What is the reason for Motion Sickness inducing mechanics?

[Tuna Bandit.3786]

I am sincerely wondering.

 

I did the instance where you have to fight Estelle at the end.

The storms she produced...

I litterly had to look away from my screen because I became close to passing out.

 

I wonder why mechanics as these are in here?

When you get caught and your screen goes absolutely wild... one can expect a decent proportion of people responding physically as I did.

I cannot imagine ArenaNet not being aware of that.

 

So I wonder, how can I play these type of instances without this effect? I mean completely and utterly shut it down 100%

I love the game, but whenever this happens, I already hover over the exit button.

[Krzysztof.5973]

Those mechanics are here because they don't induce motion sickness in vast majority of people 🙂

[AgentMoore.9453]

This is me, but with the end cutscene in the Thaumanova fractal as well as a number of flashing effects and infusions located throughout the game. To my knowledge, I don't have any medical disorders related to this, I just find them intensely uncomfortable to look at.

 

The reason they're there? As Krzysztof said, the majority (or so it's assumed) don't get sick from it and they're catering to that majority. Visual noise, however, is a universally-despised aspect of the game, so I hope there is a massive QoL rework somewhere in ArenaNet's future plans that involve fixing some of it or giving us settings options so we can fix it ourselves. That said, I won't hold my breath. Where possible, bring friends with you to help you complete content so that you can safely look away when needed.

[Farohna.6247]

Turn off camera shake and look away if needed.  Best you can do, and it's very unfortunate that it makes you ill.  Definitely the minority, and some just find annoying.

[Danikat.8537]

I don't remember anyone mentioning that specific fight being a problem before, but here's some things I have heard help avoid motion sickness in GW2:

• Turn off camera shake
• Increase the field of view
• Zoom out as far as you can
• Use a ranged weapon so there's fewer effects happening right on top of you

 

Also I think if you break her definance bar it stops her casting the storm, but I may be remembering it wrong.

[Zavijah.2695]

Vertigo/Dizziness is my krytponite too, but I mainly only experience that in shooters like COD or Warframe, have never encountered that in this game or any other MMO over the years, but I acknowledge that just because that's my experience, that's not reflective of yours. 

This game is not designed to be malicious to you or anyone experiencing issues, and if these suggestions above don't improve the experience it's okay to recognise when we have limitations, and to not try to circumvent the needs of your health... for the sake of a videogame. 

look after you first, friend!

[Astralporing.1957]

Thaumanova fractal comes immediately to mind - i think that this one is the primary offender. There's also a way in which camera works in some locations, where it can suddenly zoom/unzoom (and/or suddenly cover your screen with something - i.e. an npc, or the inside of a nearby helpful wall). I also tend to have a problem with any mechanic that forces first person camera view on you - i cannot sit more than a few minutes in such mode, or i start getting vertigo. It's especially bad since most such cases are some shooting minigames, which basically require fast camera movements.

Fortunately they've reacted soon and let us disable motion blur on raptor. That one was really, really bad.

Edited July 20, 2021 by Astralporing.1957

[Dante.1763]

45 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Thaumanova fractal comes immediately to mind - i think that this one is the primary offender. There's also a way in which camera works in some locations, where it can suddenly zoom/unzoom (and/or suddenly cover your screen with something - i.e. an npc, or the inside of a nearby helpful wall). I also tend to have a problem with any mechanic that forces first person camera view on you - i cannot sit more than a few minutes in such mode, or i start getting vertigo. It's especially bad since most such cases are some shooting minigames, which basically require fast camera movements.

Fortunately they've reacted soon and let us disable motion blur on raptor. That one was really, really bad.

Heart of Thorns death spiral. I always have to have someone else do that mission for me.

[Obtena.7952]

6 hours ago, Tuna Bandit.3786 said:

I am sincerely wondering.

 

I did the instance where you have to fight Estelle at the end.

The storms she produced...

I litterly had to look away from my screen because I became close to passing out.

 

I wonder why mechanics as these are in here?

When you get caught and your screen goes absolutely wild... one can expect a decent proportion of people responding physically as I did.

I cannot imagine ArenaNet not being aware of that.

 

So I wonder, how can I play these type of instances without this effect? I mean completely and utterly shut it down 100%

I love the game, but whenever this happens, I already hover over the exit button.

It's obvious ... because Anet has stock in mouse and keyboard manufacturing companies and they want you to vomit all over them so you buy new ones. 

[Yggranya.5201]

50 minutes ago, Obtena.7952 said:

It's obvious ... because Anet has stock in mouse and keyboard manufacturing companies and they want you to vomit all over them so you buy new ones. 

Also manufacturing of glasses, hence the light show to damage players eyes with no way to turn them off. Get your tinfoil hats out everyone!

