how prone to motion sickness?

[sf]

As a person with mild motion sickness, and without knowing all the scientific/medical explanations, I usually find out the hard way, by playing the game itself. Surprisingly, some games never had much problems no matter how intense the action (well I did have to bump down some effects, like screen shaking), others gives me the urge to puke even if they are slower placed, even with no sudden view change movement etc.

When I came across this game on Steam, the media and stuff looks interesting, but being a first-person view game, I am sort of apprehensive about diving in, since I won't know for sure whether I can even take 10 minutes of it. Was wondering if anybody with similar conditions is playing this game, and whether it is ok in the long run? (if there are no responses, I am inclined towards that all people with similar conditions have stayed away?)

thank you for the time to rad this!

[DianCecht]

The nice thing about the new steam return policy is that as long as the game is less then 14 days old 9in your inventory) and has less then 2 hours played, you can return for any reason. So you dont have to worry as much about getting screw on games you can't play because of this. I feel your pain i normally get massive headaches and eye strain form first person games like this.

[siderisanon]

I am prone to motion sickness in video games. If you are prone to motion sickness in video games, you will suffer playing ARK.

The good news is that you can turn off most of the camera shake and movement bob type stuff in the Options. You can also expand the Field of View, something I find often helps my motion sickness.

Then there is the bad news. The first is that the game runs very poorly on a lot of machines. With the low frame rate and/or stutters, it's more likely to set off your video game motion sickness.

The second is that for some reason the camera goes completely spastic when you do things like chop trees and mine rocks. I have to close my eyes while gathering resources that way because it's nauseating.

Gathering from bushes and chopping up dead animals does not seem to cause this camera oddness. Attacking in combat does not either.


If you're only mildly prone, you may be able to tolerate it if you've got a really good PC. If you're more than mildly prone and you're not willing to deal with the literal headache, I'd suggest waiting a while before buying the game.

[sf]

Thank you guys for the feedback. At least it is not without hope, that people with similar conditions are still in the game. I'll wait for a good time to perhaps try this game, now that there is a refund policy, when on discount or before a holiday, (with enough time to recover from possible motion sickness, as I usually get so bad that I need to lie down for half a day sometimes)

In the meantime, I also hope that the game improves some of the technical aspects that may help people like us.

[No Ragrets]

You know.. i was thinking about that earlier while playing i realized every motion i made in the game created some motion blur or the camera moves along with the arm swing (as it would realistically) BUT as someone NOT prone to this type of sickness i could STILL imagine this game being a large problem for someone who is.. Id reccomend find a buddy who has it and get them to let you try it because ..yea.. the camera movements even though they can be tweaked (i havent touched anything) it may not be enough .. as someone else posted here with it they have to close thier eyes.. thats just kinda .. wow to me that sucks .. cuz this game would REALLY mess with ya i figure.

Definately top of the amazing list for games that exist but the motions are all hellishly realistic and they create an effect that could cause trauma.

[eM]

Minecraft, Dayz, various other games give me motion sickness. Ark has been fine for me so far, 4 hrs in. I changed quite a few settings.

I'd recommend buying some motion sickness tablets to have on standby when trying any new games. Motion sickness for me can last a day and it's well worth having the back up.

[sf]

@Master Scrotis, is that without changing the settings or after trying out the settings to improve the default situation already?

@eM, great idea on the motion sickness tablet. I usually just resort to paracetamol + bed rest, to recover, but I think having specialized tablets will help greatly if it turns out.. bad.

thanks to all replies so far. Given the rather personalized thresholds of motion sickness, I may have to try it actually to get a few. The game seems interesting enough to at least warrant that. I'll probably try to get some tablets and hope that I don't need it any more than I need to use Steam refund: bearing with a game's bugs etc is not the same level as motion sickness I think. If the latter is the problem, I probably can't play no matter how great it is.

fingers crossed until I find the opportunity to take the dive...

[Euri]

I have very bad motion sickness depending on the game. Minecraft makes me feel pretty ill, and space engineers is unplayable for me.

This game however has given me no motion sickness at all thankfully as I am loving it, so I wish you the same. GL!

[boxanata]

Not sure if there's any truth behind it, but I've heard changing your FoV can help combat motion sickness, for some?

[Ex]

Can turn off camera shake/bumps and motion blur, your problem will be slingshots and harvesting most I would assume.

[siderisanon]

Originally posted by boxanata:

Not sure if there's any truth behind it, but I've heard changing your FoV can help combat motion sickness, for some?

It can for some of us, yes. As an example, in Minecraft I had the FOV slider set to just over 80 and it made a noticeable difference.

It is generally in the first-person games where the mouse moves with the camera and you are interacting a lot where the FOV shift helps me. There is something about the difference between just moving to pick a spot to shoot and moving to click on various items to harvest/mine that does it.

[sf]

I've taken the plunge.. :)

The actual situation is a little ... complicated.

Initally, I started a local game, and tweak with the settings.
- down camera shakes (still shakes when harvesting... doh)
- turn off motion blur
- tune down graphics settings to get thing smoother.
- turn up FOV (this helps a lot)

And I manage to play the first session without problems, esp due to 3rd person.

It was then a not-so-nice surprise when I tried to join an mp server that I found that there is no 3rd person mode.

It wasn't THAT bad, but I had slight headache after perhaps an hour.. still, without 3rd person mode, it could be a long term game stopper (and I think I used up my steam refund limit most of it in local game...)

Are there any known servers which allows 3rd person which is friendly for a new player?

[siderisanon]

Originally posted by sf:

Are there any known servers which allows 3rd person which is friendly for a new player?

There's a forum for server advertisement over on the right side of the screen when you're looking at the main discussion forum. Some might specify third person availability.

I know that one of the devs said that official PVP servers will keep third person turned off to avoid people exploiting the camera. (One of the reasons many PVP games keep first person view only is that camera clipping can be used to get information a player shouldn't have.)

[tuco-ramires]

There's a Field of view slider in the options.No sickness.

[sebo]

this game (including every other game) needs option to disable the annoying head bobbing and camera FOV/changing/shaking. that is usually what causes me to feel motion sickness from playing a game.. followed by a narrow FOV.

this is pretty obvious in the trailers intro which is why i haven't yet bought the game.

[sebo]

hoping this topic gets seen by a dev because i want to get this game but kind hesitating because the bobbing. can the bobbing be disabled?