Dale Dietrich
friedman: always supply your comparative advantage
Random header image... Refresh for more!
  • [Filler Bar]

Video Game-induced Nausea, Dizziness and Headaches

October 13, 2008 at 7:00 pm - by Dale Dietrich

Categories: health • video games
Tags: • • • • •

nausea in video games

In the early days of console gaming, about 25% or so of all games made me nauseous, dizzy or gave me headaches to the point where I couldn’t play them. A prime example was Deus Ex: Invisible War. I enjoyed the game and wanted to continue playing it. But I couldn’t play for more than 15 minutes without becoming dizzy and nauseous. Ultimately, I had to abandon the game.

[Updated May 25, 2009. Added first person bobbing-while-walking factor.]

In the current (Xbox 360/PS3) console generation, the percentage of games that are unplayable due to nausea, headaches or dizziness has dropped dramatically to, perhaps, 5 to 10%.nausous gamer For example, I couldn’t play the otherwise enjoyable Laura Croft: Tomb Raider Legend for more than 15 minutes without feeling ill.

Below, I identify three four factors that cause me dizziness, headaches and nausea when playing video games.  I also list specific games that have made me sick.

I’d be interested in your thoughts – especially with respect to what might be behind the X-Factor discussed below.

Nausea Caused by Aggressive Camera Centering / Fighting

When a game gives me only partial control of the camera, especially when I need to fight the game for camera control, this makes me nauseous every time. Ironically, when a game takes total control of the camera from me, such as in God of War 2, I do not get nauseous.

resident evi 3l box artThe poster-child for this type of camera-control-fighting-induced nausea is the entire Resident Evil series. Not only does the game st0p you from moving your character wherever you wish (they are all ‘on rails’ games), the game aggressively fights the player for control of the camera by constantly pulling the camera back to the center every time the player looks hither or thither. Rumor has it that the forthcoming Resident Evil 5 might finally hand camera control to the player where it belongs. Surprisingly, this is controversial.  I won’t be playing RE5 unless this problem is finally fixed. [Spring 2009 Update: The reviews for RE5 were so bad, I’m not even going to bother trying it.]

Each of the recent Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Battlefield: Bad Company, Resistance Fall of Man, Grand Theft Auto IV (but only when driving) and Star Wars, Force Unleashed (but only while moving) games fought me over the camera somewhat. This resulted in mild dizziness. Happily the implementation of camera centering in each of these games wasn’t aggressive enough to cause me to abandon the games over the issue.

Nausea Caused by No Y-Axis Inversion Option

The first console-based video game I ever played was Pilot Wings, on the N-64. As a flying game, it naturally featured inverted Y-axis controls. A dozen years and a hundred or so games later, I have inverted the Y-axis on every console game I’ve played since.

If I can’t invert the y-axis I can’t play. Non-inverted game play makes me instantly nauseous. My brain is wired in such a way that when I pull the right stick back, my brain expects the camera to move up. When the camera goes the opposite way it is very disorienting.

silent hill homecoming cover artThere are very few games now-a-days that do not provide the inverted control option. Indeed, inverting the Y-axis is so common that the Xbox 360 can be set to automatically configure every game I play with the Y-axis inverted.

I was astonished to discover that Silent Hill: Homecoming does not allow players to invert the Y-axis for normal viewing (it does have a limited Y-inversion option for shooting when the gun is wielded).  As I wrote here, the game was unplayable. I had to abandon it.

Dizziness Caused by First Person Bobbing While Walking

I first wrote this post in October 2008. In late May 2009 I played F.E.A.R. 2 and remembered another cause of dizziness – the screen bobbing while a character walks. In F.E.A.R. 2 and several other first-person video games, the screen bobs up and down as the character moves. The bobbing, I gather, corresponds with the cadence of the character’s walk. This doesn’t make me dizzy or nauseous as quickly as the other factors discussed in this post, but I can usually only play a game that does this for an hour or so before becoming dizzy. The game is not unplayable, but it has to be taken in light doses.

Nausea Caused by the X-Factor – Possibly Frame Rate

laura croft tomb raider legends cover art Finally, there is a class of game that makes me seriously dizzy or nauseous even when I have full control over the camera and the Y-axis is properly inverted (see list below).

I’ve never fully understood, absent the camera/Y-axis issues, why some games make me dizzy and nauseous while others do not. I’ve always assumed it was a frame-rate issue. I’d be keen for any of you to suggest other possible causes.

Whatever the reason, such was recently the case with Mercenaries 2. The game gave me complete camera control and I had happily inverted the Y-axis but it still made me nauseous to play.

List of Games Causing Dizziness / Nausea

Below is a list of games that have made me seriously dizzy or nauseous. I also list the underlying game engine in parenthesis. Note how many games are built on versions of the Unreal and  id Tech engines. I intend to expand the list over time as I remember them:

PC:

  • Half Life 2 (Valve’s Source Engine): Enjoyed it so much I pushed through about 80% it. But, to this day, just the sounds of that game (the gravity gun in particular) make me woozy.

Original Xbox:

Xbox 360:

PS3:

(Note, the numbers are fewer here because,  if given a choice, I play the 360 version of a game. Each platform is an equal opportunity nausea causer.)

Conclusion

Thankfully, better graphics, higher frame rates and the abandonment of nausea-inducing camera controller techniques is making gamer illness increasingly a thing of the past. Unfortunately, as the recent games Silent Hill: Homecoming and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames have shown, we still have a way to go.

Related Posts:

Digg! Digg Del.icio.us  

  • Could be pixels, could also be something like the screen door effect but without consciously seeing it though your eyes are trying to make sense of all the pixels. I'd keep an eye out for game resolution and tv resolution. I bet it's less of an issue at higher resolutions and/or further from the TV.
  • The TV resolution has been a constant. I've been using the same Plasma HDTV now for 3.5 years. It doesn't seem to be wholly resolution because I can get it from higher and lower quality resolution. The only "CONCRETE" thing I can point to is the second I look at a game that has the x-factor, I can instantly feel a weird sensation in my head. I can play, for example, Halo for 10 hours straight without getting any feeling of sickness, yet for the games that do make me sick, I'm feeling it instantly, and consistently for the specific games.
  • jim l
    I'm in the same boat. I can play Halo 3 for hours on end but 2 minutes with Half life 2 and I'm ready to collapse, making the totally unplayable. Fable 1&2 both make me queezy and now Farcry 2 is making me sick. It seems as though you're right and it could be a frame rate issue. I just can understand why Halo will not make me the slightest bit queezy but Half Life 2 with it's nightmarish source engine absolutely kills me
  • I've never played Halo as I've always chaked it up to a first person shooter which woudl make me sick but hearing this I really want to give it try.
  • Tim
    at Jim:
    to me half-life2 source engine is better than RL, it's so smooth and never gets me dizzy, i love it so much just for this reason...
    but farcry2 is so annoying to play, i can hardly hit anything, the same with bioshock and some other games... since i don't have that good of a computer i have to tune down the settings and that usually fixes it, when i set the resolution to 800x600 or something low it's easier for me, the textures seem more robust so i guess that's a plus.
  • celefb
    This is my story! For the past 2 days I have been in a sheer living hell. I gave my 9 year old son his adderall yesterday morning. About 20 minutes later he came upstairs white as a ghost, sweating, dizzy, nautious and passed out cold. He was pretty sick all day long too. I thought for sure I must have givin him my medication by mistake as they are the same color and size, but a slightly different shape. I called the pharmacy and they said he'd be sick for a few days but it wasn't life threatening or a need to go to a dr. But I still felt worse than anything.

    This morning he felt much better. He was acting like his normal crazy self. So I gave him his medicine but made him inspect it first. He said yes, that's it and took it. 20 min. later he was back up here with the same symptoms and passed out on the couch.

    Now I knew I had given him the correct medicine this time for 100%.

