Camera angles, motion sickness

Hi. Guild Wars looks like a fascinating game to me. However, before pre-ordering the game, I want to be sure I will be able to play it.

I'm part of a small minority of gamers who easily get motion sickness from certain 3D games. It's not the 3D really that causes it but camera angles. If camera angles keep changing and are not fixed, I get motion sickness pretty quickly.

I was excited about World of Warcraft and bought it only to find out I had wasted my money. World of Warcraft (even when I played with all the options regarding camera angles) would cause me motion sicknes due to the way it's camera angles moved. However, Battle for Middle Earth has a nice fixed camera angle that allows me to play with no problems. Ultima Online with its overhead view (with no moving camera angles) also allows me to play freely.

So, that's my question, will Guild Wars cause me motion sickness? How are the camera angles in Guild Wars? Can I keep it fixed (truly fixed, unlike in WOW) so it won't change on me? Is there a fixed overhead, isometric type view that allows me to see what is happening all around my character without shifting camera angles?

Any and all opinion and thoughts on this would be welcomed and appreciated. I'd love to play Guild Wars...but can I without getting sick? Thanks!

Well, it is possible to change your camera angle by using the right-side mouse button, holding it, and swivling the view. But normally the view is from a little distance behind you and is defaulted to a pretty decent spot from what I thought at the time I played.

Hopefully you don't have to worry about it with Guild Wars though.

I'm not sure. Watch some gameplay videos from this link. (I am extremely sorry if you get sick from watching any of these!)

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=1317

I would like to say you wont get motion sickness but i really cannot relate :/ kiwi has a video library up mabye this will help.

best of luck.

edit: someone already linked bah

Thank you all for the replies. I watched some of the videos. I noticed the camera angle turning in them, but, I'm guessing the angle was turned on purpose by the player rather than i being automatic? If it's as described where the camera angle is behind you a little bit and if it keeps this view, then this indeed could be the game I am looking for. So, if I understand right, the camera angle won't bounce (up/down or left/right) on its own? Thank you again for the replies!

I haven't played yet, But I'm fairly sure that was the player turning the camera... wasn't automatic I think.

correct the camera really only moves if you move the camera yourself, so if you want you can have it stuck in one position the whole time

As far as I know the camera won't move on its own unless you end up against a wall and it pushes you into first person view. If the videos weren't too hard on you I'd suggest seeing if you can get a friends pass for the beta next weekend to try it for yourself.

I feel your pain Nightman! I have the same problem, especially with FPS games. I can only play for an hour or so before I have to quit. I have ben playing GW in every beta weekend since the open World Preview Event (in October) including a few runs of over six hours at a time. I've never had an issue with the cameras and sickness playing Guild Wars. Hopefully you'll be the same...

Vai

I have had a few problems with motion. I sometimes use keyboard and other times mouse, but when I stop running I find the camera view rolls just a bit to the right or the left around my character and suddenly I am off angle...do you understand what I mean? Does anyone know how to correct this? I can have enemy in view from behind my character and when I get there the camera view rolls and I am being hit because I am looking at my characters side and I have to correct the angle to see what I am hitting.

Well, wow, thank you everyone. Almost everything I read seems to point at Guild Wars being safe for my motion sickness problem.

Vai Demine, I'm glad I'm not the only one here with this problem. If you can play for a hour with FPS games, though, you're less affected than me. I would say my tops would be about 10 minutes. With World of Warcraft, I'd feel it right away but could keep playing for up to maybe 1-2 hours. But then, it really diminishes the enjoyment to play while feeling sick. But if you can play Guild Wars for 6 hours or more straight with no ill effects at all, then that is a very good sign for me.

BlackArrow, is it a pretty rare thing when you end up against a wall where the camera angle automatically pushes you into first-person view?

Thanks to everyone for your help. If the camera angle doesn't turn automatically *and* if one camera angle works for most of the time (so you can what you're fighting and what's fighting you), then I don't have anything to worry about.

In fact, the only thing giving me pause now is what you said Kaiwyn. When you say the camera angle view "rolls" when you stop moving, that worries me. That and if you have to manually move the angle just to see what you're fighting. Occassionally moving the camera angle manually should be fine for me, but if I have to do it more often, that will give me motion sickness just as if the game was doing it automatically for me.

So, except for what you said, Kaiwyn, I'd be ready to go preorder the game. (No passes to try before I buy.) Does anyone else have the same problem Kaiwyn does and is there anything that can be done to correct it? Is there a fixed overhead or isometric view you can choose?

Thanks!

I get sick playing games like Quake or Doom where the background is moving fast all the time. It's like being on a carosel or something. It doesn't sound like you have the same motion sickness problem, but I just wanted to say I've never gotten sick playing Guild Wars. The camera angle may be a problem for you because when you target some enemies they keep moving, but your camera angle doesn't stay on them. You have to manually adjust the camera angle to get them back in your viewing area, unless there's some setting I'm not familiar with that will keep targets in your viewing area. If you play as a warrior, that may not matter because you'll be right there with the target. With a ranger (or any of the other professions), you are potentially fighting from a distance and may run into the camera angle problem. The best way to tell would be to play the game. I don't know where you're from, but I've read that Target is selling the pre-oder package for $1 with a $1 coupon in case you buy the game. It'd be a cheap way to try the game.

