So things like visible aliasing, pop in, LOD. Those are all issues fine and well. Sometimes they just cannot be helped due to hardware or technical limitations.

But then you have things like film grain, lens flair, chromatic abberation, and other simulated flaws. Which given the camera and worlds themselves are digital, have no reason to exist. Especially in games that imply that you are a character in first person, rather than a glorified dolly on wheels.

So of these fake camera effects, which most affects your total enjoyment the most? Personally, I can't stand head bobbing and color filtration.

I would have to go for film grain. The rest are innocent enough (i actually do enjoy Depth of Field when properly applied), but film grain is absolutely pointless and even distracting. Ugly effect that should never even exist in the digital era.

Yea, that's definately my 2nd choice. What is even the point of it in 3rd person games?

+1 for that.

When I first played Mass Effect (1) on my (22") 1680x1050 monitor, the film grain annoyed me. Many years later I finished the game on (27") 2560x1440. I noticed it a lot less, and it added a bit to the atmosphere (imo).

I've never played any other game that used film grain.

I always turn off DoF & Motion Blur.

from what i understand motion blur comes from movies. because movies are lower fps they naturally get that motion blurriness with quick movement and pans. that's fine for non-interactive things (mostly, not great for sports fans), it's not super great for interactive media (imo).
They add it in to make the games feel more "cinematic" (or at least that was the excuse back in the day).

or at least that's what i was told.

Tie between film grain and motion blur. Film grain because it's the stupidest fucking shit, and motion blur because it makes me nauseous.

Same here. I get car sick and 3D movies give me a headache. (I'm sure that it's all related)

Why would a space game set in a space future have film grain?

For artistic reasons. It's a fictional game, not a "realistic" space future simulation.
You dislike it; turn it off. How about the cyberpunk genre? Do you dislike for the same sort of reasons?

I've rarely encountered fiction without any 'improbabilities'. But if I think it's good (for many/various reasons), I can live with them just fine. There are old science "lo-fi" fiction movies that I consider a lot more futuristic than some of the computer generated crap they can make nowadays.

On my lower resolution monitor, I thought the grain was too 'coarse' - less so now.

Bloom is supposed to be a flaw, right? Sure looks like it to me. If I spot the setting in the options menu, it gets turned off pronto. Film grain is pointless and motion blur is obnoxious.

Motion Blur or Chromatic Abberation.

I second this, they are the first things I look to turn off when booting up a modern game. It's a shame that so many AAA devs are obsessed with CA.

The things that annoy me the most are the "piss filter" and excessive screenshaking.

I'm on the fence for motion blur, film grain, bloom, lense effect, etc. as it depends on how well it's implemented.