Effect of gold fish bowls in design and psychology
Effect of gold fish bowls in design and psychology
The phenomenon you're describing is related to how visual perception changes with field of view. As the viewing angle widens, objects seem larger at the edges compared to the center. This effect tends to intensify when the screen's perspective is altered. There are ongoing efforts in display technology and image processing to minimize such distortions and improve uniformity across the entire screen.
In many games FOV is merely a feature for show. For instance, in the BF series it's just adjusting the camera distance, not expanding or shrinking the view. I haven’t felt the impact you mentioned. Could you provide an example?
The phenomenon you're referring to usually happens because of the field of view your games are configured to use. You typically encounter it only when you exceed the standard settings or adjust it manually beyond the suggested limits. Avoid extreme FOV values in games, and you should be fine. Are you using a dual-monitor setup? That could explain why developers include this feature to improve peripheral vision on such configurations (for example, in Battlefield 4).
The noticeable stretching at the edges when viewing from wide angles comes from how the 3D environment is projected onto a flat screen. When you focus on the center, the corners appear accurate. The distortion becomes apparent only when you stare directly at something. This issue isn’t officially named in gaming, but it might be called rectilinear distortion in photography. If developers adjust it so everything remains consistent no matter where you look, the image would look off when viewed indirectly. Correcting it usually depends on the developer’s choice, though some modification tools could help. Adjusting for this would shrink the display edges, so wider rendering might be necessary. A cylindrical projection could improve how wide screens are handled.