Literally.
Over the recent years, I’ve begun to notice that sometimes when I play certain games, I start to get motion sick. I’ve always been prone to motion-induced sickness (I once passed out after riding a merry-go-round!), but I didn’t think that sitting statically in front of a screen would cause so much grief.
It’s actually not an uncommon thing; after some research and forum-scouring, it seems like a lot of people experience this otherwise frustrating phenomenon. It also seems like no one knows why it happens. There are many theories, of course (i.e. conflicting stimulations between inner-ear and ocular sensors), but there is no set-in-stone documentation denoting the cause.
Unfortunately, because there is no absolute cause, that means there’s no known treatment either. However, I’ve decided to list some of the methods I use to cope.
Crank Up the FOV
I recently discovered this one; as it turns out, not all games default the field-of-view to 90 (which is typically the recommended amount, especially for shooters). If the FOV is too low, the screen shows less of what’s in front you, sometimes making it look really focused and even disorienting.
Compare an FOV of 60 to 90. (Source: Reddit)
Switch to Third-Person
This one isn’t always an option, and even if it is, it may feel weird depending on what you’re used to. Regardless, switching to third person usually pulls back the camera and gives the player a sense of spatial relativity.
Back it Up
I mentioned that I’ve only noticed motion sickness over recent years. That’s because when I came to college, I went from looking at a TV from across the room to staring at a monitor less than two feet from my face. I’ve been trying to make a habit of moving myself farther away from the screen, though I occasionally catch myself inching back up.
Controller > Mouse
I know, I get a lot of dirty looks for this one. I grew up playing console games, so a controller is familiar to me. When I try to use a mouse, I tend to be more jittery and have less control of the camera, meaning more “motion.” This is actually really frustrating, because it costs me aiming precision (thank you, Bethesda, for VATS) and in some cases, I can’t even play the game because it doesn’t have controller compatibility (Minecraft PC was just a waste of $30).
Not recommended for competitive FPS players.
Take a Break
Finally, learn to be okay with playing in small amounts. Play for maybe 30 minutes at a time, then go for a walk or do some stretches in between. This is good not only for motion sickness, but also for your joints, posture, and eyes.
I’ll admit, video games become less appealing when you risk inducing your own nausea, but there a measures that can be taken for damage control. If you also get dizzy/nauseous when you play games, hopefully this post can help you better enjoy your free time. Just remember, YMMV.
I am sorry to hear that games make you sick! That certainly must take most of the fun out of a lot of games. I can’t say that I completely relate to experiencing this problem with all video games but I do know the feeling after playing certain ones. In particular, Mario Cart’s Rainbow Road. I am a big fan of this game and love to play it when hanging with friends but I was definitely not warned before playing this level. I started off the level like any other but quickly realized that this was not going to be just another challenging level. Before the end of lap one I started feeling nausea from the colors and winding roads. I had never experienced this before so I tried to brush it off and finished the race. I was able to complete the race but had to take the rest of the night off from the game because I just wasn’t feeling quite right. I appreciate all of the tips you gave about how to prevent the nausea from happening but I think for this game the only fix that would work for me is to not play it at all. This is slightly disappointing but there are many other levels that I can play without a problem so it does not ruin the game for me. I think it is important for game designers to think about this effect when they are designing games because it does affect the experience of each player differently and for me I simply had to keep my third place trophy on Rainbow Road and call it a day because I do not wish to relive that feeling again.