[Tekoneiric.6817]

You wouldn't want to watch me play. 🤣 I move fast and sometimes intentionally try stomach wrenching moves with mounts. Part of the reason why my main is an engineer is rocket boots so I can zip around combat. I have it setup as a hotkey.

[Manasa Devi.7958]

I was certain this was about the Caudecus fight before I clicked the thread. Such a messy fight... close quarters, lots of orange flashes, and when you're starting to deal with all of that, the walls start spinning. Woo!

[Crystal Paladin.3871]

7 hours ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Fortunately they've reacted soon and let us disable motion blur on raptor. That one was really, really bad.

Whaaaaat? There was a motion blur on raptor? I'd love some motion blur on raptor and while using nitro boost on beetle and Griffon dive... Any option to enable motion blur on these stuff?

[Rasimir.6239]

8 hours ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I don't remember anyone mentioning that specific fight being a problem before, but here's some things I have heard help avoid motion sickness in GW2:

• Turn off camera shake
• Increase the field of view
• Zoom out as far as you can
• Use a ranged weapon so there's fewer effects happening right on top of you

 

Also I think if you break her definance bar it stops her casting the storm, but I may be remembering it wrong.

A few more things you can try:

• turn down camera settings in areas/encounters you know don't agree with you. The less real things look, the less likely you are to be affected
• post processing is a big offender in my case. Turning that off helps a ton, but sometimes I have to turn down texture quality and more, too
• if it's a cutscene that's bothering you (like the end of the Thaumanova fractal one), don't hesitate to just close your eyes until it's over
• make sure the room you are in is well lit so that the things surrounding your monitor are at least as bright as the picture on the monitor
• place a couple of post-its around your monitor edge to remind your brain that it's just a picture it sees, not the real world
• play in window mode and make the window smaller so it doesn't take up as much of your vision

 

I first encountered motion sickness back in the days when games first came up with detailed 3d-views. I remember I was totally hyped about Wizardry 8, having spent hundreds of hours on 6 and 7, but never got to play it for more than a couple of minutes before getting violently sick. Same with Elder Scrolls Oblivion. I've had problems with different games ever since, even with GW2 if I'm not careful, but I've learned to deal with it (most of the time 😉 ). All of the above tips (including the ones Danikat mentioned) help me to enjoy the game without getting sick.

 

Sometimes it's little things you wouldn't expect. For example, I tried not to use my skimmer for the longest time, because even moving across flat water would make me sick quickly. Then I got the turtle skin for my skimmer, because I loved the skin, never expecting to get much use out of it, but something about the animations of the turtle is different, and I'm surprisingly fine riding it. My skimmer has gone from rarely used to being used more often than the bunny (that used to by my favorite mount for the longest time because it was the one mount I could ride without problems).

 

Long story short, try fiddling with your video settings as well as your real life surroundings to figure out what works for you. And if all else fails, get somebody else to help you so you can stand off to the side and just watch (or not even that 😉 ).

[Astralporing.1957]

47 minutes ago, Crystal Paladin.3871 said:

Whaaaaat? There was a motion blur on raptor? I'd love some motion blur on raptor and while using nitro boost on beetle and Griffon dive... Any option to enable motion blur on these stuff?

Originally, there was a massive motion blur on raptor movement (both for movement forward, and for fast turns). It was toned down very fast, and a "motion blur power" slider was added in options that allowed players to disable that completely.

 

Notice, I do see comments that turning it on now seems to not work, but i don't know if it's some general change that happened later and i was just unaware of it (because i've turned it down to 0% immediately and it stayed that way ever since), or is it just a byproduct of some lower settings for those players.

 

I do know that when i turned it off it definitely did work.

[Jukhy.2431]

1 hour ago, Rasimir.6239 said:

A few more things you can try:

• turn down camera settings in areas/encounters you know don't agree with you. The less real things look, the less likely you are to be affected
• post processing is a big offender in my case. Turning that off helps a ton, but sometimes I have to turn down texture quality and more, too
• if it's a cutscene that's bothering you (like the end of the Thaumanova fractal one), don't hesitate to just close your eyes until it's over
• make sure the room you are in is well lit so that the things surrounding your monitor are at least as bright as the picture on the monitor
• place a couple of post-its around your monitor edge to remind your brain that it's just a picture it sees, not the real world
• play in window mode and make the window smaller so it doesn't take up as much of your vision

 

I first encountered motion sickness back in the days when games first came up with detailed 3d-views. I remember I was totally hyped about Wizardry 8, having spent hundreds of hours on 6 and 7, but never got to play it for more than a couple of minutes before getting violently sick. Same with Elder Scrolls Oblivion. I've had problems with different games ever since, even with GW2 if I'm not careful, but I've learned to deal with it (most of the time 😉 ). All of the above tips (including the ones Danikat mentioned) help me to enjoy the game without getting sick.

