Nauseating Games

[Little Blue]

Seriously, I dunno if I'm the only one with this issue, but for years, certain games have made me feel sick as a dog.

I think these are only games where the camera is free to move wherever the hell it likes.

I first noticed it about 5 or 7 years ago when I first got Spyro the Dragon. I thought it was just the bright colours of the game and did my best to ignore the feelings of my stomach trying to crawl up my throat. (I think that after a long day of playing I actually did throw up a little bit, just a tiny bit though).

Next time I discovered this feeling was on some star trek game where I played as a Klingon in a first person shooter game. Definitely no bright colours there so I was stumped.

Then there was Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The stumpedness continues.

Now, before I go onto the latest occurance (although given what day this is, you might be able to guess), let me give some info on some example games that don't do this to me. Space Empires (as an aside, I got SEV today too ), Civilisation: Call to Power, Star Trek Armada II, and pretty much any Final Fantasy til X-2.

While the first three games all have some similarities in that they're strategy games, if one considered them alone, it would be pretty easy to draw up the conclusion that I'm allergic to games that aren't strategy games. But then there's Final Fantasy, which ruins that theory.

Then it occured to me today, while encountering this latest occurance, what a cause might be. The camera. These non-reactive games have a perspective that is more or less fixed. Sure, I can manipulate the perspective, zoom in, out swivel and so on, but when I don't mess with it, they don't change. But the reactive games do.

And guess what game I'd been looking forward to for a while and just got today also acts like this? Yes, Final Fantasy XII.

So I ask you, does any of this make sense?

Does anyone else ever get similar feelings of nautia while gaming and if so, what games cause it?

Is there any solution that could help prevent it, or at least make me feel less crappy, other than not play these games ?

[Mirage]

Try one of those pills you take to avoid motion sickness :p?

[Levian]

You know, when I saw the title of this thread I initially thought "Spyro the dragon." So I'm not the only one, eh? Good to hear. I used to feel really sick after playing the earlier Spyro games, especially Spyro 1 and 2. I rarely lasted more than 1 hour at a time with those games, but I think I got used to it after a while. I don't think it's too far fetched to think it's the color and camera combination that did it. xD pretty freak colours there, and quick camera.

I haven't had any problems like that on any other games, though. Except I do get a weird feeling whenever FFXII blurs the screen, like when you get a map or when someone joins/leaves the party.

[oddler]

Almost all games will do this. Watching TV for extended periods of time will do this. There's a warning in the first couple pages of most video game manuals concerning it. Read that mofo.

Pretty much, it says play the game. Feel weird? Take a break. Still feel weird? See a doctor.

To answer your question, no, I've never felt nauseous from gaming without actually being sick to begin with. I do have small muscle spasms every now and then but that could be because I don't eat enough bananas.

[Little Blue]

Try one of those pills you take to avoid motion sickness ?

hmm... I hadn't really thought of it as motion sickness since I don't really get motion sick while travelling, but thinking about it now, it might be that. Thanks

You know, when I saw the title of this thread I initially thought "Spyro the dragon." So I'm not the only one, eh? Good to hear. I used to feel really sick after playing the earlier Spyro games, especially Spyro 1 and 2. I rarely lasted more than 1 hour at a time with those games, but I think I got used to it after a while. I don't think it's too far fetched to think it's the color and camera combination that did it. xD pretty freak colours there, and quick camera.

Yeah, about an hour is about my tolerance too. I managed to clock up nearly three hours on XII earlier today, but I still feel slightly sick four hours after I turned it off today

Almost all games will do this. Watching TV for extended periods of time will do this. There's a warning in the first couple pages of most video game manuals concerning it. Read that mofo.

Pretty much, it says play the game. Feel weird? Take a break. Still feel weird? See a doctor.

lol, I just cba to see my doctor. It's a bloody awful trying to get an appointment. Besides, they'll probably just tell me not to play the damned things anyway which I'll ignore just like I ignore those warnings

[Disco Potato]

FFX-2 occasionally made me feel nauseous, but because of storyline issues, not the camera

Camera-wise, I tried playing Elder Scrolls IV (Oblivion) a little bit on the pc, but could never figure out how to really control the camera. It kept spinning a lot and made me feel kind of nauseous and dizzy.

[oddler]

lol, I just cba to see my doctor. It's a bloody awful trying to get an appointment. Besides, they'll probably just tell me not to play the damned things anyway which I'll ignore just like I ignore those warnings

That's your choice.

[Mirage]

Yes, I think it could be related to motion sickness. You can get motion sickness when what you can see happening doesn't coincide with what your balance organs are registering. That could very well happen when you sit in your chair, and everything in front of you moves. Especially if you've got a large TV and/or sit close to it.

[Odaisé Gaelach]

I know that PC gamers had problems with Half-Life 2 and motion sickness, so it could be something like that.

[Slothy]

This sort of explains one theory of why it happens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_sickness. It's essentially the brain getting confuzzled. It happens most often in FPS's, though it can pretty much happen in any 3D game. Thankfully, I don't have this problem so my game enjoyment is never compromised by adverse physical reactions.

[Shoeberto]

I know that PC gamers had problems with Half-Life 2 and motion sickness, so it could be something like that.

That was because, by default, it used some wonky FOV setting that wasn't standard. I think it got patched after the widespread reports of nausea.

I've never gotten motion sickness from a game.

[Frozen Phantom]

Like everyone else, I agree with the motion sickness theory. I noticed it happen to my mother when she used to watch my games when she was little, but luckly I was able to escape that curse

[Renmiri]

This sort of explains one theory of why it happens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_sickness. It's essentially the brain getting confuzzled. It happens most often in FPS's, though it can pretty much happen in any 3D game. Thankfully, I don't have this problem so my game enjoyment is never compromised by adverse physical reactions.

I get violently sick when I use those Virtual Reality helmets. Ugh!

[Vermachtnis]

Metroid: Prime and Echoes made me a little sick.

[Dragonsoul]

I get this if I try to play a first person shooter! I didn't have any signifigant problems though with the "3rd person shooter rpg" Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus. I hope not to have any problems with the upcoming "3rd person shooter rpg" Mass Effect.

I like that Wikipedia article on simulation sickness.