I had a quick read of the FAQ for returns and it describes technical problems ala "the game doesn't run on my PC". I have a different problem that I'm curious about. I get really bad simulator sickness from certain 1st person shooter type games (which is really annoying since I enjoy that style of game play). Some are fine, Doom 3, Counterstrike, Serious Sam 1 & 2 for example don't cause me any problems. But Half-life2, Duke Nukem Forever, FEAR and Serious Sam 3 all make me sick as a dog within 15-20 minutes of play.

Symptoms include nausea, dizziness, vertigo, sweating, shakes and headaches. So as you might imagine it makes some games a no-go. At the moment I'm basically avoiding 1st Person shooters since it's a about a 50% chance I won't be able to play it. Now, what I was wondering was, does the return/refund policy extend to a situation like this?

If I could expect to return a game that makes me sick then I'd be a lot more inclined to take a chance on buying more 1st Person shooters.

To be honest, if it's an old game selling for only a couple dollars I probably wouldn't bother trying to get a refund, but it's a bit more problematic if the game is $30 or $50.

Thanks

No. because this way anyone can claim those symptoms without any way for gog to verify them.

They might make an exception but strictly speaking it's not a valid reason for a refund.

Well, that's a great question... :/

To be honest, I don't think they would actually write that down somewhere, but I believe that the good people at GOG.com might actually consider that situation as one where a refund may be given. Worst case scenario, they might actually reimburse your GOG account with the amount you used to pay for the game, so that you may use it for another purchase on the site i.e. a replacement game of equal or lesser value, as a form of store credit. :)

Of course, one should not abuse the privilege, if given.

I want to say no...

I also want to suggest that you check the FOV (Field of view) settings. There's a term I don't recall off hand where the FOV is wrong and too high/low for you which then makes you physically sick because your brain can't handle the changed perception of what it's expected 99% of the time up to this point (and no doubt VR games will be 10x worse?). A lot of games (console especially) are locked at something like 65, while in the living room this is fine, often for PC where you're closer to the screen you need it a bit wider, closer to 80. There's also to field of view types width, and ratio vs height (which is more confusing).

If playing a game makes you physically sick, try playing it with you sitting another 3 feet from the monitor/screen, if the problem goes away, it's probably your FOV...

Trust me I've tried *everything* over the years (Descent 1994 was the first one to cause it for me) trying to get past simulator sickness. FOV, refresh rates, CRTs/LCDs, different graphics cards, different resolutions, vsync on/off, headbob on/off, weapon on/off, changing monitor settings (brightness/contrast/etc), lighting in the room, PC position, ever tried eating ginger (good for motion sickness) before playing.

Nothing works. I wish there was a concrete connection between games - like it's only Unreal engine but it's not. Half-life2 makes me sick within minutes, yet I can play all the Counter-strike games for hours on end with no ill effects.

Ever happen at the movies? Ya know like too close to the screen? I wonder if some sorta aviator sunglasses would have a effect... It sucks not being able to play what'ch like.

Not regular movies, but 3d movies cause the same problem. Don't get motion sickness in cars, boats or planes either.

Highly unlikely. I will though direct you to this old thread which discussed the sim sickness issue, as well as potential remedies for it. MonstaMunch did manage to increase his tolerance to some of the games from 10 minutes to over an hour, so it might be possible to combat said effects. Do read it, and see if any of those suggestions actually help you.

Do you get motion sickness if watching let's plays of those games too? If yes, you could just use those as a test, if the game has no demo. I guess they might accept to be nice and refund the game, but it would not be guaranteed.

Well, the refund policy says it's only for technical and game-breaking bugs, if you click on it. So unfortunately no, not officially.

However like others have suggested, old shooter games often had demos, so go and try those out first! :) Or watch a gameplay video full-screen.

Simulator sickness is more common than you think. It sometimes helps when you turn down the graphics to the worst possible setting (less realism, less sickness). Some games (like The Talos Principle) also have some prebuild config settings that you can choose that supposedly help (they toy with FoV, they enable 3rd person, they disable head bobbing etc.). Keep in mind that THE LESS REALISTIC an experience you have, THE LESS LIKELY it is to get motion sickness from it. Also, you can get used to just about anything. Sure, you can vomit a few times playing that game. But after a few hours logged in, your brain will actually being to adapt. I know it's not the best way to play, but...

I appreciate that people are trying to offer suggestions to help the sim sickness but trust me after more than 20 years of suffering from simulation sickness experienced over literally dozens of games I have tried *everything*. I'm not concerned with trying to resolve it because I know it's not going to happen. I spent more than three months on Half-life 2 alone trying to come up with a "fix" for sim sickness.

I always try to play the demo if one is released. Unfortunately that doesn't happen as often these days. I might just go with the video play through idea. It's bad enough I get it watching someone else play (that happened watching friends play Left 4 Dead). So that might be a good test. Thanks rtcvb32, probably the best suggestion.

Often we make personal choices and decisions based on necessity and not based on preference. I can't be the twitchy player I used to as a teen playing FPS games anymore, so I've gravitated to space sims, rogue-likes, puzzles and other games. Forcing me into a 3D game is the fastest way for me to hate it; Although older games (BloodRayne and the like) never lose their appeal (Although third person does seem to have fewer issues than first person).

Good luck.