    Long crazy scary story short....both times I gave him his meds he was playing Call Of Duty 4 on a new XBOX 360 that his older sister brought over 3 days ago. The first day he was fine because he was playing Madden. But both times he got sick he was playing call of duty. That has to be what is going on. The video game! I was about to bring him to the E.R. not knowing if the meds were fake (I've seen that on TV before about pharmacies getting bad meds).
  • Wow celefb,

    That sounds way more serious than what I experience. You read on video game boxes that video games can sometimes cause seizures and such. Sounds like you should get your son in for some tests if he passes out from video games. It's never been THAT bad for me.

    ...Dale
  • Sarah
    Hi all, I don't play alot of video games as a rule but got completely hooked on Guild wars. Once I'd got my head around the game and could play without stopping, I was merrily playing for several hours at a time. I played every day without too much of a problem for about a week. I just got a slight headache and sore eyes, understandable I suppose. Then, after a heavy night of playing Guild with many mssions completed, I woke with a mild headache feeling a bit irritable and tired. I was regretting spending so much time on the game. I went off to work but within and hour or two of being there I experienced the most intense attack of vertigo. I was unable to stand up so I lay on the floor while a sensation of very fast spinning over took my whole body. I felt like I was falling and spinning all at the same time. Thank God for my colleagues who stayed with me, holding my hand and talking to me through it. After a couple of minutes it stopped, I did not feel particularly sick, just absolutely terrified! It took me three days to really get over the shock but in fact, I felt mildly 'off balance' for about four months. I noticed that even short periods of playing this game gave me weird sensations in my head, mild 'falling over' sensations. I also get a little motion sick.
    Now, I limit any play of this game and Guitar Hero (my other favourite) to 30-45mins at the most. I had a brain scan and balance testing because I felt there was something seriously wrong with me, like a brain tumour of something.
    I think we should all be careful of potential 'side effects' when playing these very sophisticated and fast paced games. I am so greatful that I wasn't crossing the road or driving at the time I suffered this attack. The consequences are unthinkable.

    Don't get me wrong, I am not against gaming I'm just sharing my experience. Our brain and the various mechanisms that these games affect are undoubtedly very powerful and can fool our whole body into experiencing every sensation of movement and action. I think that it would be helpful for the game producers to give gamers a little warning about this as well as the epilepsy one.
    Thanks for reading...all the best!
    Sarah.
  • Peter
    Sarah! that happened to me exactly the same, only i was in Gimnastic class and i thought i had just pushed myself too far on the acrobatics but apparently not, the spinning sensation and the lack of control and balance specially, i mean it didn't even hurt at all it was just, sooo weird, i kind of laughed for a few seconds. I guess i was so scared and confused i laughed. Ever since that day i cannot roll or spin for more than a few tiny seconds or i fall flat on the floor and lose all my balance.
    Strangely enough, the night before i had been playing games till it was 4 am and had to wake up at 7.
  • Tay
    well i've been trying to play Call of Duty 4...but after 15 mins of playing i dont know why, but i get nausea. and the thing is that i was enjoying the game. the thing is that this only happens when i play this game... i don't understand it because i wanna keep playing but when this happens i have to stop.

    what can i do to enjoy this game without getting nausea?
    Help
  • Tay, I don't think there is an answer.

    Some games make some people sick/naseous and others don't. I personally get dizzy/nauseous playing many games (as you can see above) but I had no problems with Call of Duty 4.

    You might see if you can change your Xbox 360's video settings. I know that higher frame rates make me less dizzy. But your video settings are probably already optimized for your TV. You could also try playing the PC version (or its demo) and/or a PS3 version if possible to see if the issue you are having is console specific or unique to this game.

    Wish I could help more. One of the reasons I posted this post is in hopes of starting this kind of a discussion so that people can figure out what specifically makes them dizzy/nauseous. In my case it seems to be the Unreal and id Tech engines almost always make me sick.

    ...Dale
  • William
    While playing Psi-Ops and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic on my PC I've begun to feel sick and dizzy so I stopped playing, as a rule, games like that go into my storage box never to be played again:-{
  • Shanaka
    I face the same problem with COD4... i sometimes do get dizzy after playing games which has the valve engine for like 2 hours but in COD4 case, its more like 10 mins. GOW was awesome though.. i didn't have any problem with that....
  • Nathan
    I just stubled upon this website while looking for more people who have the troubles that I do.

    Wow I did not know there were so many, from the minor searching I have done, it is said to be at most 3% of the population can be effected by changing light patterns and contrasts, (strobes). (appears much higher than that)

    This is called the Bucha effect and was discovered in the 1950s when the government was investigating rising non hardware failure related helicopter crashes. The pilots were being strobed by sunlight hitting the rotors and disorienting the pilots.

    I would love more information on this, if any doctors / medical professionals have input.

    Half life 2 is the worst game for me. by far. the first levels arent so bad, but outside or any water refelctions in that game is instant nausea.

    GTA4 also has its moments for me. it doesnt seem to be related to frame lag, necessarily, I have played much more laggy games with no effect at all.. strange.

    I will also add, that I am more than your casual gamer. Almost every game will have some section or part or scenes that will effect people like us. (be it small part, or a large part of the game) What really bothers me about this, with software laws the way they are.--- we cannot return the video games from this issue. They put the required visual epilipsey warning on the package and they are good to go.

    also, I am a PC gamer, I have not played PS3 or XBOX 360 enuff give an accurate sample.

    I have a question, how does it start for everyone else? the first indicator I get, is feeling mildly cross-eyed (im guessing that is mild onset of vertigo) and followed by instant nausea and a mild headache.
  • Nathan, for me its usually a combination of headache, dizziness and nausea. Though in some games I don't get nauseous. Some games I just get a dizzy, throbbing headache. Yet other games I could play 24 hours a day without any adverse affect.
  • Lisa
    I thought I was losing my mind now I see I'm not alone. It has been a recent thing for me to get sick when playing games. I have tried to play Oblivion, Silent Hill, Call of Duty 4 and Tomb Raider all on the PS3 and end up feeling so sick I go to bed and take a nap. I experience headache, shakiness, nauseousness, and feel completely drained within 15 min. I haven't had this problem with Splinter Cell or Metal Gear 4. Any thoughts?
  • Nathan
    Lisa,

    Have you tried changing the distance you sit from your TV/monitor when gaming? (or even the viewing angle?)

    Also, can you feel it creeping up on you, or is it instant wham! nasuea? For me, I generally will feel cross-eyed for a 5-30 seconds before the nasuea hits me. Some games like Half Life 2, are almost instant nausea for me.

    You say that only recently you started getting sick when playing? Has anything changed in your life recently? new medications? sleep habits? stress?

    it started for me a few years ago, (or at least thats when I noticed it) about the time half life 2 was released for PC.

    There has to be some sort of better understanding of this phenomenon (or condition is it?)

    Dale,

    you said that some games only make you dizzy versus some that cause nasuea, headache, etc. I am curious, is it consistant accross the games, I mean, does X game always cause Y effect, or does it vary for you?
  • Nathan:

    I always get the same symptoms from the same game. Like you, Half-Life 2 is a killer for me. But I like the game so much I played through it too m any times. But I couldn't play the expansion packs in the Orange Box. I wanted too but just couldn't bare it for more than 15 minutes or so.

    So, while the symptoms may vary from game to game, the symptoms I get for any given game are always the same. And, as I said, the games that don't make me sick, like all the Halos, never make me sick.

    ...Dale
  • Lisa
    Nathan,

    I can't really remember feeling ill when I played games on the PS2 just the PS3. I sit pretty far back from the t.v. as well. I do remember years ago I used to play games like messenger on the pc and that would make me feel dizzy as well. Within the first 5 min I start to feel somewhat faint and quesy almost like my blood sugar level is low. I end up taking a 2hr nap and when I wake up I feel fine. It's just strange...
  • Good point Lisa ... the feeling I get is also similar to when my blood sugar is low.
  • pepe_le_piu
    I've had the same problem for years! The first time it hit me was playing castle wolfenstien. Doom (the first one) would also make me sick VERY quickly.