 

Sometimes it's little things you wouldn't expect. For example, I tried not to use my skimmer for the longest time, because even moving across flat water would make me sick quickly. Then I got the turtle skin for my skimmer, because I loved the skin, never expecting to get much use out of it, but something about the animations of the turtle is different, and I'm surprisingly fine riding it. My skimmer has gone from rarely used to being used more often than the bunny (that used to by my favorite mount for the longest time because it was the one mount I could ride without problems).

 

Long story short, try fiddling with your video settings as well as your real life surroundings to figure out what works for you. And if all else fails, get somebody else to help you so you can stand off to the side and just watch (or not even that 😉 ).

Great reply! Especially the background light is good advice many people don't consider.

 

I used to strain my eyes after looking at monitor for few hours, but after putting light behind it (just ordinary desk lamp pointing at the wall) I didn't have this problem anymore. In general the brightness on your screen and behind it should be around the same level. Also helps to reduce the brightness/contrast on your monitor, often the default setting is way too bright.

[Crystal Paladin.3871]

1 hour ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Originally, there was a massive motion blur on raptor movement (both for movement forward, and for fast turns). It was toned down very fast, and a "motion blur power" slider was added in options that allowed players to disable that completely.

 

Notice, I do see comments that turning it on now seems to not work, but i don't know if it's some general change that happened later and i was just unaware of it (because i've turned it down to 0% immediately and it stayed that way ever since), or is it just a byproduct of some lower settings for those players.

 

I do know that when i turned it off it definitely did work.

totally forgot such setting exists in options.. mb.... thanks for pointing it out.... but then again I already set it to high without even knowing i did that and for some weird reason the blur hasn't happened until now and neither does it even now... sad

[Danikat.8537]

37 minutes ago, Jukhy.2431 said:

Great reply! Especially the background light is good advice many people don't consider.

 

I used to strain my eyes after looking at monitor for few hours, but after putting light behind it (just ordinary desk lamp pointing at the wall) I didn't have this problem anymore. In general the brightness on your screen and behind it should be around the same level. Also helps to reduce the brightness/contrast on your monitor, often the default setting is way too bright.

That's a good point too. 🙂

 

Literally the first thing I did when I got my new 'gaming' monitor was turn the brightness way down. I was in a well lit room on a sunny day but the default (set too 100%) hurt my eyes as soon as I turned it on. I probably have it a bit darker than most people, it's set so a white background (like on this forum) looks ever so slightly grey, like a sheet of paper, but it never hurts my eyes and isn't so dark that I can't see things on the screen.

[Crystal Paladin.3871]

3 minutes ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I probably have it a bit darker than most people, it's set so a white background (like on this forum) looks ever so slightly grey, like a sheet of paper, but it never hurts my eyes and isn't so dark that I can't see things on the screen.

seems you arent enjoying the colors in its full glory.. if u consider white as grey, i think u've set the color temperature to warm instead of cool.. either that.. or... u use nightlight feature in windows

Edited July 21, 2021 by Crystal Paladin.3871

[Dante.1763]

5 minutes ago, Crystal Paladin.3871 said:

seems you arent enjoying the colors in its full glory.. if u consider white as grey, i think u've set the color temperature to warm instead of cool.. either that.. or... u use nightlight feature in windows

Mine actually does that too. When the brightness is turned down very low the forums and other sources look grey, and the grey on the forums gets alot darker.

[Tuna Bandit.3786]

Thank you all for the replies.

I do love the game, and did find a way around it. 

 

Not looking forward to the finale of this episode cause that might be even worse (if I remember the instance right)

 

I just hope a little more awareness might help in decision in future content.

 

All other tips I already did, the camera shake etc. The max zoom out (thanks for that) helped a bit too. Made the movement less violent.

 

I doubt implementing a setting for these cases can be done, due to the fact that the camera is completely locked on the character's position. Changing this would have game breaking concequences.

 

For me personally, this noxiousness happens when the movement is not my input. For example: if I fly on a griffon, or race a beetle, and make wild movements, I am fine.

[Rasimir.6239]

14 minutes ago, Tuna Bandit.3786 said:

For me personally, this noxiousness happens when the movement is not my input. For example: if I fly on a griffon, or race a beetle, and make wild movements, I am fine.

Lucky you. Beetle racing is something that makes me sick no matter what I try 😄 .

 

But I think that is the main reason why it's hard (if not impossible) for ANet to adjust the game to avoid motion sickness: it is a very individual thing, and you'll have a hard time finding two players that get sick from exactly the same kind of content/visuals.