I have never had issues with motion sickness in games, or in any situation. I for a while thought I was getting sick today, but now I am not so sure it isn't this game. It could be just an illness, but it really doesn't feel like it. Here is what is making me think it is the game. I only say this because I have never experienced this before, but it also feels far different than any "illness" I have felt. I just never have really gotten motion sick. This could just me getting sick, I am still not sure, but any idea if this could be the game?

It feels almost like a dizzyness, but a dizzyness in my stomach, not in my head. It makes me want to throw up, but not in any sort of nausea I have ever felt.

I got up today and felt great, the bombcast I listened to in the morning and convinced me to buy the game. I played for a while and started feeling ill after about a half hour. I took a break and went to class thinking maybe I caught something weird, but maybe not. I should mention my diet has been a bit different the last day or so [much healthier than normal, could be that?]

So I went to class feeling a bit odd, but felt better after class, so I came back to play in the one hour I had between classes. I played for that hour, and started feeling incredibly sick.

I went to the next class worried I would have to leave mid class from feeling sick. I felt so bad, but started to feel better during the class.

I then came home, and played some more [still not thinking it was the game]. I got so sick I had to lay down for a number of hours. When I woke up I tried to play some more [feeling better] and just now am really starting to realize every time I get sick is from this game. Especially when I sprint in this game.

Could this be the game? Otherwise I feel great. The effect does persist a bit after I have been playing, but it wears off eventually. I can play a bit without feeling it, but then suddenly BAM I can't touch it anymore, especially if I sprinted much in the game.

I have never had motion sickness issues in any game, even in games where you are going way faster, darting around way more, ect [even the sprint in this game is almost a snails pace anyway]. Could this be? I am rather shocked that THIS of all games, a rather slow paced puzzle game would make me motion sick to such a degree I almost had to skip classes [I NEVER skip classes, I hate the thought of it].

You could be experiencing simulation sickness due to the game's narrow FOV. If you are on PC, you can edit the config file and widen it out. I made my FOV about 20% wider and it helped a lot. If you're playing the console version, you're shit out of luck.

Here are instructions on how to do it:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/210970/discussions/3/458606877334931773/

You are at least the third person to mention this just here on GB alone, so it isn't just you.

Hmm... Yeah, I don't know. I don't usually get motion sickness myself in games (except briefly in GTA V for PC in first-person mode for about 6 or so hours before I got used to its motion blur and FOV) but if I were you I'd do a little experimental scheduling to see if the game and your symptoms were correlated. (And yes, correlation does not equal causation.) Try a week without playing the Witness, then play it and see how you feel. It could be possible to adjust visual settings to mitigate whatever you could be reacting to but without evidence leading you to a conclusion on if The Witness is specifically effective at causing your symptoms it could either be pointless or ineffective, who knows.

Sorry to hear though, duder! Best wishes.

@mike:

Ok this is a relief then, because I really was not wanting to get sick right now.

Oh, I just found this gamespot article on this, it must be widespread.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-witness-dev-working-on-fix-for-reported-motion/1100-6434217/

oh and this

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2016/01/27/people-are-getting-sick-playing-the-witness

Yeah, I don't get complications at all, but I immediately noticed there is something wrong with the way the game moves. It is not pleasurable to look at in motion. Which is a shame, because the world is pretty awesome looking.

I actually just went the route of the steam refund system, even with the fixes. Man the witness is an awesome game, but honestly just thinking about it even makes me sick a touch. I kinda got my fill after the whole incident, and I don't think I can deal with playing it even if it is fixed for a while. If it wasn't for that I would have def kept playing.

I have to give it to the steam refund system, they are pretty awesome at things. I was well over the 2 hour "soft" limit to refund, but I explained the situation and they refunded it no prob.

I should say, if it was not for this whole incident though I would have in no way refunded this game. It is a rad game!

I've played a lot of the witness and haven't felt a thing.. I can't imagine getting motion sickness from a video game, since you're not actually moving.