    Because of this I've always been reluctant to play FPS games. However, a few years ago I owned a PC gaming center and multiplayer FPS was very popular, so I started playing again. I've included a list of the games that make me sick vs those that don't, just for comparison with your's, Dale...

    All are PC games....

    No problem with Halo 1, Alien vs Predator 2, Jedi Academy, Doom 3, America's Army.

    Some problems (slight nausea and headache after a short while) with Battlefield 2.

    SEVERE problems (heavy nausea with only a couple of minutes of play) with all Half life titles.

    My console experience has also been mixed. I can't even get close to half-life games, but I can play through hours of Team Fortress. Portal gives me slight nausea, specially in closed spaces. I can play Halo 3, but again, closed spaces are not good.

    GTA games only give me nausea when my character is walking through closed spaces... and it takes a while to hit me, it's not instantaneous.

    Finally, Oblivion is giving me serious nausea just after about 20-30 minutes of gameplay.... IN OPEN SPACES! I'm going to try inverting the Y-axis to see how that goes (I really want to play the game) and I'll post to let you know... but it's really irritating.

    One thing I haven't tried is changing my tv. My 360 is still hooked up to an old CRT TV, and I'm using that to convince my wife that we have to buy a decent LCD soon :)

    Oh, and just for the record, I get no motion sickness anywhere else... not in cars, planes, buses, trains... I've even spent 18 hours in the deep insides of a ferry between Denmark and Scotland, and never even felt dizzy. Only video games... is this the case with anyone else?
  • Nathan
    I had another thought on this. I get severe motion sickness if I try to read in a car, and from what you two were just talking about...

    perhaps it is somewhat related to environment / spacial awareness in game, not necessarily frame rate. (and also perhaps your playing enviornment [lighting, distance from TV/monitor, etc])

    Closed spaces in games are actually better than wide open to me. (to a point -- huge maps with framelag cause me issues -- the battlefield games for example)

    I am interested to see if perhaps a different monitor would help me out. I use a once top of the line Lacie CRT monitor. Inferior LCD technology in years past made me keep the CRT. With 2ms refresh times and very high contrast ratios, perhaps it is time to make the switch.

    pepe- I would think Doom3 would cause you more problems than TF2. I literally played 4 minutes of Doom3 and felt so sick I had to lay down... (worse response I have ever had to a video game) and I too can play TF2 for hours with no issues. (that game is generally bright tho, where as doom is totally dark...) which also makes me think in game and real life lighting are related to how your eyes / head react.
  • Ann
    This a very interesting site as I was researching about game playing vertigo! I'm in my mid fifties and I'm having the same problem playing the Resident Evil 4 on the Wii, it makes me very dizzy and nauseated! So much so that I only play it before bed and even at that I still feel the ill effects the next day for the better part of the day! But I love the game so much that I keep playing it and I'm trying to find ways that I can minimise the sickness thus reading your articles. I play it on a 46" LCD sitting 9 feet from it. So I'm going to try and sit further and also try inverting the Y axis I went on another site where someone said they took "ginger pills" and it worked great for them. I'll keep you posted on my results with the changes.
  • I'm glad you find the site interesting Ann. I do not think inverting the Y axis will work for you though unless that's your normal orientaiton. If you usually play with the non-inverted Y axis, inverting it will likely make you sicker. The reason it makes me sick is because I'm used to playing EVERY game with an inverted Y axis. When I can't invert, then my brain is working the opposite way that the game forces me to move - creating instant nausea. I'd be really curious if you find a "cure". I never have. There are any number of terrific games I just had to abandon because they made me too sick to play.
  • Nathan ... I too get sick while reading in a car (but not a plane). I wonder if that is another common thread between all of us that get queasy in some video games. Good point.
  • Pepe, the screen might actually be relevent. I never thought of it until now. I bought a plasma HDTV about 4 years ago and games do not bother me as much as they used to. I had thought it was that games and frame-rates had improved, but part of it could also be a MUCH better screen.

    My guess is that inverting the Y axis will make things worse for you. I note that when a controller does not act how I expect it too, that causes me to get nauseous quicker. One of the reasons I started this thread was in response to the inability to invert the Y-axis to my preference (see above). When my brain thinks/expects the screen to go one way and it goes the other way ... the stomach almost instantly starts to churn.
  • Ann
    Well I tried the axis and as you said Dale it didn't matter for me. So a week later I decided to try just for the heck of it those Ginger root pills. I thought, what do I have to loose at this point as I can't play 3 of my games I love! I took 2 pills (1100mg) and waited about 40 mins and started playing. I played for 2 hours and NO NAUSEA, just a slight headache at the end! Went to bed and got up the next morning like I had never played! I am so excited! I researched before taking and I guess ginger was used for sea sickness since the middle ages. Works for me! Just wanted to share my findings I hope others can benefit too.
  • Wow, other than Halo, I don't know if there would be any game I'd care that much about to try taking pills over. Where did you get the ginger pills? GNC, a health-food-store?
  • Chris Smith
    Ginger is heavily used to prevent sea-sickness. I know you have to take motion-sickness pills an hour or so before they take effect. It would be interesting to see if Damomine or dome sort of motion-sickness pill does the same thing. Ginger would be healthier though.
  • Steve
    I have been an avid video gamer since 1986. I've been strictly been a Nintendo guy when it comes to owning games, but I have played other systems' big games, such as halo and whatnot. I had never gotten nausea or headaches once in my entire life. I could play Metroid Prime 1, 2 and 3 all day everyday and it wouldnt bother me. Yesterday, I bought Resident evil 4 for the Wii. It is the first RE game I've ever played. Yesterday and today, after putting in a little time in on the game, I have never had a worse headache and my eyes have never been as sore as they are right now. I took 4 excedrin extra strength. No help. I'm in the dark and wearing sunglasses right now because the computer screen is too bright for me. I don't think I'm going to be able to finish the game. It's absolutely ridiculous how bad it is. I can actually feel my eyes hurt while I'm playing.
  • Ha! As I said above, Steve, all RE games are the poster-child for on-rails naseau. I'm not surprised that one caused you problems. I've never played Metroid Prime - don't own a Wii (though I owned an N-64 a long, long time ago). I think age could also be an issue. Not sure.
  • Steve
    I have an old Sony Trinitron CRT tv that I'm going to play Wii Resident evil:4 on tomorrow to see if it still hurts my eyes. I'll keep you posted.
  • I look forward to hearing the results. Changing the TV hasn't made any difference to me in the past.
  • eruult
    HELLO my comments for nauseous video games. I'm a 3D animator in Mongolia. Played games since childhood. And i probably know what makes nauseous. This is the right answer i guess. This is mostly the Frame Rate not pixels. They say human eye can receive 24 frames per second properly. But most games have 60fps and even more. Because of the high frame rate, your brain got tired before even your eyes get tired. So most people get nauseous. Only GAMERS don't feel like that i think.
  • eruult, I think the opposite is more likely. Older games had fewer frames per second, newer games have more. It's the older games that give me problems. I don' know this for sure, but the MORE my eyes are given, the easier it seems on my head.
  • dizzybee
    i completely understand nausea in video games. some that come to mind for me are:
    Call of Duty 4 for PC, Bioshock for PC, Half-life 2 for PC, Resistance 2 for PS3, God of War for PS2. your list seems very good. i do know why it occurs, and i know the problem is going away these days.
    Bad Company and GTA4 for PS3.. would not be on the list for me.
  • Shows how different people are eh? Of all the PC games you list I have only played one of them on the PC and that is Half-Life 2. It's a poster child for nausea for me on any platform. But, except for Bad Company & GTA4 which only caused mild dizziness, none of the others you list, when I played them on the 360 or PS3, have made me sick. I'm good with each of CoD4, BioShock, Res2 and GoW.

