So, i'm sure this post will create some amusement and bewilderment to people who have never come across the issue, but here goes:

A lot of games make me physically sick. I first discovered it when I was very young, when Golden Eye got really popular, and upon spending half an hour playing it with friends I promptly threw up.

After doing some research online, it seems that the issue is a form of motion sickness. It's odd, because I don't get sea sick, plane sick, or sick as a result of any other form of actual motion - it's just certain games that trigger it.

At first, it just seemed to be first person games that did it (all of them), but I'm starting to find that there are now quite a few 3rd person games that do it too. It's something to do with camera movement. A good example is that I can play Witcher 1 without any issues at all (using the isometric camera), but a few minutes of Witcher 2 had my head spinning. Another good example is Dragon Age; when playing it from the zoomed out "tacical view" I can play for days on end without issue, but when I zoom the camera in to "exploration" perspective, it all goes wrong.

The result is, I keep wasting money on games that I end up not being able to play for more than 10 minutes at a time. I also have to endure listening to my friends talking about awesome games that I can't play.

So, my two questions:

1. Is there a "cure"? I love gaming, and don't want this to limit my gaming experiences any more than it already has. I'd be willing to do pretty much anything if it actually works.

2. Does anyone else here suffer from the same issue? If so, do you happen to have a list of games that you can play without getting sick?

Thanks in advance.

* raises hand.

Couldn't 3D display do the trick? Or different aspect ratio?

That's unfortunate, do motion sickness/anti-nausea pills help - i.e. taking Dramamine an hour before playing?

I once got sick from playing Psychonauts (Milkman and Bulldude levels...ugh), but that was a while ago and when I tried to play through it again earlier this year I had no problem with it.

Maybe you could just kinda get over it? Bear through it and you'll get used to it and it'll no longer bother you? No idea if that would help, other than that I've no clue.

I've tried changing aspect ratios, which didn't make any difference. By 3D display you mean the whole glasses 3D thing? I guess it's worth a try if it might work, but I would have thought it would just make it worse. I've tried that too, with no success. If I keep playing after it makes me throw up, I get very dizzy, sweat profusely, and end up in bad shape for days after :(

I have similar issue too, i thought mine has gone but it recurs again.
I discover it when i played Kingpin 2 weeks ago. Also i just wasted another $4 for Serious Sam HD, i can't even make it through first couple of minutes. Basically, i'm not okay with any first person shooter game, fast paced or not. I have yet to try racing game in first person view. I suspect this has to do with tinnitus and BPPV which has been plagued me for over than a year..

The wrong FOV sometimes make people motion sick. You could try adjusting that, or sitting closer/farther from the display.

For reference, here's a quick list of things I've tried (all of which haven't helped):

- Adjusting graphics settings, playing on different types of monitor, etc
- Playing older or newer games (this applies to everything from Doom to Deus Ex)
- Acupuncture (suggested to me by someone who said it had worked for him)
- Those silly wrist bands that people wear to stop themselves getting sick on boats and planes
- Mirror's Edge. It has a special mode for people who get this, where there is a red dot in the center of the screen that is supposed to help (but doesn't).

I hate games with a camera run along with the player. Gears of War for example, I can't stand it. In the first few minutes my head is spinning, aching and makes me vomit. I have to sleep it off so I could recover.

I remember someone suggesting posting those yellow sticky notes all around monitor bevel. I have not tried this yet (always forget to buy sticky notes when I am in the supermarket), but you can try.

Some of them are fine for me, but it seems to depend on how the camera moves. Aside from my Witcher example, another good example is God of War - I can play it non stop for days without so much as a headache.

The ones that make me sick seem to be the ones where the camera is following the character, but panning in a different direction from the direction the character is moving in (like looking side to side when the character is moving forward).

Sounds worth a try :)

Its not uncommon. Its called Simulation Sickness. I get it whenever I start playing games on a new monitor or TV. It stops affecting me after a few days of gaming. I also occasionally get it if im gaming while im very tired.

Pretty much any game with a camera attached, either directly or with a boom or something, to a character's head, will make me feel slightly ill after a while. Batman AA, for instance, I'm having to play in small chunks, even though the camera is over Batman's shoulder. I remember some of the old DOS FPSs had an option to turn off head-bobbing, but that didn't seem to be the source of the problem.

Weirdly, now that I think about it, I have almost never had this problem with Oblivion. In-car cameras in racing games are also fine, though I do actually get carsick IRL. I can also use those god-mode cameras that follow the character from just up and behind with no issues.

Man, now you've got me wondering what the actual trigger is.

I've never found anything that worked against it except to stop playing for a while, though, sorry. :-(