Extreme Frustration - Arrrghhh

[mikewl]

I bought Half Life 2 yesterday and its making me have this wierd thing happen when playing it.

Its done it a few times now, when I get to a part which I get stuck in and cant figure out what to do next this game only, never had this with any other makes my stomach turn almost to the point of feeling like I have a cramp.

I have to turn the game off as soon as this happens, I dont know why it happens with this game only but I think the halt in action and the constant figure out how to get through this section just really winds me up.

Maybe im tired from having to think at work all day and then just the thought of having to figure something out on a game just irritates me.

Anyone else get this.

Think this is why RPG's appeal to me so much, the repetetive battles are just easy stuff and you get rewarded with a lengthy story.

[Paul3704]

That sounds suspiciously like a mild anxiety attack.

Leave it for tonight, try again tomorrow.

[crazylegs]

you could try enabling the console and using noclip to free yourself

if it is a freeze up you could try reducing your graphic settings etc.


other then that all ican say is that these things work themselves out eventually

[the shape]

you could try enabling the console and using noclip to free yourself

if it is a freeze up you could try reducing your graphic settings etc.

other then that all ican say is that these things work themselves out eventually

[Tig]

[Goggy]

i've heard that people are actually being made sick from playing HL2(no joke).
Something to do with the graphix.


My brother phoned me the other day and told me he was feeling really ill while playin HL2, then he said he read somewhere that loads of people are having the same feeling, weird!!.

Try some of the HL2 forums.

[Spatial]

Yep a lot of people have been getting this, they reckon its to do with FPS's having no peripheral vision - but why HL2 is different to any other FPS I don't know

[crazylegs]

thats true planet halflife are reporting alot of people complaining about this problem
because its in fps perspective the body thinks its going forward but the brain knows that its not and hence you feel nasua, headaches etc.

i had no problems though
apart from all those godamn mines!!!!!

[Spatial]

This response was sent to someone who emailed Valve about feeling ill while playing HL2

Thanks for writing. I'm glad that you've been enjoying Half-Life 2. As for the FOV questions: very early in HL2's development as our world got more detailed and fully realized we ran into some interesting issues that caused us to shift the FOV. Sometime in 2001 or early 2002 we made the decision to move to a tighter FOV, settling on 75 after some extensive testing. While FOV 90 is perhaps more representative of our visual experience in some ways - especially taking peripheral vision into account, in general a tighter FOV felt more accurate and appropriate for rendering the world and the objects in them given the goals we were pursuing in Half-Life 2. For example:

1) Characters all seemed frustratingly distant in FOV 90, and if you really tried to move up as close as possible to them, they'd be viewed with ugly wide-angle distortion on their faces - giving the experience an unpleasantly distorted or hallucinatory quality. And of course it was extremely unflattering to the characters!

2) Architecture and spaces feel oddly and unnaturally huge at FOV 90 - structures are unnaturally diminished at a distance, and it feels as if the player is moving at great speed through the world. In addition, every turn of the player's head emphasizes the distortion inherent in this wide-angled rendering, as objects move from the less distorted center to the extremely distorted edges of the screen.

We've been rigorously playing and testing Half-Life 2, Counterstrike Source and Half-Life Source for a long time now - and we've found nothing to suggest that the FOV change is a significant factor in causing motion sickness. We have, however, put a great deal of work and attention into reducing the motion sickness that can be experienced in the vehicles in Half-Life 2. During our early playtests, many of us were experiencing motion sickness from driving the buggy and the airboat - especially the airboat. We've done a lot of work on tuning the experience to reduce any ill effects - especially looking at how we manage the players head/view in relationship to the movement of the vehicles. Interestingly, for all of the vehicle sequences we revert back to FOV 90 so that you have more peripheral vision which is helpful when moving at these faster speeds. Even so, some people still do experience some motion sickness effects from long stretches in the vehicles - personally, I find that I am most affected by the intense jarring that occurs when you slam into something in the airboat at high speed - like when you miss a jump or something.

Best wishes,

Bill Van Buren
Valve

[Darwock]

I get motion sickness with every FPS. I can only really play them for an hour and a half tops. MOH frontline was worst.. after 45 mins I would have to lie down.

[Magnakai]

Buncha babies. I've played them for HOURS without so much as a little bit of vomit on my monitor.

Mikewl, I know exactly what you mean... It's like you feel really irritated, really quickly. Happily, that didn't happen to me in Half Life 2.

[Taurine]

Motion sickness

I get motion sickness when I play any FPS at all. But it wasn't always that way. I've comfortably played plenty of Goldeneye and Quake. But about 5 years ago I suddenly found I broke out in a cold sweat and felt queasy every time I try to play an FPS. It doesn't happen in any other sort of game, including first-person view in racing games.

Does anyone know what causes this, and if there is anything that can be done to reduce the effect? Does it get worse with age, or did my 'technique' change for the worse? Maybe I stare too much ;-)