    I'm playing Prince of Persia right this moment. It's so like Tomb Raider, but so UNLIKE Tomb Raider on the sickness scale. I could play this 24-7 and never get sick.
  • Kyle
    Hello everyone. I stumbled across this and decided to post my input for all. I'm in my early 20's and have played video games all my life. They never bothered me once. I could play gameboy in the car, I could sit for hours with a console, same with pc. But almost a year ago I started feeling really sick. Like to the point where I was sick to my stomach and had a bad headache. My history is playing all kinds of games, mostly RTS for PC like the C&C franchise with no problem. I played all consoles all types of games with no problems. I've had the same CRT 27" tv for a long time and played 360 on it since release with no problem. Then I started CoD4 (& now 5) about a year and a half ago with no problem, then things started to change. I was feeling crappy during play but I never thought it was the games. Then I bought xblive and was only able to play for 30 Min and I would be just sick I had to lay down. It's been the same until this day. A few hours ago I played cod5 on ps3 network on a 42" plasma and quit in about 5 min. I've felt like crap since and that was about 7 hrs ago. It seems no matter what game, what tv, what console, no matter distance or anything I get sick now no matter what. Except, I can watch tv no problem, movies at the theatre, Internet use, long times at the computer for work an no problem. This puzzled me so I thought back to changes and I can think of one medication I started when this did, around the same time. It's a SSRI to replace another SSRI I was on. I'm going to try to switch that, and also I talked to an eye doctor and she recommended crizal lenses for eye glasses. They supposedly cut glare by 99% she told me people use them when they are at a monitor for long times or night driving. I might try both of those, I'm also interested in the Ginger pill. I would hope this isn't permanent cuz I want to game again soon!! Thanks dr listening to my rant! Hope eveyone feels a little bit better!
  • Wow, that's sad Kyle. Please let us know if things improve and how. I think aging is probably relevant to all this. I wasn't a gamer until the original Halo came out back in 2001. That means I was 36 before I ever played any video game. So, I don't know if my being younger would have made things better. I doubt glare is the issue though. As for me, its always game specific. As mentioned above I'm probably 20 hours into Prince of Persia and I feel no nausea or headaches of any kind.
  • Jen
    I was searching for answers to my game induced nausea and found you guys here with the same problem. I have this issue sometimes playing WOW or other games of the like. It doesn't happen every single time...but when it does happen I suffer from terrible neasea and headache.
  • jpmist
    I get mild dull headaches the day after playing ResEvil 5 on my PS3 thru a Sony 46" DLP. Took me months to make the connection between the headaches and the game playing.

    I have to wonder if the picture being highdef actually makes it harder to look at. The high level of detail can be somewhat harsh at times. And with it all in constant motion, it makes for a lot of detail for your brain to process for long periods of time.

    Another possible reason for the headaches is that when one is playing one tends to keep their head and neck and shoulders ridgidely still for long periods of time without a break. That's bad for the circulation to your brain as tense neck muscles inhibit blood flow. I might try standing up to play and see if anything changes. . .

    I don't experience any nausea, jut the low dull headache aspirin can't touch. I'm gonna try to see what resolution adjustments I can make to see if the situation changes any. Sorry to see you've had problems, but glad to see I'm not the only one affected.
  • jpminst.

    All things being equal, for me the higher the resolution (and more importantly, the higher the framers per second) the lower the probability of getting nauseous.

    As stated above I have not played Res5 because of its horrible reviews. Again, of all the game I've ever played, the earlier Resident Evil Games were the absolute worst at giving me instant headaches and it was because the game gave me some degree of control over the camera but was constantly trying to wrestle control away and center the camera. Does Res5 do that. If you are looking, say, to the left, and you move forward and let the controls go, does the game recenter the camera. Does it do this, or try to do this as you are trying to look elsewhere. If so, my bet is that that is the reason this game is making you sick.

    Also, do you get headaches playing any other game, or just this one? For me, any game that fights me with camera control will give me a headache and nausea pretty quickly.

    ...Dale
  • LfN
    Hi,

    I have a Wii and an XBox 360 and have never had a problem with nausea or headaches with any of the games I've played (fps included). I just bought a DS lite, however, and I've noticed that my eyes and stomach feel funny...
  • LfN
    Oh... Any hope that I will get used to my DS Lite or is that that?
  • LfN, I've never owned a DSLite. My gaming experience is limitd to PC gaming, the N64, the original Xbox, Xbox 360 and the PS3 (though I have played PS2 games like God of War on my PS3).

    In my experience it is not the platform that causes the dizziness, its particular games. Try a few other games, especially games of different genres, from different developers using different game engines, on your DS Lite and report back. I'll be curious to hear the results.

    What game(s) is/are causing your ailments?
  • Joel
    Me too, I bought one a year or so ago, and I can play for about two hours, then I get some serious nausea. Not too bad for two hours, but I wih I could go longer.
  • jpmist
    I don't get sick, and I never had problems playing RE4 on Wii. The problem, I think, is the Sony DLP tv I have combined with the 1st person shooter format of RE5.

    Ordinarily, I never get sea-sick, or car-sick, and the curious thing is that there is a lag between the time I play the game and when the headache pops up. Usually, I'll get the headache the day after I play the game the previous night.

    My theory is that the DLP puts a too great a stress on the brain to 1) average all the colors together, 2) to resolve all of the sharp detail that RE5 has in the background. First person shooters are more burdensome than other games because the entire field of vision is always moving.

    I'm still experimenting. I may be able to play the game on a regular SD CRT set. It may well be the Sony DLP set itself that I can't tolerate.
  • Have you tried using a different connector to your DLP? Some people notice differences with different connectors. I've never used a DLP TV so I don't really have any suggestions. Have you tried playing with a different TV. Let us know how it goes if you do.

    ...Dale
  • Furious Kevin Harrison
    Hi everyone! this article is exactly what I was looking for. I am 32 years old and have been playing games for a very long time. I have never experienced this dizzyness until 1994. I had purchased an Atari Jaguar along with games Aliens Vs. Predator and Doom, now before this I was the kind of person that got motion sickness in planes, trains and boats, heck I hated being a passenger in any car period! So I was constantly on dramamine. Within 15 to thirty minutes of playing these games I noticed the same feeling but it was not instantanious, it kind of crept up slowly. Starting with a slight sweat on the forhead, headache, dizzyness than nausea. But at the time I did not make the connection that it was the videogames causing this.
    Enter the sega saturn in 1995 and the playstation, with at the time mind blowing 3d graphics and virtual worlds to run around in. Robotica for the Saturn was a first gen game that was in the same mold as Doom but it had robots, anyway 6 minutes in and Im ready blow chunks all over my floor and the saturn. Other first gen games such as wipeout and legacy of kain for the ps1 caused this same effect, I started thinking that I would not be able to enjoy playing games any longer and to tell you the truth once you start feeling dizzy and nauseated you pretty much dont give a F$%K what you do as long as you lay down and get better.
    But over these last few years I continued playing games but I was cautious about the games I chose, i stayed away from a lot of fps games because of my "fear" and once in a while I would man up and buy a game that I know would 99% of the time induce nausea on me but I had to play these games.
    Half-Life almost Killed me, it was a gift from my brother for my computer and by the time I got it, it was old news by 2-3 years but its one of those games that were revolutionary and had to be played. I honestly played 15 min worth before totally giving up. But Halo 3 I can play all day without a problem.
    FarCry 2 is another game that was slow to creep up on me.
    Call of duty 4, not so much 98% of the time I was fine but if a flash grenade went off and i was running in-game i felt dizzy and i had a headache.
    Prey was 10 Minutes before stopping
    Fear I played through but I had to adjust the bobbing up and down to zero before continuing
    Grandtheft Auto Series - Forget it 10 Minutes tops before I want to spew.
    Another thing I noticed was that I could not watch other people Play FPS games as this was an almost instant nausea attack.
    I sometimes take some dramamine before i start playing to help with this motions sickness and it works most of the time. But I am still to scared to try it with Half-Life.
    Thanks for letting me share.
  • Hey Kevin,

    Thanks for checking in.

    It seems you and I get sick playing pretty much the same games - except GTA4 which I had no problem with.

