NTSC-RePlay 005: YOU Could Have A Claim

[Neon Ignition]

The dials of time turn back to the 02 April 2003 this time as TheShend pondered the mental and physical dangers that gaming can lead to. That's also what we'll be discussing as we explore how:


This isn't NTSC-UK.... this is NTSC-RePlay

From handhelds with small screens, cramped controls, motion arcade machines, VR, Wii remotes, balance boards, dance mats, microphones, 100+ button mech controllers, full size car replicas in arcades, musical instruments, detachable controls, AR, gyroscopes and many more - gaming has never stopped trying to find new ways to engage player control and that's not even considering the sequences within the games themselves that hope to move and engage us.

Have you ever been physically injured via gaming or felt ill due to it?

Do you feel a game ever affected your mental state due to its content as the media has often suggested it can?

[Asura]

Definitely for VR. A couple of times.

Though not from dizziness or motion sickness, but rather DOMS - muscle soreness. VR FPS games involve a lot of crouching, and sometimes my thighs kill me the next day.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Have you ever been physically injured via gaming or felt ill due to it?

VR probably. Once you get your VR legs it's OK, but at first I felt very sick. I've never suffered from motion sickness with FPS thankfully.

Do you feel a game ever affected your mental state due to its content as the media has often suggested it can?

Life is Strange will probably stay with me. As will Last of Us and MGS2. There are games that envoke emotions or themes that stay with you. Sometimes it can just be a scene or something someone says in a game that resonates. Many of the Final Fantasy games have something in that strikes a chord.

[phillv85]

I had a monster blister on my palm from Mario Party on the N64 once.

I also get sick on VR, Blood and Truth left me feeling faint after 10-15 minutes.

[fuse]

Thinking back it's kind of incredible that I don't have any memorable injuries from playing DDR (I played a lot and am not really the most suitable build for this), however I definitely attribute what felt like the early stages of carpal tunnel / RSI to bad form while playing excessive amounts of Beatmania. When you're waking up most days with either a painful or numb arm, that's not good. Very few games have made me motion sick but man it's unpleasant when it does happen. The original Wolf3D is the only one I know for sure that sets me off. Oh, blisters used to be a thing playing fighting games on controllers, too.

My most frequent physical injury though is from being too tall and banging my head when trying to climb into sit-in arcade cabinets. F-Zero AX and Afterburner Climax are two in particular that spring to mind, mainly as the speed and motion of the games coupled with a mild dizziness were particularly unpleasant.

[Neon Ignition]

VR is the one for me too. I find I make a real effort to position myself well but as you get into the game and the actions it requires it's easy to smack your hand against a wall or object. My VR legs tend to be an hour too, past that and I feel not quite sick but definitely not 100% and it also feels like I've been playing it a lot longer than an hour at that point too

[Asura]

VR is the one for me too. I find I make a real effort to position myself well but as you get into the game and the actions it requires it's easy to smack your hand against a wall or object.

If you're interested, there's a really good lo-fi solution to this.

In the room you use VR, you measure a circle. The centre of this circle should be as far from walls/furniture as you can get, and the radius should be such that if you stand on the edge (like with your feet half-on, half-off), you can reach out and can't touch anything. So even if you flail about, you won't touch a wall.

On eBay, you can get these 2cm-thick "rubber-crumb" gym floormats; they're pretty cheap, same sort you see in a free-weights area at most gyms. I think they're made from recycled tires. The key thing is they're very heavy, so they won't move when you're standing on them.

You cut your circle out of one of those, and use it when you play stuff in VR that doesn't involve you walking around a room (which is most stuff).

The reason to make it a circle is that the centre of a circle is in a pependicular direction from a tangent on the edge - so, even if blindfolded, if your feet touch the edge, you can easily step back to the middle. A square floormat doesn't work like this, making it too easy to step in the wrong direction.

I got this solution off YouTube and tried it; honestly it's fantastic. I can play the harder stuff on the Dojo in Vader Immortal in really quite a small room, and I've never scuffed my hands etc. since doing it.

[Neon Ignition]

That's a good trick, Beat Saber is murder for a good back handed crack against the wall

[QualityChimp]

VR here too.
Never really feel sick apart from long sessions of Ultrawings, but I fell through a desk that wasn't there in the office of the menu screens.

I punched the wall playing Superhot.

[charlesr]

The ending of Deadly Premonition / Red Seeds Profile will haunt me forever.

[charlesr]

Trauma

[beecee]

another VR one here.

i can watch anything on it, even play trough a few of the non moving games, but if i have control and have to move, the boakness comes.

[Cassius_Smoke]

VR here too.
Never really feel sick apart from long sessions of Ultrawings, but I fell through a desk that wasn't there in the office of the menu screens.

I punched the wall playing Superhot.

I too punched a wall playing Superhot. Trying to throw something by any chance?

[QualityChimp]

I too punched a wall playing Superhot. Trying to throw something by any chance?

Actually, I think it was punching someone who was flanking me.

Bloody amazing game, though!

[Neon Ignition]

The ending of Deadly Premonition / Red Seeds Profile will haunt me forever.

This one - anyone who thinks Aerith is the benchmark for videogame narrative trauma has never experienced it in its true form