Board 8 > Managing eye strain

(+) Yeah! (+)

I have a specific question. Not asking for opinions on blue light glasses or w/e.

Once in a while I encounter a game that hurts my eyes. Like, I'm fine for maybe 40 minutes or so, and then my eyes just start tearing up and I can't continue. Though not the only example, the biggest offender for me was Katamari -- any game from the series, on any platform. It's strangely consistent that way. If it were, indeed, the only game, I'd blame it on the animations because there's definitely some uniqueness in the way stuff moves and the screen rotates there, but there have been others.

Yesterday, I bought Patch Quest off Steam and tried playing it. I was enjoying myself until the hour mark and then I just had to stop. Tried again this morning, played right up until the edge of the return window, and I could feel my eyes starting to give after 30 minutes. Patch Quest has almost nothing in common with Katamari other than having a vivid color palette, and if that were the issue, there are a great many other games I'd have never been able to play.

So I guess what I want to know is, are there video settings that might help manage this? I did a search for eye strain and got just the usual suggestions. Blink often, look away every 20 minutes, manage your distance to your monitor, get your vision checked, etc. None of those are the issue. But I'm wondering if there is, in fact, a simple fix of some kind.

Maybe install something like f.lux?

I get the same issue and the only thing I can suggest is everything you said doesn't work.

But also eye drops, the problem you're describing sounds like dryness from eye strain.

You're allergic to katamaris

I've been having really serious problems lately with this too. Often times while playing games my eyes will just start to burn horribly and I have to stop playing, and this can be a really huge problem for me, but I don't know how to fix it. I haven't always been like this and it's really disrupting my life badly.

Oh yeah, if you guys aren't applying eye drops twice daily then I 100000% recommend doing that.

What kind of eye drops?

https://www.amazon.com/Refresh-Tears-Lubricant-Bottles-Sterile/dp/B00008BRR8

This is what I use. Two drops in each eye in the morning, then more later if necessary. Legitimately improved my quality of life.

If this brand doesn't help, maybe try others. I did try the Refresh Plus version of this one, but it was bad.

I had the same issue with Splatoon awhile back. Turned out that I had an eye infection. If you can't find eye drops that help, I highly recommend getting them checked out

I find it reassuring that there are several people saying the same thing. I'm a little reluctant to go the eye drops route for a couple reasons, though.

1) I am genuinely phobic about objects near my eyes. I seriously freak out. It's not as bad if I'm in control of the object, but I've never been able to put drops in. Maybe I need to learn, but I definitely don't want to.
2) Is there a reason why eye dryness would plague specific games -- consistently -- and not affect others at all? Do those games inherently lead to low blink rates or something?

turn down your monitor's saturation

azuarc posted...

1) I am genuinely phobic about objects near my eyes. I seriously freak out. It's not as bad if I'm in control of the object, but I've never been able to put drops in. Maybe I need to learn, but I definitely don't want to.

i sometimes know the fear. workaround: you can close your eyes & put the drops on your tear ducts, or off to the side of your eye, or at the corner of your closed eyelid. then, blink/smudge the lubricant into your eyes.

2) Is there a reason why eye dryness would plague specific games -- consistently -- and not affect others at all? Do those games inherently lead to low blink rates or something?

it's how often you blink, or what percentage of the time your eye is open. if your eye is open without blinking, it dries out. you're probably keeping your eyes open for very long in games where you need to be paying attention/really focusing 100% of the time

and yeah, i turn down brightness & contrast as much as i can stand

also i don't play katamari

KamikazePotato posted...

https://www.amazon.com/Refresh-Tears-Lubricant-Bottles-Sterile/dp/B00008BRR8

This is what I use. Two drops in each eye in the morning, then more later if necessary. Legitimately improved my quality of life.

If this brand doesn't help, maybe try others. I did try the Refresh Plus version of this one, but it was bad.

My optometrist recommended the same brand so yeah these are probably the best.

azuarc posted...

1) I am genuinely phobic about objects near my eyes. I seriously freak out. It's not as bad if I'm in control of the object, but I've never been able to put drops in. Maybe I need to learn, but I definitely don't want to.

I hate this too but I found a good technique for after I got lasik and needed to apply them like 5x daily: Put the drop in the well between your eye and nose and blink a lot - the liquid will get pulled in and distributed nicely. You waste a bit but it's worth it.

As someone who is very bad with eye stuff - my doctor forbade me from getting normal LASIK because I would've fidgeted too much - my honest advice for eye drops is just to do it and get used to it. The benefits were so high for me that I adapted reeeal quick.

Also look into punctual plugs, although if your insurance doesn't pay I have no idea how expensive they'll be.

https://youtu.be/0VaLAZeMJnE

I have no help to give, just thought it was a fun coincidence that Sakurai released this 8 hours ago

Years ago I started getting eye strain while playing certain brightly coloured games, I put off getting it looked at for ages and it turns out I had a bad infection. Yours probs isn't the same thing (I was getting photophobia and my eye was bloodshot) but it won't hurt to get it checked out if drops don't clear it up.

I'm actually really curious about the people who said they had eye infections - was the eye infection like, something acute that flared up for a brief time, or can your eyes get infected like, chronically? I've been having extreme eye irritation for like a year now, it never used to be like this and it seems way more extreme than ANYONE else ever deals with. I guess I should go to a doctor or something?

Paratroopa1 posted...

I'm actually really curious about the people who said they had eye infections - was the eye infection like, something acute that flared up for a brief time, or can your eyes get infected like, chronically? I've been having extreme eye irritation for like a year now, it never used to be like this and it seems way more extreme than ANYONE else ever deals with. I guess I should go to a doctor or something?

Yeah, I definitely recommend getting your eyes checked out. I remember, I would wake up with my vision being notably worse than normal, but would gradually improve over the course of the day. Then when I would try to play Platoon specifically they would start watering profusely. I assumed it was eye strain and used eye drops to no avail. I think this went on for like a month, before I was able to see a doctor, who revealed I had a viral infection.

Some of the home remedies they recommended was hot compress on the eye and I also bought some eyelid wipes that helped drastically. Although I definitely still recommend getting checked out.