    You could adjust the bobbing up and down in FEAR 2? Gosh, I wish I knew that. I couldn't find a way to do that.

    My suggestion. Rent a game before buying. If you don't get sick and enjoy the game, you can buy it. You'll save a lot of money that way. This is pretty much how I play all games now - especially since my local Game Shack has a stellar rent-to-own program they have with used games that makes gaming REALLY affordable. If I like the game I keep it. If I don't like the game I return it within 7 days and pay only $5.

    ...Dale
  • Gary Jones
    I used to have very bad dizziness, headache, stomach ache and a cold sweat "so bad I had to lie on the floor till they passed" which stopped me from being a 3d games programmer over 20 years ago, I just couldn't test my game for more than 2 minutes. Hence I have not played or written any 3d games since but have over the years wondered if it was a middle ear travel sickness type ailment and if it is then do ordinary travel sickness pills cure it, also are they safe to take long term?
    Gary
  • Gary, I think what causes sickness is different from person to person. There do seem to be some common themes though. I do think that motion sickness is related to video game sickness for sure. Some have mentioned above that motion sickness pills do help them. I haven't tried. I figure video games aren't important enough to me to take pills over. And, for me, frame rate issues and game engines are improving so much that the issue is falling away as games get more graphically sophisticated.
  • Furious Kevin Harrison
    Dale,

    It puzzles me that there isn't more information on this matter. I believe there has to be a connection between standard motion sickness and videogame induced ones. The reason why I believe this to be true is because the feeling is virtually the same. Sea sick, car sick, I mean I have had many, many years of getting I'll everytime I was a passenger. Now in the 15 years that I've been driving I have not had motion sickness but if I'm a passenger then I do. I figured the reason behind it was because I as a driver knew when I was braking and hitting the gas as opposed to a passenger who wasn't prepared for sudden braking. Now videogames that I mention above that caused me this same feeling like halflife 1 and 2 ( and most recently ) the darkness for my 360, have certain elements in the game or game engine itself that literally makes me sick. F.e.a.r 1 had these same elements, such as the bobbing up and down as you walked. The darkness has this motion when you walk that mildly sways side to side and it feels like your "floating" this killed
    me. Now comparable games that don't get me dizzy 98% of the time such as the call of duty series, yet there is slight movements in there that should make me dizzy but don't, so I wonder if it comes down to the game engine itself that might be behind it. I also understand that everyone is affected differently by different games for those of us that get dizzy that is, but I have noticed a trend in the posts above when it comes to the halflife games (which is run on the source engine), seem to induce Nausea more than others. Although certain games that are run on the Id engines or unreal engines make me just as sick I am able to play through most of them. I think it would be interesting to see just how many people that have posted or will post, have comparable problems with certain games basically a list of games that people have gotten sick with and percentage tally. Personally this is a very interesting subject for me and I am curious as to why it only affects a certain number of people and others are immune to it, my brother for example has no issues and it makes me wonder.
  • I only ever got car sick, or train sick when I was trying to read. Otherwise, if I was looking out the window I never got sick. I thought that had to do with the book swaying back and forth and it being hard for my eyese to stay focused on what I was reading. That 'seems' similar to a swaying, bobbing, floating character in a game.

    I would certainly like to see other people's lists of games that make them sick - especially if they could rate which games made them the most sick.

    I have made my list above and have added to it several times since I started this post - and will continue to add to it as new games make me sick or I remember old one's. I think that is a good idea Kevin.
  • Amber
    I have the same problem!
    Madden football doesn't give me a headache on PS2,
    however Tony Hawk skating does.
  • I found this page through google after a discussion of the same topic. I have the same problem you do, but I'm a little more clear on the causes of my nausea and dizziness when in game-play.

    Number 1 and biggest issue is lack of PERIPHERAL VISION. I can't see to the right and left of me at all and until I tried playing some of these games, I never quite understood how much I really use my peripherals. Getting closer to a screen so I can tune out the unmoving sides helps on games where I can zoom out a little, like Fable for Xbox of Zelda for N64. Still, I develop a headache after about 20 minutes.

    I do however notice that I can get used to the game setting, but once I do and I get up and walk away from the tv, I'm suddenly nauseas and a bit dizzy and literally having issue focusing on things and walking in straight lines. My depth perception completely fails me.

    This helped me feel like less of a failure as a gamer, for sure. I'm constantly getting pushed over because I can't play this or that game because of the display. First Persons are always out of the question, my eyes begin to water within seconds. Now, at least, I know I'm not alone in my pain haha..

    Hope you find a solution. I'll be googling to see if you ever post one.
  • Well this is very interesting Ali. I had never thought of peripheral vision being an issue. I moved from my Xbox to my Xbox 360 at pretty much the same time I moved from an old square 4x3 CRT to a larger 42" flat screen 16x9 plasma TV. This, by definition, gives me more peripheral vision. This may partially account for why I feel less nausea then I did when I played Xbox games (among other reasons discussed above).

    I do site pretty close to my plasma TV - about 8 to 10 feet away. I don't know how to test this because I really wouldn't want to be much further away or closer. Where I sit is about right for the size of my TV.

    I've never notices peripheral vision being an issue for sure, but now that you mention it, I'll keep it in the back of my mind when assessing games that cause me nausea in the future.

    ...Dale
  • Wow, lots of people here getting nausea from games. Good to know I am not alone.

    I recently bought a PS3, but more for blu-ay than the gaming. I have a few games, and here is the experience:


    Burnout Paradise City: No problems
    Baja Edge of Control: Slight nausea
    Call of Duty 4: Holy cow, I thought I was going to pass out
    Battlefield 1943: I was about to vomit

    No clue what causes it. I use to play counter-strike (PC) for years, no problems. Counter-strike Source would give me some issues.

    I do get car sick at times.

    I wonder if a motion sickness medicine would help?
  • But for your counter-strike point, I would have thought shooters make you sick. I'm wondering if the consoles make you sick in some way that the PC does not. Some commenters have found that Dramamine (a motion sickness remedy) helps. I"ve never tried it. I could play any of the Call of Duty games on my 360 all day and never get sick.
  • I ended up trying Dramamine, and it seemed to work. I played Battlefield 1943 for quite a while, until I was too tired to stay awake any longer.

    I'll try it with Call of Duty 4 and see how that goes

    (these are both on the PS3)

    Thanks
    Shannon
  • djozzyo
    sorry to say, but this happens alot to me also, and i found out that I have a problem with the my equalibrium, its called vertigo, i notice having problems latter after the games focousing on my right eye, because i dont have 20 20 vission i tend to feel dizzie and because my hearing is also bad on my left side it tends to cause an emblance, the nausea comes from being dizzy, go see an eye doctor and have your ears checked at the same time, knowing what I know now about my emblance gives me a chance to chang the volume on my amp and moving away from the screen helps a lot.
    but there isnt much that can be done about it, see your doctor first before trying any of these ideas, what works for some, dont always work for others. fix the balance on your tv or stereo, and move back from the screen it may help some. see wicth side your hearing is better and fade the louder to the side were hearing is poor got it?
  • Humm ... I think vision could be a problem for people that become nauseous with every game, but for people like me, where I get nauseous playing only certain games, while others I could play round-the-clock without getting sick, it can't be eye problems - or I'd get sick with every game. But its certainly something to consider if you get sick playing any game.

    On the topic of Vertigo:

    http://www.daleisphere.com/vertigo-1958/

    :)
  • I’d like to share a few thoughts.

    First, a question: is this at all related to the epilepsy/seizure warnings on gaming packages? That was my first thought (years ago) but the symptoms described are actually completely different (e.g. http://www.microsoft.com/games/home/photosensit...) so I’m guessing the answer is “no.”

    As to my own experience: I could never play Half-Life because of this condition. However, CounterStrike, based on the engine, never gave me any problems at all. Now that Half-Life 2 came out I was eager to play it but it had the exact same problems as Half-Life.

