Role-Playing Games and Health Issues

[Anime & RPGl and]

I've been playing RPGs for the better part of 20 years now was wondering about the safety of the games. I don't play for long sessions and always take breaks, but was wondering some games have horrible flashing light patterns that can be dangerous for anyone with a seizure problem. As far as I am aware I do not have this problem, but according to the literature provided by game companies anyone could experience one playing games. I was interested in Star Ocean 4 until I saw some battle footage and noticed it sure looked like an obscene amount of flashing lights during battles. Has anyone else noticed this in this game or other games. Basically, I just want to be safe. Opinions on the topic are welcome. Thanks.

[Dincrest]

The first time I played the Skies of Arcadia demo, the flashy strobe effects and the herky-jerky camera in battles made me a little dizzy/seasick.  I don't like it when games cause me physical discomfort.  And bear in mind, I have zero issues with motion sickness, seizures, or anything whatsoever, so that was weird.  I could play FF8 for hours no problem with all its summon sequences, and Grandia II was a lovely experience (smoother panning camera too.)  Go figure, I tried playing Skies months later and the strobe effects didn't bother me.  

That SNES game Paladin's Quest had an eyestrain color scheme to me.  

EDIT: And back when handhelds didn't have backlit screens, those made my eyes go funny if I played too long.  That's partially why I swore off handhelds for a spell and favor my PSP over my DS (bigger screen and can hook up to my TV).  Of course, my DS is the old "fat" one and I want an XL. 

[Starmongoose]

Unless you are playing in a pitch-dark room, with a 10 ft high television whilst a rave is going on complete with strobe lights. I doubt that you would have a seizure unless you have a history with similar problems. Of course I'm not an expert and this is only speculation. There are a couple of times I felt sorry for people who are prone to those sorts of fits, the only game that comes to mind right now is FF7, when the screen cuts back to Sephiroth then to Cloud at an increasing frequency until eventually the screen goes white.

[daschrier]

WKC made me a bit sea sick with the camera rotating contanstly. I attribute that more to sitting 6 feet away from my 50" HDTV.

[kyuusei]

I've taken Gravol (motion sickness drugs) just to play the Metroid Prime games. :P

I've never had a problem with RPGs though. If I play for hours upon hours I might feel a bit bleh, but I typically neve rlast more than a couple hours :P

[Dice]

Not RPGs.  I did get pretty frustrated playing Super Mario Sunshine/Galaxy.  The "extra" levels became reaallly tedious.
...no, I never threw the remote at the television.  People who do are retards.

But now that I think about it.  I think Baten Kaitos I made me go partially deaf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oI0eIAmlo0
(Best demonstrated between 0:50 - 1:00)  
The sound effects were super loud and high-pitched.  Not bad once, but over time, you really start to notice it.  The god-awful voice acting doesn't help either.  

[Roger S. Huxley]

A few of my friends had trouble playing most FPS games due to motion sickness, but personally I never had any problems, either with this or excessive flashes. It's just mildly annoying.

Some music in Rogue Galaxy gave me a headache though, I think it was on Juraika, that jungle planet. Holy shit was it annoying.

[DM Kyle E. Miller]

I've had strange episodes during which my perception is distorted before. It's happened while playing RPGs or any other video game, but only a few times. It seems to be triggered by sounds. Nothing has come of it though. I would say games are very safe unless you have a condition they can aggravate.

[MeshGearFox]

Game make you fat.

http://www.stuffwelike.com/stuffwelike/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/gabe1.jpg

Seriously!!

[Tooker]

I've also only gotten motion-sick from playing FPSs.

I think they mostly put those warnings into everything because hey, if they warn you and you have a reaction, you can't sue them! :)

[Sagacious-T]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKYaGgSFdqA

[Dice]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKYaGgSFdqA

I had problems looking at that in YouTube-quality... poor kids. =/

[Madoka]

I've also only gotten motion-sick from playing FPSs.

Me too. Worse case was the canal level on Half-Life 2. I couldn't play that for more than 10 minutes without getting sick.

Concerning consoles, sometimes my thumbs will hurt; makes me wonder if I'm getting arthritis. :)

[Raze]

Fps games and a few other select 3d games used to make me sick too when the technology was a lot weaker. Half-life was a turning point. I guess around then the frames per second and resolution got good enough that I could play for hours with no problem. Console wise things started to turn around on the N64 where only a few games gave me problems(I couldn't play perfect dark, but I could play goldeneye for example).

Nowadays those problems are long, long gone.