What is the field of view or FOV?

field-of-view-fov

Usually in the game settings we see an option to set the field of view or FOV to some kind of percentage. Increasing the FOV gives you more peripheral vision, while decreasing it gives you the opposite effect. So let’s see what is the most recommended, optimal setting

Shooter games are games where field of view is important as the player’s view is in 1st person, so controlling the edges of the screen is vital. There are people who play with the FOV to the max, while others prefer it to be more limited as they have more detailed “control” of what happens.

What is the field of view?

The field of view is the range a person can see on the screen with their eyes, but in games it can be artificially limited or expanded. You must understand that it all starts with the eyes:

  • Horizontal, usually about 200 degrees.
  • Vertical, just over 130 degrees.

This way, in a virtual reality game (using VR glasses), we have a much wider and more immersive FOV than when we play on a monitor. However, not all VR glasses are created equal. It all comes down to ergonomics and bigger glasses are not always better.

However, we can see how the game settings allow us to enlarge or reduce the field of view. We humans have a FOV of about 200 degrees, but you have to understand that there is an effective FOV. But we do not pay attention to all areas of our field of vision.

According to psychological research, people tend to prioritize the centre-right area and that is why many creators suggest presenting our CV with the photo placed in the upper right area. Therefore, we process information at another 40-60 degrees, leaving the remaining 160-140 degrees in our peripheral vision.

This is well researched and what we usually process 100% is all the information that comes to us from the front (centre). That’s why most of the time there is an enemy on our right/left flank and we don’t see it, but other spectators on our camera (eg in CS:GO).

So having more FOV is not equivalent to “better”, instead we will have more information at our fingertips about what’s going on. Another thing that is very different is that we can process everything that happens in our peripheral vision.

The idea to keep in mind is to have the optimal field of view for our needs because there will be games where it is more beneficial to have a wider FOV, in others the need will be the opposite.

How does FOV affect video game?

We can say that there are 2 great genres where FOV is very important: shooting games or FPS and driving simulators. In driving or racing simulators it is important to have a large FOV because we will benefit from a better sense of speed and a greater amount of information.

If we have a FOV of several degrees, we lose peripheral vision and sense of speed, which is terrible for a simulator experience: we don’t know about dead spots (cars next to us).

On the other hand, if we have a very high FOV, it will appear as if we are sitting behind the driver and we will not be able to see the cockpit well, also it will appear to be going too fast. That’s why we say it’s important to adjust to our needs.

FPS and FOV

Let’s talk about FPS. It is important to have a higher-than-standard field of view to see enemies at certain points on the screen, and to move the mouse only to aim, not to observe. If we use the mouse to observe because our FOV is limited, we will have less precision and worse response time.

However, a very high FOV will make our gun look small, there will still be peripheral vision details that we would not pay attention to in the HUD and for biological reasons.

How to calculate the field of view Isn’t it wise at this point to ask how to calculate the optimal field of view? First we need to make sure that our eyes are in the middle of the screen and that the monitor/screen is at the right height. See desk ergonomics to learn more.

The screen needs to be aligned with our eyes, neither above nor below. Then we can use a FOV calculator, you can find many by searching Google. Ideally, someone should assist you with a tape measure that you can use to measure the distance between the monitor and the seat.

We warn you that what the calculator says is not exact, but rather a guide and recommended. What you need to follow is to feel comfortable with what you see on the desktop and in the game.

Resolution and FOV

Talking specifically about ultra-wide or ultrapanoramic monitors, it was expected that the high resolution would allow us to play with the FOV more. The field of view is most used in landscape (in video games) and there ultra panoramic monitors are very useful.

Is it because of the resolution we see on Ultrawide? No, because of the aspect ratio. It turns out that this will allow us to take advantage of the more or less FOV, and a normal monitor has an aspect ratio of 16:9, while an ultra-wide monitor is usually at least 21:9.

There has been some controversy with Overwatch and field of view, and Blizzard has made it clear that those with an ultra-wide monitor will limit it to 103 degrees so that those who don’t take advantage of it.