What I meant is that I can be running along chasing an enemy or just moving from point a to point b, with the camera behind my character and I stop, and the camera rolls a bit around to the side so I am suddenly seeing my character from the side rather than the back. I wondered if this was because of something I had done wrong?

I think I may know what is happening, Kaiwyn. When I first started playing GW, in order to move my character, I would use the left mouse button to click on a spot that I wanted my character to move to and he would go there...no problem, but then I tried HOLDING the left mouse button down and found that my character would run toward wherever I held the cursor at in real time...again, no problem, until I let off the mouse button, when I'd experience just what you're describing - a rolling of the camera angle view to one side or the other, so that I'd have to adjust the view back around by holding down the right mouse button. Then I tried holding down BOTH mouse buttons at the same time. The cursor vanishes and your character runs straight forward in the direction that it's facing, and when you let off the buttons, the character just stops with no skewing of the camera angle. You may want to try that this weekend, if you use the mouse to move your character. I've not used the keyboard for movement much, so can't comment on that. I hope that helps a bit.

I do not get motion sickness from most games or GW, but there are several ways to control movement and the camera so hopefully you will find one that works well. The first is essentially a fps view, that would almost definantly be bad for you. But you can also move the camera behind your character (zoom out far or right behind your characters head) and it will follow you with no jostling or side to side movement as you move. You can hold down the right mouse button to swivel the camera on purpose, either while moving or while standing still. You can move with the wasd keys or point and click on the ground to move there. Hopefully one of these will agree with you and I absolutely recommend you get the 1 dollar preorder to try the game next weekend and then purchase it if you are comftorable.

Nightman, I'm so sorry to hear about the motion sickness thing. I know how you feel though, cos I can't play first person shooters. But 3rd person has always been ok for me.

I might... and I'm stressing on the MIGHT here, so please don't get your hopes up too much.... but I might be able to get you a friend's beta key if you haven't pre-ordered it yet and just wanna try out the game. I'll check with one of my guild members and get back to you ASAP about it.

I have to say this is one of the nicest game community sites I have seen. When I originally posted, I was half expecting a number of replies to ridicule that I get motion sickness. Instead, every single reply has been helpful, informative, and even caring. That to me is impressive and says a lot about all of you. So I want to again thank everyone! You're all great!

It sounds mostly like I won't have to worry about getting motion sickness in Guild Wars (though if I have to play a warrior to keep things in my view, that limits my options). But it also seems, as several of you pointed out, that the real way to be sure is for me to try it this next weekend before buying.

Joysze, if you might be able to get a friend's beta key for me to try it out, that would be fantastic. I understand completely that the chances aren't good for it but I want to say I really appreciate you checking for me and offering. That is so nice of you. Regardless on if you happen to find one or not, thank you so much!

If the friend's beta key doesn't work, I saw a couple of you mention a $1 preorder. This is the first I've heard of this. Could you tell me more about it? Where do I go to get it? I checked Target via their Internet site but they don't even list Guild Wars at all in their PC games section. If I do happen to get motion sickness during the next beta event, I don't have to buy the game even if I preordered it, right? If I can't this $1 preorder, what's my next best bet? Thank you all again!

i dont know if the 1$ pre-orders are still going on, but if they arent you can pre-order about anywhere else for 5$. best buy, comp usa, eb games and game stop all have them in stock.

Welcome to the forums, Nightman.

Amazon.com offers $1 preorders, although you might have to get them to ship fast in order for it to arrive by this weekend, which is the BWE. After the shipping costs, it might not be such a good deal anymore

Dreamsmith did buy preorders for $0.99 at Target though, so you might want to try that.

Nightman, check your mail. Enjoy and have a great time!

Sometimes i get car sickness, but never from playing a game though.

try to put camera far away from your charcter with mouse scroll.
it will become overhead view(like any real time strategy games)
everything will appear to move slowly(like watching fast moving car from long distance)...so im pretty sure you will be ok.
no surprising rapid camera angle change in this way too

just to make sure...try april beta event(you can either get pre-order or get friend pass key from here...there are friendly people who likes to share their friend pass key. i already gave mine to my friend. sorry )

As far as I've gathered (and I could be wrong of course) it sort of plays just like KOTOR (Knights of The Old Republic). I've only played it for an hour (last hour of the World Preview Event), but that was how it felt.

Hope you will be able to play it, mate!

I think you've got it! So I just hold down both buttons when moving? I'll try it this coming weekend.

Man that must really, really suck. I could never imagine having a motion sickness problem with games. I would be so mad, actually I think even if I got sick and I really enjoyed the game I would tuff it out. I find it very strange that the things that I love the most about some games such as very fast gameplay and a constant moving very fast responsive camera, some people get sick because of that. I don’t think I could live if I had that. I would probably dedicate my life to finding a cure.