Wing flapping causes motion sickness

[Feta.6783]

I've had this problem of the flapping of skyscales' wings causing motion sickness. It got a lot worse with SotO as more people got the mount, and with the recent update to combat AFK timer, the game is nearly unplayable to me. I've seen people complain about the AFK timer and a good amount of players replying: ''just fly up out of monsters' range''. This results in a lot of flappers in meta ''waiting'' areas. And meta events are the main thing I do on my playtime. It also doesn't seem to limit to combat areas anymore, I can't recall a day I haven't seen people flapping in cities just above a bank, a trading post, or for some reason even a waypoint. Mistlock sanctuary being pretty much the only place where I can chill and idle without the chance of getting sick.

What I am here for, is to ask if there is anything I could do? Other than just quit the game or stand in narnia away from others? Any tips, tricks, others with the same issue?

To add, I always play with the character model limit at lowest, as there isn't a ''hide all'' option. Turning and/or zooming in the camera rarely works either, as the ''wind from the flaps hits the ground'' effect can still be seen, which itself is fairly annoying to look at, and often also causes sickness.

I've also looked into modding, but that doesn't seem to be a thing in GW2 other than some UI things.

[Funky.4861]

It would be great if skyscales and their dust-billowing effect got the siege turtle visual treatment as a graphics option.

[Tsakhi.8124]

 Dramamine might be helpful.  If that doesn't help, you might ask your doctor for anti-nausea meds.

[Rogue.8235]

I'm assuming that standard models doesn't help and that it's just the same problem, just with the default texture.

Looking through the U.S. National Library of Medicine:

 

Postural activity and motion sickness during video game play in children and adults    National Kaohsiung Normal University (Kaohsiung, Taiwan). 

published to Experimental brain research, Volume 217, Issue 2, Pages 299-309 (March 2012).

There has been some validation studies which confirm a postural factor in motion sickness symptoms while engaging with video games.  Looking at the full article, there isn't anything conclusive yet (concerning specifics).  What's validated is the vestibular involvement.  

The takeaway for you is to begin noting your head/torso movement and posture while playing the game.  Experiment with yourself on limiting head/torso motion to see if there's any noticeable decrease in symptoms.  If nothing else, this is something you can try on your own with no risk of any adverse effects.

The idea of a postural factor was noted in a 2007 study, which was actually experimenting with something else and found the postural factor as a confounding variable.  This is further evidence which supports the conclusion of the 2012 study cited above.

 

Console video games, postural activity, and motion sickness during passive restraint    National Kaohsiung Normal University

published to Experimental brain research, Volume 229, Issue 2, Pages 235-242 (August 2013).

This follow-up experiment conducted by the same department at the same university validated the postural hypothesis.   Some things I noted while reviewing the paper showed a narrow variance in the physical characteristics and age of the subjects.  The reduced variance may be a confounding variable.  It also appears that the subjects may have known what the experiment was about.  Specifically, I didn't see what was specifically told to the subjects concerning the nature of the experiment.  Knowledge of what is being measured before participating in such an experiment, where the measured symptoms are purely subjective, may have influenced the study.  It's hard to tell if this is the case.  It's easy to assume that such an obvious mistake would not have been made, but the lack of any information is still troubling.

Regardless, the results are affirmatory of the postural hypothesis.

The takeaway is, again, experiment with yourself concerning head/torso movement.  Specifically, you want to limit motion.  This kind of experiment is perfectly okay.  The symptoms are subjective, and even if the placebo effect helps you feel better, that is the goal anyways.

 

T:'DR:

Limit head and torso motion while playing the game.  There is a lot of subconscious movement when playing a video game, so make a concerted effort to limit such motion.  This ties into your vestibular system.

 

Edited August 30 by Rogue.8235
found a typo