Migraine

In my husband's and my favorite on-line game, they introduced a set of grpahics about a year and a half ago that triggered migraines and tension headaches from eyestrain in a portion of the game population.

It turned out that I was so sensitive to the graphics that it only took a few seconds of exposure to them to trigger an attack for me. Since the graphics are player chosen, they are mostly avoidable except for accidental encounters in high traffic areas. However, my first prolonged exposure to the graphics (before I knew what they did to me) triggered an attack so severe that I needed an ER visit to stop it.

After that, we found out that there were a decent number of other people who had the same problem. So, we've both been on a crusade with other members of the game community to lobby for one or a combination of several solutions:

1. An additional warning on the product box along with the usual epilepsy warning.

2. A change to the graphics in question to a set that does not cause problems.

3. A player tool that would allow the selective shutting off of certain graphics.

To the end of a graphics change, we complied and kept a list of over 35-40 separate duggestions generated from people who had trouble with the graphics. We educated and re-educated those who met our reasons with open hostility and skepticism. We researched and dug up any articles we could find on related phenomena. The two most recent being a report on a British researcher who is studying the possibility that simply seeing certain visual patterns my in and of itself be a trigger and the report on the Olympic logo that triggered epilepsy ... and migraines.

In the end who can say what really tipped the scales in favor of changes being made in the set. However, they have been made and I have seen them on the test server, and I do not have an attack as a result. The others who have been voicing their support are reporting the same result: no migraines.

So, I successfully eliminated another trigger in my life.

Now that called for a celebration! Wahoo!!! Way to go!

A seven smilie salute to you!

Very proactive of you. Good work.

What game is it, out of curiousity?

And congrats- Way To Go!!! Very proactive, and it's awesome that you can now play again w/o migraine!

It's City of Heroes. My husband is a serious comic book/superhero junkie, so he really likes it. I am competitive enough that I like the what the two of us can accomplish as a team. It's also something we can do in the evenings that's a little more interactive than just watching TV.

Nice work

Cool Beans! We have a copy of that in this house... Of course, due to my issues with graphics, I never played...

I DO play World of Warcraft though... 'cause you can change the camera angle... and it lets me play w/o throwing up or getting nauseous!

quote:

Originally posted by aharris:
It's City of Heroes. My husband is a serious comic book/superhero junkie, so he really likes it. I am competitive enough that I like the what the two of us can accomplish as a team. It's also something we can do in the evenings that's a little more interactive than just watching TV.

We've never stepped onto the dark-side of Azeroth,

We stay with CoH because we like the people we know, and because my husband is seriously addicted to Superheroes. At this point, I can't imagine much that would lure him away except maybe the upcoming Marvel MMO. Too bad too because I am looking at Gods and Heroes as I like ancient Rome.