Monitor aspect ratio and motion sickness in games

Cern

Cern

Cern

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Does anyone here suffer from motion sickness in games and have any experience of what monitor aspect ratios make it better or worse?

A quick bit of background. Certain games give me bad motion sickness due to field of view problems. Playing anything in 1st person view almost guarantees it, especially if there's head bob or camera shake. But I also have trouble in 3rd person games where the FOV is restricted or narrow, such as console ports. If the game lets me play 3rd person and widen my FOV to 80 or 90 I'm usually ok and can play for hours without problems. If my FOV is restricted to something like 60 I usually last a matter of minutes and nothing can prevent this (that I've found).

My main gaming monitor is a Lacie 20" IPS panel, 4:3 ratio, 1600x1200. It's getting old now, but has beautiful colour (fully calibrated) so I've stuck with it all these years. Actually I have a matching pair of these in dual monitor setup, but I only use one for gaming.

I have a yearning for something bigger and wider, either a 1440p monitor or perhaps a 4k monitor. 1440p is more likely as I don't think I can afford the GPU(s) needed to drive a 4k monitor for gaming.

Here's my question. Is it likely that a widescreen monitor will make my motion sickness better, or worse? Has anyone who suffers from this problem stepped up from 4:3 to 16:9 or 16:10? What were your experiences?
 
Don't know whether aspect ratios affect motion sickness, but if it is indeed motion sickness that's causing your symptoms, then going for a bigger screen might actually even make it worse, as your immersion also increases. Try playing the FPS games from a longer viewing distance (try doubling the distance). Does the motion sickness increase or decrease? If it decreases, then a new bigger monitor might indeed make it only worse.

Then again, if increasing the FOV does alleviate the situation, then wide screens might be a good solution, instead.
 
aatu said:
Don't know whether aspect ratios affect motion sickness, but if it is indeed motion sickness that's causing your symptoms, then going for a bigger screen might actually even make it worse, as your immersion also increases. Try playing the FPS games from a longer viewing distance (try doubling the distance). Does the motion sickness increase or decrease? If it decreases, then a new bigger monitor might indeed make it only worse.

Then again, if increasing the FOV does alleviate the situation, then wide screens might be a good solution, instead.
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Viewing distance doesn't seem to have much impact. I've tried having the monitor at various ranges with no noticeable difference.

What helps a lot is having a wider FOV, at least in anything other than first person view which always seems to mess me up regardless.

If I can see my character in 3rd person (e.g. most MMOs, Mass Effect, Skyrim, DA:I etc) then I'm fine *IF* I can set a wider FOV (80 or 90 seems ideal). Strangely, I rarely have any problems with space or driving games regardless of FOV.

So this is where I'm hoping that a widescreen monitor should help (or at least not make anything worse) because effectively it's giving me a wider FOV. But then I have read of cases where it's made things worse for some people. Hence the question.
 
I also suffer from dizziness when using low fov's, motion blur, camera shake and too much head bobbing. I also need to play games with higher than 50 fps.

It did get more troubling when I went from 24" to 27" at a 16:9 ratio.

I went back down to a 23.6" display which was great and much more comfortable. All the monitors were 1080p by the way.

Then I tried out a 27" 1440p 144hz monitor and to my surprise, I didn't have any extra difficulties as opposed to the 1080p one. I don't know why.

So now I have a 27" 1440p monitor which I am happy with.

I still have the 1080p one but I don't like using it. If I have any regrets it that I wish I had tried out a 21:9 display first.
 
Davanius said:
I also suffer from dizziness when using low fov's, motion blur, camera shake and too much head bobbing. I also need to play games with higher than 50 fps.

It did get more troubling when I went from 24" to 27" at a 16:9 ratio.

I went back down to a 23.6" display which was great and much more comfortable. All the monitors were 1080p by the way.

Then I tried out a 27" 1440p 144hz monitor and to my surprise, I didn't have any extra difficulties as opposed to the 1080p one. I don't know why.

So now I have a 27" 1440p monitor which I am happy with.

I still have the 1080p one but I don't like using it. If I have any regrets it that I wish I had tried out a 21:9 display first.
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Very interesting, thanks. Yes, same causes here - low FOV, camera shake, motion blur, head bobbing and poor framerate.

So, the 27" 1440p monitor you're happy with, is that 2560 x 1440 (16:9) or 3440 x 1440 (21:9)? I'm guessing from what you've said it's 21:9? Which is interesting as I hadn't considered a super-wide, fearing that such an extreme format might cause issues.
 
Davanius said:
Mine's a 2560x1440 16:9. I really should have tried out a 21:9 display.

I have to set the fov to at least 90 in my case.
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Ah ok. So you're happy with the 2560x1440 16:9 as long as you can up the FOV to around 90, but feel you might have been better off with a 21:9? Have you been able to try a 21:9 ratio monitor out?
 
I also suffer from this, have done for years

Could play UT no bother ...... Quake would make me dizzy after 10 mins .... 15 min felt terrible .. 20 mins = puke and have to lay down

I love arma and had to adjust , motion blurr off and head bob of to stop me puking in arma3

Friend bought me red orchestra 2 , but I could not play it either

I use a 27" 1920 x 1200 16:10 monitor at the moment
 
Cern said:
Ah ok. So you're happy with the 2560x1440 16:9 as long as you can up the FOV to around 90, but feel you might have been better off with a 21:9? Have you been able to try a 21:9 ratio monitor out?
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Yes, very happy with it as long as the fov is right. I haven't tried a 21:9 yet but it will get serious consideration for my next monitor purchase.

The current monitor I am using is the Benq 2730Z.
 
lurkio said:
I also suffer from this, have done for years

Could play UT no bother ...... Quake would make me dizzy after 10 mins .... 15 min felt terrible .. 20 mins = puke and have to lay down

I love arma and had to adjust , motion blurr off and head bob of to stop me puking in arma3

Friend bought me red orchestra 2 , but I could not play it either

I use a 27" 1920 x 1200 16:10 monitor at the moment
Click to expand...

Yes, been suffering for years too. I first noticed it with the original Doom and then later Quake. It's never gotten better despite improvements in graphics, framerates, monitor technology etc. I've just learned what games to avoid (Red Orchestra 2 ticks all the boxes) and which games I can adjust to make them playable for me, usually by controlling the FOV.
 
coupe69 said:
I used to have the same problem with motion sickness. The cure, Antihistamines! :D
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Sadly that never helped with my gaming motion sickness. But isn't it prescribed more for motion sickness caused by physical travel anyway? Not sure how I'd feel about taking medication just so I can play certain games.
 
I've not known it through aspect ratio's either, definately via FOV and even more so via really gloopy responsiveness on a mouse > monitor really can cause it badly.

Maybe distance would also help some if you are really close?
 
Make sure you have a highly visible aiming reticule in game also, not having a central point to focus on can cause motion sickness for some.

That and low fps (<30) can bring on a dose of sickness for me in some circumstances.
 
Cooper said:
Make sure you have a highly visible aiming reticule in game also, not having a central point to focus on can cause motion sickness for some.

That and low fps (<30) can bring on a dose of sickness for me in some circumstances.
Click to expand...

Yes, strange how this small detail can make such a difference. I've noticed that if my reticule or pointer suddenly vanishes or is hard to spot it can quickly cause disorientation and that 'head swimming' feeling.
 
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