    However, and here comes the interesting bit: I’m using a mac so to play HL I’ve got two options: either boot the parallel Windows installation, or start Windows in a virtual machine from inside OS X. DirectX does actually work in the virtual machine and the speed is halfway decent so I *can* play HL inside the virtual machine, albeit with lower graphics settings that require special hardware features/drivers (in particular, no HDR, no fancy water reflections …). Inside the virtual machine, I don’t experience dizziness, even after hours of playing.

    I haven’t yet discovered the deciding factors that differ between these two settings. Perhaps someone has an idea? My experience with running HL2 in a virtual machine somewhat disprove the hypotheses that this is related to general motion sickness and/or absence of peripheral vision I guess …
    Likewise, I believe it would be too simple to blame water reflections since (for me at least, and as far as I can tell) the effect also exists for parts of the game without reflecting surfaces. It also fails to explain the differences between HL1 and CounterStrike. It might help to know the exact differences between running the game natively versus in a VM, and the technological differences between HL1 and CS.
  • I don't think it has anything to do with seizures. I have never felt anything like a seizure. Just dizziness, headaches and nausea.

    Have you tried Half-Life 2 outside of the Mac. It could be that the HL2 engine is better for you than the HL1 engine and maybe not the lower graphics settings. Game egnines almost always change between versions of games - especially, as with the Half Life franchise, many years pass between releases.

    I never played HL1. I just know HL2 makes me ill.
  • I hope game developers stumble upon this page and do more research on what makes people sick when the play games.

    I got dizzy/nausea from Deus Ex 1, the early Doom engine games (Hexen, heretic, doom 1 and 2), Uncharted for PS3, Killzone 2, and Resistance PSP. I've been fine with everything else though, just about.

    Some people I know can play Uncharted with no problems, but then can't stand FPS games due to sickness issues. What the heck is going on??
  • Yes, it is surprising how there seems to be no consistency between people. I too got dizzy sick from Deus Ex, and Doom as you did, but had no problem with Killzone or Uncharted. Go Figure!
  • EnaB
    Ugh, dude feel for you, literally. Many of the games you listed, when I play, I get the exact same thing. Especially Call of Duty and Resident Evil.

    Another thing, I never realized that the "partial camera control" could be a reason, but now I think about it, when games are like that, I too get extremely dizzy. In fact, today I finally, bought The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and was extremely excited to try it. In fact, I greatly enjoy it, however, while you can center your screen with a button, the camera still moves by itself, especially when moving. I had to constantly wrestle the camera to point it forward, which I doubt is helping my dizziness at all. As such, I was only able to play for an hour before I had to stop, due to the extremity of dizziness.

    Also, about 6-7 years ago, I used to play a game avidly, and I had no problems, in fact I don't think I had ANY problems with any games. However, I went to Calgary, AB to visit some relatives and we went to the Calgary tower. Despite not being too tall, when the elevator was rising, I had my ears pop (from the differentiation of air pressure from rising to the top of the tower) for the FIRST time in my life. Right when it happened, I instantly felt nauseous and collapsed. Afterwards when i went back home, whenever I played that game I began to feel nauseous after 10 minutes or so, and so i stopped play.

    Also, to the post about reading in the car, I've always just thought of that as motion sickness. I naturally get sick if sitting in a car for more than 4 hours, and so I just thought that when i was reading, my eyes were focused on a book, but the whole car was, so my balance was off since my focal point was not synced with the movement, as such I have found that looking at the landscape far away helps a lot.

    Anyway, it's good to know there are others out there :) *Goes to try and play twilight princess again*
  • What was the game you played after the elevator experience - 'avidly'? Have you played it since? Does it still cause nausea or was that a one time experience.

    I'm glad to see someone else experiencing nausea from lack of camera control. It's not just me.
  • EnaB
    Haha it was Gunz by ijji. The game involves a lot of screen movement. Yea I still get nauseous from it.

    Btw someone mentioned getting headaches from guild wars. I've been playing for 4 years and I haven't had any problems but after reading your post, ridiculously enough I got a headache. But I think it was just aftereffects from twilight princess or my mind TRYING to make it seem so after reading your post.
  • nicolep27
    I just bought a PS3 today and rented Little Big Planet from the video store. After an hour of play, I got extremely nauseous and end up running for the bathroom to vomit. I have felt dizzy ever since then. I have only experienced this once before with a video game and that was Spyro. I don't play a lot of games. Everyone I have told before say they have never heard of this so I am glad to know I am not alone but wish there were a way to keep it from happening. I really like the Little Big Planet game!!
  • The only thing that other have suggested that works for them is Dramamine. I've not personally used it becaues there is no video game worth taking a pill for in my mind. But you could try it. Otherwise, I think those of us that get dizzy etc. from games will just have to live with it. :(
  • Hoe
    Omg i aggree that Resident Evil 5 make people nausea i can't stand it for 5min keep turning to aim -_-
  • EnaB
    And spyro! A lot of people I've read had problems with spyro. You'd think maybe after all this time they'd change something about their games
  • With all of these reported problems, you think Video Game company would produce more games which didn't make folks so nausea.
  • noxiousoffender
    I've never come across anyone else with my problem. It's especially prominent with call of duty games. I don't play GTA but my husband does and it makes me sick just being in the same room. That's why I stick to playing dr.mario on my gameboy.
  • You raise a new issue noxious. That of 2nd hand nausea. I get nauseous frequently if I watch other people plat - most any game. The reason, I suspect, is I don't have control of the stick. I am trying to look one-way while the player moves the camera another way. To me this is a variation of the lack of camera-control issue I discuss above. When the camera moves in unpredictable or undesirable ways, that's instant headache for me.
  • noxiousoffender
    On a positive note, my husband made me play World of Warcraft and it didn't make me dizzy at all. However, I was frustrated that I had to push a different key for every direction instead of just moving a stick around. I was banging the keyboard because I couldn't remember which letter was for what.
  • Well, that's a WHOLE NEW TOPIC! :) I've never enjoyed PC gaming. But, I don't want to start a war here, so I'm going to sheepishly back away and hope nobody here starts throwing brickbats at me!
  • noxiousoffender
    The frustration is just a result of me not being able to remember anything. I've never liked computer games either, except Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit which only used the arrow keys.
  • addy
    The first game that made me dizzy and nauseous was Deus Ex. I remember feeling very excited and couldn't wait to install the game on my PC. Installation was succesful without any issues and i started playing. After about one hour of play, the nausea hit me. I just couldn't look at the screen moving without feeling like throwing up my lunch. On top of that , I had this nagging ,dull thudding in my head , kind of like when you have too much coffee or smoke too many cigarettes in short time. That was it , my acquaintance with Deus Ex ended right there and the CD was relegated to the confines of my desk drawer. It was a pity , I was really getting into the game and mentally calculating how many levels would i be able to negotiate in three or so hours i had with me.

    Return to castle wolfestein: With deus ex , i could manage about an hour without feeling the effects but RTCW was a different story. I could barely manage 20 mins before i got the spins and the nausea associated with it. I just had to lie down or risk emptying the remnants of my breakfast onto my monitor.

    I have also noticed that this happens more often with First Person Shooters, third person perspective doesn't make me feel that way. I have played the Hitman series , Splinter cell etc without any issues.

    One exception is Counter Strike. It has never made my dizzy even though its a FPS. Anyway , glad to know that there are others like me!
  • We both shared the Deux Ex and Wolvenstein sickness! :) But you felt it on the PC and I did on the Xbox. I'm hoping to play the latest Wolvenstein in the next month or so (despite tepid reviews). I'm hoping that as with most games that caused me sickness in the past that their game engines have improved enough so that I don't get sick.

    As an update. I just finished ODST campaign mode. Not a drop of nausea all the way through.
  • EnaB
    Yea the ODST gave me no problems either.

