Forums > Game Talk > Games that are bad for the eyes\make you sick.
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 10/23/2011 3:17 PM · Permalink · Report
I was just playing GH, and when I finished I remembered why I don't play it much. After I'm done, and I look away at anything it looks like it's imploding in a wavy fashion. I put my hand in front of my face and it looks my fingers are moving even though they aren't. It takes about five minutes to wear off, but I'm sure it's not good for the eyes. Anybody have a game that has a strange effect on you after playing it?
chirinea (47495) on 10/23/2011 3:32 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start DANIEL HAWKS ! wrote--]It takes about five minutes to wear off [/Q --end DANIEL HAWKS ! wrote--]Five minutes? Wow, I feel the same thing but it won't last even one minute. Interestingly enough, I get the same "still moving" feeling from running on a treadmill. I'm not sure if it is "bad for the eyes", I guess it is just your body adapting to the current environment.
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 10/23/2011 3:54 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
So I'm not going crazy! My theory is after looking at straight lines with moving notes on flat screen, when you look at a still, real object, it confuses the brain and takes it a bit to readjust. After about two songs, I start to see the load screen shift around the screen, and it only get's worse the longer I play. I used to play six or seven songs in a row, now it's only two or three. After three songs, it only takes a minute or two for everything to stop moving. I noticed I have the same feeling after watching a recording of one of my playthroughs.
Rola (8483) on 10/23/2011 3:36 PM · Permalink · Report
This may be more than just an eyestrain. Game manuals have epilepsy warnings for a reason...
Luckily I was able to play all those Doom etc. in my youth without problems (despite having prescribed glasses), but I get a whopping headache in the cinema. Glasses reduce it. On the other hand, 3D glasses make it worse.
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 10/23/2011 3:56 PM · Permalink · Report
Actually, that looks really cool!
Adzuken (836) on 10/23/2011 5:13 PM · Permalink · Report
It's called the Tetris effect. It happens in any sort of game with a lot of repeating imagery. My old roommates said they got this a lot from Tetris Attack for the SNES. I remember having a maddening brush with it after Rock Band was first released and I spent a long time behind the drums. When I would look at something it would seem like it was moving down, I could plainly see the note highway when I closed my eyes, and I could vividly hear the clap of the drums. It made it difficult to sleep.
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 10/23/2011 8:48 PM · Permalink · Report
Aaahh. I thought I heard about that somewhere before.
Lain Crowley (6629) on 10/23/2011 6:21 PM · Permalink · Report
Megaman Legends and Animal Crossing both give me nightmares if I play them for 4-5 hours before going to sleep. I think it's because the games have an avatar that always stays in the exact center of the screen while the world moves around them. In my dream I'm always chasing, or being chased by, someone, and when I wake up I feel really tired. I haven't had this problem with modern third person shooters, possibly because there's less contrast in the colors of recent games.
Incidentally I've yet to meet a cat who doesn't love either of these games.
j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】 (95185) on 10/23/2011 6:45 PM · Permalink · Report
Whenever I get hooked on a puzzle game and play it more than an hour or so a day, I start seeing the playfield whenever I close my eyes, and catch myself looking for solutions in real-world objects. It's kind of maddening sometimes. I can recall it happening with at least Tetris Attack, Picross, and Yosumin, though I know there's been more.
The Rock Band/Guitar Hero thing happens to me too. It also happens if you actually watch the scrolling credits at the end of a film. I assume it just happens when your eyes adjust to something moving in a uniform direction at a constant speed for an extended period.
vedder (70822) on 10/23/2011 9:11 PM · Permalink · Report
I had it a lot with Tetris on the DS, but I'm not sure whether the Tetris Effect and and world that seems to continue scrolling are the same mental effect. The Tetris Effect as I experienced it was more that my brain seemed to continue puzzle-solving when not playing by recognizing Tetriminoes where there are none. While the thing I had on the train seems to be more of a visual confusion, i.e. the brain adapts to the idea that the world is constantly scrolling and then has a problem readjusting when it stops. The same thing happens when you stand on your head for a long time, after a while you forget the world is upside down.
I notice I have the Tetris Effect a little bit too with Europa Universalis III.
Parf (7873) on 10/23/2011 8:43 PM · Permalink · Report
I got this a lot with one of Harmonix's first games... Frequency. It's like GH, but in a round tunnel. Luckily for my eyes, the sequel contained so much horrendous pop music (Amplitude) that I just needed to avoid it like the plague, hence saving my eyesight. ;)
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 10/23/2011 8:47 PM · Permalink · Report
I never got disoriented from playing Frequency. And yeah, the music selection in Amplitude isn't nearly as good.