When I bought this game I was aware that there was a problem with the low FOV but believed that this was something ArenaNet would be addressing.
The last update from the devs suggested that this would not be addressed because the problem of players suffering from ‘tunnel vision’ issues was caused by camera movement and that they were going to fix this issue instead.
Tunnel vision issues are not caused by camera movement but they are exacerbated by it. It’s a little like suggesting to people who are seasick that they shouldn’t have a large breakfast – it’s correct, but it doesn’t address the problem with the voyage.
I’ve been playing computer games since the C64 came down to £300 and I even spent some time working for Sony as a tester in the early 90’s so I’m not exactly new to this games playing thing – and I’m not an entitlement reactionary who expects games to be perfect for me, but I was surprisingly affected by Half-Life 2 before I even knew about FOV causing nausea.
GW2 does not cause anything like the effect which HL2 had on me but it has uncomfortable echoes of the same feelings. To be clear to the majority of gamers who are lucky enough not to have the problem – it is like being seasick, as if your inner-ear decides that you are spinning round and makes you feel nauseous.
It is not something you decide to feel.
It’s caused by a wierd reverse effect the brain produces – essentially when you have been poisoned your brain shuts down the periphery of your vision (don’t ask me why, it’s a long explanation) and sends messages to your stomach to throw up – to eliminate the poison. Unfortunately, the brain being a work in progress, when the reverse happens (you get limited or tunnel vision) your brain automatically sends the same signals and you feel like being sick and simultaneously get pretty disorientated.
This has nothing to do with camera movement-lag (although this will make the effect worse). Now I’m not saying that the representative from ArenaNet is not a qualified medical doctor but his remarks about nausea induced by tunnel vision are certainly not consistent with medical opinion. I would expect that any organisation with an understanding of their legal ‘duty of care’ would appreciate that they should seek specialist advice on this kind of problem, rather than making guesses as to what might work. (Apologies if you did get this information from a GP, in which case I would welcome confirmation because they should really not be in practice).
We had the same issue with some gamers suffering epileptic seizures and, after a lot of lobbying, we now see warnings on all games. This problem with low FOV is no different and it’s really not acceptable for those players lucky enough not to suffer from side-effects to be criticising those who do.
What is required is a little understanding from both the community and the developers that this is an issue for a significant number of players and it isn’t something which will be fixed until the developers get up to speed with the majority of the industry and realise that they need to address this significant portion of their stakeholders and create a product which is safe and comfortable to use for everyone.
As a final note – I don’t have a major problem with the width of view but the height of view (45 degrees or thereabouts ?) is really problematic, if this was increased to at least match the horizontal FOV then it would not only improve the appearance of the game but would also lessen the tunnel-vision effect and make a lot of disgruntled players (both sufferers and aesthetes) a lot more gruntled.