@counterclockwork87: It's actually quite common, especially in first person games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulator_sickness

I seem to recall hearing something about Jonathan Blow making a statement about trying to patch in some quick fix for people getting queasy. What that quick fix would be, I don't know, but I also seem to remember hearing somewhere else that even something as simple as a fixed crosshair displayed on screen at all times can help with nausea.

It's kind of the opposite of "motion" sickness in a sense. My understanding* of getting carsick or seasick is that your focus is on something static from you perspective (a book, something in the boat, etc) while your inner ear stuff is sensing all kinds of motion. Your brain says "I can't tell if I'm moving or not because the eyes and inner ear are sending conflicting reports. This is clearly the result of my stupid body eating something poisonous and I need to make it puke that junk out"

Simulator sickness is like that only the inner ear senses no motion but the eyes sense motion.

*I'm not a doctor, so there's a decent chance all that shit I just said is nonsense.

*edit: On a related note, something I've noticed in this game and a few others (specifically sections in Fallout 4 and Skyrim) is that the fastest way to get me SUPER pukey is to have an area in a game where everything is tilted. There's a beached ship in Skyrim, some half-collapsed buildings in Fallout 4, and one or two minor areas in The Witness that are all slanted like 30 degrees to one side. Instant nausea.*

There's a high chance it could be the result of suddenly changing your diet, did you encounter any weird vivid dreams whilst asleep ? If yes then It was your diet and your stomach just need some rest.

I was the same way till this game. I never had any issue with motion sickness, and I used to even find it odd at people getting sick with VR as you always hear. Now I understand how that could be, and this wasn't even with VR! I don't think it was a sudden change in the diet though, I mean honestly yeah it is different but not THAT different. Now after analyzing the whole situation more in depth it feels like it was every time playing the game I was getting sick. I don't even think it was from tilted stuff that was making me sick like someone pointed out. It was just running around flat areas that would do it. Anyway, it just sounds like it is a common problem as there have been a good deal of news stories even written about this, and Mr. Blow even spoke about it being an issue.

Thanks all for the help though!

I was feeling a little bit woozy just from watching the quick look. Talos Principle was similar to me. Drastically increased the FOV and that cleared it up. Probably similar in this case.

Ya, the game hasn't been making me feel sick, but something feels off when moving around in this game.

It's very much a thing but some people are more or less susceptible to it. Even if you've never noticed it before, there may come a time when just the right combination of your playing setup and the game's perspective/movement finally trigger something. I generally don't have any issues either, but Half-Life 2 (a game that's rather notorious for motion sickness) stands out to me as one of the worst game playing experiences I've ever had because I absolutely couldn't play it for more than a few minutes without starting to experience a headache and nausea.

I feel the FOV during normal play but it doesn't actually make me feel ill, just looks a little annoying. I never get motion sickness from games, but last night I got up and stood close to my TV to work on a tiny puzzle that was far away from my in-game avatar and IMMEDIATELY felt nauseated. It's definitely not just you. Good luck!

@mike: You sir are amazing. Thank you so much for this, I was feeling the same motion sickness and this solved the problem for me. Maybe this is because I grew up playing PC FPS's, but any horizontal FOV under 90 just seems too narrow for me.

Its subsided a bit for me. Seems like there's only certain areas that'll do it, coupled with my readiness to run everywhere.

@monetarydread: No problem dude. I'm the same way - I actually started to feel a little nauseous when watching the Halo 5 Quick Look due to it's 55 FOV or whatever it has. Games like Destiny don't look right to me either.

I was just going to post to see if anyone else felt the fov sickness. Sadly I didn't even consider it for this game before buying it and I'm definitely sensitive to the worst offenders (id 6 engine, fallout, farcry). I'm glad to see that it's not just me getting worse but also sad that I was right. Hopefully Jonathan Blow can get a fix in and hopefully developers or Sony will get on board letting people adjust fov even if it's at the cost of visual integrity.

Yes, this game gave me the worst headache I have had in years! I am not prone to being motion sick in games at all, this is a bad one. I am on PS4 so no FOV slider for me, it helps to not run ingame. And maybe sit a bit further from the TV. Shame, I hope it gets fixed.