT form, not before and not after) used to make me feel a little off if I played it a lot after a while. I think it had something to do with how the textures looked in that they had a certain linear quality to them. That is, when you looked closely at them they almost looked like they were formed an inkjet printer and still had some of that line-by-line quality to them. Actually, it's almost how a TV image looked if you looked closely at them too... however you want to think about it.

Did anyone else ever notice that?

[idolminds]

I got dizzy trying to replay HL1 recently. I think its a combo of the low res textures at a high resolution with a high framerate and the FoV.

I dont know if the Xbox version has it, but check if theres a FoV slider. I know theres one in TF2, and I'd guess its there for Portal and EP2. Low FoV gives me a headache, like playing Halo (has a 75fov). I didnt really have any trouble with Portal, or Prey for that matter with the gravrails.

One thing that is guaranteed to make me sick, though, is keyboard look and to a lesser extent gamepad look. Since it reaches a max speed and is so...uniform. Ugh. I once watched my brother play Half Life with only the keyboard and I could take like 10 seconds of it before I felt sick.

[Cobra951]

You might have something there, idol.  Stick look is not a good analogue of head/eye movement.  Mouse is.  I did get dizzy trying to play HL1 not too long ago.  I had not thought about why.  You may be right about that too.  Portal I guess really was the biggest contributor.  All that dimensional confusion?  I'll try HL2 later without doing Portal first, see if I get sick again.  Ugh.  I hope not.  What a bummer it would be if I have to stop playing 3D games.

I'm wondering if there's unlikely factors in the mix.  Diet?  Not enough sun?  Heh.  Drive myself crazy along those lines.

[idolminds]

I didnt have much trouble with portal. The only sickening part was when the screen needed to rotate to match gravity as you exit certain portals (you come out upside down or something), because it was the same steady rotation like keyboard look gives.

[Pugnate]

I am sure it is Portal.

It actually did a number on me as well.

What was worse for me was Prey. Now that really made me nauseous!

[iPPi]

Turok on the N64 made me nauseous when I first played it since there was significant head bob when you move.  I feel a bit of vertigo sometimes in WoW when I jump from a high location.

[poomcgoo]

Dramamine isn't habit forming exactly, but if you take it frequently you'll notice that the dose you need to achieve the same effect increases fairly quickly.  You wont end up addicted to it, though.

[NatchDan]

Prey. Now that really made me nauseous!

Badum-Tish!

[scottws]

A friend of mine really struggles with dizziness in 3D games, especially FPS games.  You are not alone.

[Cobra951]

Ask him for some pointers. 

[scottws]

Bad news:  He pretty much stopped playing games entirely.  He generally can't even watch.

[Xessive]

Hey Pug, didn't Phil have a similar thing? Like in FPS games he'd experience vertigo or something.

I remember the last time I had a minor sensation of vertigo was in Descent 2! My mind just kinda tweaked for a minute, then I could get back into it.