    @ Addy I have problems with fps too,but splinter cell does affect me. And counter strike condition zero does as well, yet source doesn't. And battlefield 2142 does and not bf2. It hardly makes sense but yea...
  • This is a great discussion! I've always had problems with games that have first-person views of an immersive environment, even the old Might and Magic games (VI and onwards). I have trouble with Deus Ex and Silent Hill too, just to name a couple that other posters brought up. After a while of playing almost any first-person view I have to go and lie down on the floor. I only play on PC, and I have the same problems whether with CRT or LCD, older games or newer.

    I do have some theories about the cause of the nausea which I'd like to share. One is to do with the lack of physical motion that a few people already brought up before. I never have nausea or dizziness in gaming arcades, and I think it's because the arcade machines allow players to move their bodies in tune with what's happening on the screen. Some of the articles I read suggest that the nausea comes about because the vestibulocular reflex is suppressed while playing FPS. That's the reflex which synchronizes eye and head movements - both are supposed to move together, but apparently only one or the other moves while playing on PC or console, and so people become disoriented.

    Another one is the lack of a focal point and peripheral vision, as someone brought up as well. I noticed that if my character is holding something in its hands that's visible, I'm less likely to become dizzy and nauseated. Similarly if I'm playing something like American McGee's Alice, which shows a first-person view of the movement but with the character just in front of you as if you're looking over its shoulder, I don't become dizzy so easily. And also for views with large sidebars, like the Might and Magic series. This one also goes back to the vestibulocular reflex, where the eye continues to focus on something even while the head is moving. Because the entire view moves, the thing being focused on is snatched out of line of sight, creating disorientation because there's nothing left to focus on - unless there's a fixed item of significant size in or around the centre of the screen, like an equipped weapon. Targeting crosshairs and small indicator bars apparently aren't large enough.

    (Just for interest, the Final Fantasy battle environment seems to support this. If the camera view is allowed to move automatically, it swings in ways that should give people major motion sickness, but don't - because it's always focused very sharply on the current character.)

    I'm not sure about frame rate as that apparently differs by individual vision, as well as being affected by things like myopia, astigmatism or presbyopia. Those conditions can account for eyestrain and headaches though. Also for me, resolution doesn't seem to make a difference. (I mean, Might and Magic?)
  • Interesting stuff Mint.

    Others have also said that first person and third person viewing makes a difference. I've never correlated my being sick to first or third person view. I can get sick in either view and I can be fine in either view.

    So there has NEVER been a first person game that you have been able to play without getting sick? I notice that if I'm in a first person view I get sick when the character bobs up and down while walking. But in Halo, for example, Master Chief doesn't bob, so I don't get sick in first person view.

    Another thing I forgot to mention in my original post. I have monocular vision:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocular_vision

    My eyes do not work together and never have. My left I follows my right and I use it for peripheral vision but I only use my right eye. If I close my right eye, my left eye has perfect vision, but when the right eye is open it becomes subservient. A side affect of this, for example, is that I can't see 3D movies like others can. It never occurred to me until now that that could be part of my problem.

    But then again, as I've said above, as games get better and better and frame rates increase, the probability of my getting sick has decreased dramatically as the years pass.
  • Name
    Geeze sounds familiar!There are some games I just CANNOT play.I get so sick that I will actually throw up if I dont stop in time.
    Grand Theft Auto (a couple of them actually) is one for me too.Jak 3(havent played any of the other jak and Dexter games) is horrible.
    For me it is the ones that,like you say,take a bit of (or a lot) control over the camera manuevering away from me.
    It sucks.I love playing games and the ones that kill me.....seriously render me incapacitated for a good 20 minutes trying to regain my focus and non-upset stomach!!!
  • Name
    Oh yeah,elaborating on my comment directly below.when I hit a spot in a game when it starts happening-it happens like-instantly.I have very little warning.I am just all of a sudden spinning ferociously.For a few days at least after a serious episode(for lack of a better word) I will be more vulnerable to feeling dizzy and off balance.Sometimes later in the day I am also irritable and edgy/impatient.Im normally mellow so these mood shifts stand out.
    Its really disconcerting.I refuse to play games the make me feel like that-I no longer even try.My boyfriend has no problems and tries to encourage me to give it another shot.....but it never works so I dont anymore.if anything,it makes it even worse.
    Im glad Im ot alone in it.I have found a local gamer shop though who will give me a very very fair price for my second hand never played games if this occurs.bonus!they are not unfamiliar with this apparently!
  • If I get woozy, like you it can last for hours after putting the game down. I don't think my sickiness lasts beyond that day though. But the longer I play feeling woozy, the longer that feeling will stick around after I put it down.
  • tobykilroy
    Wow! I can't believe how many people suffer with this!
    I've been having problems with Guitar Hero III and World Tour, both on PC and Nintendo Wii. Even if I play for only 5 minutes the head spin comes on. Sometimes straight away other times it may take up to half an hour from the time I finish. It seems that the longer I play, the longer it takes to come on but the harder it hits.
    I'm deffo trying those ginger pills!
  • Hi,

    I suffered from the same illness, basically any game where the background moves at a rapid past, if I control the camera movement by not moving it around too much that makes it better but usually takes all the fun out of the game.

    I'm relegated to a short list of games which for years was fine with me, because all I played was Madden, DMC, MSG. Well the last MSG changed a lot and I can no loner play that series. It just stinks because some of the games which come out I'm in love with but I simply can't play and yes I break out into a cold sweat and I usually don't feel well for the rest of the day. I guess we're in a minority as the majority of games seem to continue to come out with rapid camera/background movement.

    Lucky for me the true Beauty, you know the console savers Like DMC and God of War having slower background. You think there would be more, I expecially love the artwork on some of these games.
  • If I'm reading between the lines, you are saying you don't get sick playing fighting games when the camera is pulled way up high and looking down on the characters Kwadi? DMC = Devil May Cry? I'm not sure what MSG is, other than an ingredient in chinese food. ;)

    That's interesting. I've certainly never got sick from that kind of game either. But fast moving backgrounds don't usually get me sick either.
  • Robert Van de Water
    Dale,

    Thanks for posting this. It is very helpful to know that other people experience the same symptoms. I do believe the x-factor is related to the refresh rate of the monitor/frame rate of the game. I used to play PC games on various monitors and the problem sometimes went away if the monitor refresh rate was 75 hz instead of 60hz.

    I had a really nasty experience with Halo3 ODST on the XBOX 360 so I was wondering if anyone else had problems with that game?
  • Ash
    Very interesting discussion you've got here. I've been playing videogames for several decades now and my only frustration comes with the FPS genre, as most of the games in that category trigger nausea, dizziness or vertigo for me, resulting in me abandoning those games.

    Funny you should mention Resident Evil, since I love that series, but I never had problems with RE1 to RE3, mainly because I think those titles had 3D characters on pre-rendered, static backgrounds. I started having problems with RE4, since everything, including the backgrounds, were in full 3D. RE5 is worse, and I can only play it in 15-30 minute increments, which just sucks.

    The Grand Theft Auto series for the PS2 also induce motion sickness after playing for about 10 minutes or so. However, I'm happy to say that I have no problems whatsoever playing the GTA games on a PSP, which makes me wonder--is it the size of the screen or the distance of the screen to your eyes?

    Other PS2 games that made me really dizzy include the first Kingdom Hearts game, and Katamari Damacy. I have astigmatism, wear glasses, and get dizzy when I try to read inside a moving vehicle, except in an airplane.
  • Funny, our shooter/RE experiences are inverted. I got motion sickness when reading on a moving vehicle when I was a child but don't any more as an adult.

    You raise an interesting point about vision. I have monocular vision, meaning my eyes don't work together - one is dominant, the other just follows the other around. I wonder if that has anything to do with the types of games that make me sick?

    ...Dale
  • Guest Appal
    Hi Dale,
    I just noticed yesterday that my son is actually developing a lazy eye, or a crossed eye after long episodes of gaming. Over the weekend he might game 8 to 10 hrs a day. I know that's too much but he excels at school and it's his most enjoyable down time. He does get in a bad mood from some games but hasn't really been getting sick.

    I first noticed the crossed eye a few months ago but just thought he was over tired. He noticed it himself yesterday when he looked in the mirror. Very upset.

