# Video Games, FOV and Headaches **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 7, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547 "2013-02-07T03:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547/1 "2013-02-07T03:24:11Z")
I picked up Call of Duty Black Ops 2 to check out what the fuss was about. I am not a big gamer. Anyways after several hours of play, I was naseous and had a headache. I have never felt this after a game. Doing some Googlin’ I found out that the games Field Of View caused this. Is there anyone around here familiar with this or has had problems with it? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547/2 "2013-02-07T03:31:58Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an FOV angle causing nausea. I’ve heard of **P** OV causing nausea – some people get motion sick from First Person games. ETA: Huh, apparently low FOVs can cause motion sickness. Never knew that. I did sometimes feel sick while playing Borderlands until I edited the .ini to increase FOV angle, maybe that’s why. I’m not sure why an FOV angle would do that. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547/3 "2013-02-07T03:54:44Z")
It has something to do with the “action” taking place spread out across the whole Field of View or something like that. I am not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547/4 "2013-02-07T04:03:18Z")
I know that the natural human FOV angle is about 100 degrees (what’s odd is that games almost never go above 90deg). It could be that if your monitor is taking up most of your real FOV, but its FOV angle is too small, things may appear to move unnaturally which disagrees with what you expect and makes you queasy. I’ve worked in virtual reality labs, so this is a somewhat educated guess, but is still kind of WAG-y. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547/5 "2013-02-07T04:33:34Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > Doing some Googlin’ I found out that the games Field Of View caused this. Is there anyone around here familiar with this or has had problems with it? Yes, it’s a fairly common problem for people playing PC ports of FPS console games. Fortunately Black Ops 2 is one of the games where you can increase the FOV. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547/6 "2013-02-07T14:07:14Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > Yes, it’s a fairly common problem for people playing PC ports of FPS console games. Fortunately Black Ops 2 is one of the games where you can increase the FOV. I am playing it on an Xbox 360. Specifically, how do you change the FOV? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547/7 "2013-02-07T17:23:56Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > I am playing it on an Xbox 360. Specifically, how do you change the FOV? You can’t. Welcome to console gaming. It’s the devs/Microsoft’s way or the highway. I think their reasoning is two fold - Since you’re playing on a TV, you’re probably standing far enough away that the screen isn’t taking up anywhere near as much of your field of view as a PC monitor standing a few feet from your face. Two, given number 1, they can save a lot of performance sucking per pixel effects and 3d mesh complexity by lowering the FOV (so that less of the world is being rendered in any one frame). I can’t stand playing FPS games with low FOV’s. Even third person games with low FOV can induce dizziness. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547/8 "2013-02-07T22:39:32Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > You can’t. > > Welcome to console gaming. It’s the devs/Microsoft’s way or the highway. > > I think their reasoning is two fold - Since you’re playing on a TV, you’re probably standing far enough away that the screen isn’t taking up anywhere near as much of your field of view as a PC monitor standing a few feet from your face. Two, given number 1, they can save a lot of performance sucking per pixel effects and 3d mesh complexity by lowering the FOV (so that less of the world is being rendered in any one frame). > > I can’t stand playing FPS games with low FOV’s. Even third person games with low FOV can induce dizziness. Hey Kinthalis, so you know what I am talking about. I sit about 7’ away from a 50" TV. If I am sitting up, my eyes are at the mid height of the TV and if I am lying down, they are at the level of the bottom edge of the screen. How should I be facing the TV? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-fov-and-headaches/649547/9 "2013-02-07T22:52:06Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > Hey Kinthalis, so you know what I am talking about. > I sit about 7’ away from a 50" TV. If I am sitting up, my eyes are at the mid height of the TV and if I am lying down, they are at the level of the bottom edge of the screen. How should I be facing the TV? Sitting 84" away from a 50" tv means the screen takes about atan(50/84/2)_180/pi_2 = 33 deg of your field of view. On the other hand, I’m currently sitting about 24" from a 20" screen, which gives a 45 deg FoV.