    He's going to scale back to an hour a day after a few days of recovery first. He is a gamer though, but I think those days may be coming to an end. It is definetly causing an eye problem, strain, or something. But it isn't worth it. I'll be taking him to the doctor too.

    He does get sick reading while traveling and I can only look at his games a few minutes before I get motion sick. I can't watch. Time to change. It is his favorite thing and the games are great rewards for great work at school. Thanks so much for this sight and your input.

    What do you think?

    concerned
  • I am not a parent but to me letting a child play more than an hour or two in a day seems excessive. Children can get addicted to games. Parents need to set limits. As someone with a life-long lazy eye, I'm not sure that a video game will cause it. It exists. When I'm tired my lazy eye gets worse. I've had my lazy eye for 45 years - long before video games were around. You should definitely get him to an eye doctor and cut down on that video game playing. There's more to life.
  • Gerald
    I too suffer nausea from playing video games and I know of one other person who became nauseated after playing video games on one of my consoles. GTA IV has recently begun to affect me in this way. Also of particular interest, I bought a small HD Flourescent light suitable for reading and looking at it gave me a headache and nausea.
  • Nino
    Hi,

    I just wanted to reconfirm what has been said concerning Half Life 2 supposedly causing motion sickness. I just bought it last week for my Ps3 and I can't play it longer than an hour or so without feeling utterly sick.

    In fact, there is no other game I can think of right now that triggers similiar symptoms as fast and drastically as Half Life 2 does to the point where it makes me want to vomit!

    Having said that , it's undoubtedly a great game nonetheless but these symptoms still ruin much of the expirience for me I'm afraid. It's just such a turn off!

    And btw I've been playing games for almost 20 years on a constant basis without feeling bad.

    I'm no expert but my best guess would be that it might be due to the framerate and/or the camera movement!?!

    Oh and I never got nausea from other fps like Black, Bioshock , Halo or the Prime series for example!?!

    puzzling indeed!
  • Tony
    I can play Halo 3 for hours as well
    but I can only play Call of Duty for small amounts of time without getting sick.

    I don't understand why though.
  • Is that all Call of Duty versions Tony. The earlier Call of Duty versions (ie: CoD 2) would make me mildly queasy, but the latest one's both Modern Warfares, I can play all the way through without any sickness. Again, I chaulk this up to the evolution of the graphics/gaming engines.
  • Tony
    World at War was too much for me.
    Modern Warfare 2 is much better for some reason but I can't play too long.
    I still get dizzy after about an hour and a half which is a good amount of game time anyway.
  • Cos
    Hi, I've had this problem all my life as well. I've found that putting a film (two layers or so of seran wrap or the like) to dull the pixels have done wonders for me. Also, those wrap around glasses that you see old people wearing when they drive also works well, but I always feel foolish wearing them.
    I've done some research on visual acquity and game indused sickness and I was wondering if you'd be so kind to leave a response. For everyone who has this problem with gamer's sickness, do you have unusally keen observational skills. I think it might have something to do with a strange genetic trait of seeing every pixel which causes the brain to become ill with overload.
    So basically, if you get sick like this, do you have very good observational skills. I personally wear glasses, but can find Waldo quicker than anyone I've ever met.
  • Tony
    A friend of mine recommended that I wear sunglasses while I play. He said it helps him. I'm going to give it a shot.

    I'm pretty good at finding Waldo but I wouldn't know how to measure my observational skills.
  • At work I'm a Quality Control guy. I have to look over text and video and make sure there are no weird problems. My coworkers all say I have a very good eye for catching stuff. And I do get simulation sickness from a few games. So perhaps you're onto something.
  • Interesting theory Cos. I wouldn't say my ability to find Waldo is any faster or slower than most. But I do know I'm much better at finding patterns than others. For example, I'm often commenting to friends that this person on the TV looks like someone else we know. They usually smile and agree, having not recognized it themselves. I also have a pretty high IQ. I'm also a very visual person. I learn much more by diagrams, visual aids, drawing pictures than from hearing or reading text for example.

    Why not just turn down the brightness of the TV if putting a film or two helps. Also most modern games allow you to turn down the brightness in the game itself. Not sure what Seran Wrap would do to change how things look.

    I'm curious to see what others think of this theory. But this would be hard to test scientifically. Most people would think they are smarter, keener than most - especially gamers where being keen and having superior attention to detail leads to success in games.
  • Stephen Bolt
    Thanks for the page. I get similar problems... just nearly got ill playing Lego Batman on XBox 360.
  • guest2
    Here's my list of sickies: Half-Life2 and Bioshock (both almost instant nausea), Tomb Raider Underworld (creeping nausea), and only recently Fallout 3 (creeping nausea). I play PS3 with 47" LCD.

    Fallout 3 is a favorite, and until just recently i could play it for hours and hours with no ill-effects, but the past few times i've tried playing it made me mildly nauseous. I've played all of the GTA titles since GTA3 with no problems. I play COD4 and CODMW2 to the extreme, and they don't bother me at all. Oblivion, MGS4, Little Big Planet, all fine.

    One note: after suffering almost instantaneous nausea from HalfLife2, I did some browsing and found a Valve website that mentioned that HL2 used a constricted field-of-view, something like 15 degrees less than the standard 90 degree FOV in most games, in order to INTENTIONALLY create an unnerving sensation for the player. Seems they felt that the narrower FOV would add to the somewhat creepy ambience of the game and improve the overall game experience. Makes me wonder if tricks like these are common with other horror / creepy action type game titles, and if maybe some game developers have taken this idea too far.
  • Wow, that's a really cool new piece of the puzzle. I never thought of it. Half-Life 2 is certainly amongst the worst of the worst for me too. Though I had no problem with Bioshock. I'll certainly keep that in mind in the future.

    I should also note that I've been playing Uncharted 2: Honor Among Thieves over the last month or so and am NOT getting nauseous like I did with Uncharted 1: Drake's Fortune
  • @Dale, same here! Uncharted 1 made me sick, but not Uncharted 2.
  • Andre
    hey guys there is alot of reading to do but i dont have enough time to read them all
    if u guys can help me out i'd be happy (:
    when i play gun games i get huge headaches and my tummy feels weird too sometimes ;s do u guys know what i could do? or things to help me play longer? or whats wrong with me?
    thanks in advance!
    please email me cookiies_andre@hotmail.com
    thanks alot!
  • Andre, the only suggestion that works for some is Dramamine. Unfortunately for most of us if a game makes us nauseous there is very little that can be done other than not playing it. Or taking lots of extended breaks.
  • Andre
    i know not much we can do but i read from a site
    "Your body can get used to it after repeated sessions (a pattern of playing and getting sick, stopping, and then restarting later when you feel better until you stop getting sick entirely) when your brain finally realizes that what you are seeing and doing isn’t actually harming you. That process of getting used to it can take a while and isn’t pleasant, however. "
    http://xbox.about.com/od/buyersguide/a/vgmosick...
    that is a link to it for more info
    do u think that would work? playing and then stoping then playing?
  • guest2
    Generally if a game makes me feel sick, it tends to increase the more i play, not get better. I find that the symptoms also tend to hit me faster after the game has made me ill once, so that it becomes increasingly more difficult to stomach a bad game. Just my experience, FWIW.
  • Andre
    hey ofc every1 is intitled to there own opinion we are here trying to help each other so we can play all the games and enjoy them saddly there is some u and i and many others cannot enjoy ;3 tho yesterday i played call of duty mw 2 for a good 2 hours (i was really tired it was at night) and went well :) so im gonna try again tonight i think i gotta get my mind tired so it's lazy to imagine im the guy and not feeling the pain lmfao!
    keep posting people!!
  • I agree guest2 ... the more I play a game that makes me feel sick the worse it gets. And the 2nd and 3rd times I try it gets worst faster. Just sounds alone from a game will get associated with nausea and just hearing the sound start to make me sick - even when not playing the game.
blog comments powered by Disqus