Health & Safety Warning

Symptoms to watch for

These may appear together or separately, and may occur without warning:

• Light-headedness, dizziness or a sense of disorientation
• Altered vision, eye or face twitching
• Jerking or shaking of arms or legs
• Confusion, or a brief loss of awareness of your surroundings
• Loss of consciousness or convulsions

Reducing the risk

• Play in a well-lit room, and sit as far from the screen as is comfortable.
• Take a 10–15 minute break every hour, even if you feel fine.
• Do not play when you are tired, unwell or short of sleep.
• Turn bloom off in Settings → Display — it reduces the brightness and glow of explosions.
• Lower the screen brightness. Explosions are the brightest thing in the game.

Parents should watch for these symptoms in their children, and ask about them: children and teenagers are more likely than adults to experience them, and less likely to mention them.

Looking at a screen for hours tires the eyes: they become sore or dry, focus slips, and a headache follows. It is not damage, but it is a signal to stop.

• Break every hour. Look at something 6 metres away for 20 seconds — the distance matters more than the time.
• Match the screen brightness to the room. A bright screen in a dark room is the worst combination.
• Blink deliberately. People blink about half as often while playing, which is why eyes dry out.
• Stop if your vision blurs or your eyes ache. It does not improve by continuing.

Hours of the same small movements can cause tingling, numbness, burning or stiffness in the hands, wrists, arms, neck or shoulders. Taken seriously and early, these pass. Ignored, they can become persistent conditions such as tendinitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.

• Stop playing if symptoms appear. Rest the hand for several hours before returning.
• If symptoms persist or recur, see a doctor — do not wait for them to become constant.
• Keep your wrists straight and your shoulders relaxed; do not rest wrists on a hard edge.
• Stretch your hands, fingers and shoulders during breaks.
• Do not grip the mouse or controller harder than you need to. Under pressure most people squeeze without noticing.

Prolonged listening at high volume — particularly through headphones — can cause permanent hearing loss. Hearing damage does not hurt while it happens, which is exactly why it happens.

• Set the volume so you can still hear someone speaking normally in the same room.
• If you raise the volume repeatedly during a session, your ears are already fatigued — stop instead.
• Ringing in the ears after playing is a warning, not a side effect. Reduce the volume next time.
• Explosions are louder than the rest of the game. Set the level during a fight, not in the menu.

Music, effects and voice have separate volume controls in Settings → Sound, so voice chat can stay audible without the rest of the game being loud.

• Sit with your back supported, feet flat, screen roughly at eye level and about an arm's length away.
• Take a 10–15 minute break every hour: stand up, walk, look away from the screen.
• Do not play when you are exhausted or need sleep. Tiredness makes every other symptom on this page more likely.
• Drink water and eat. Long sessions quietly replace both.

Some people feel nausea, dizziness or headache from on-screen movement. BomberParty is viewed from above, which is far less provocative than a first-person view, but a fast session on a large close screen can still cause it.

• Stop as soon as you feel unwell, and do not resume until it has fully passed.
• Increase your distance from the screen, or play in a window rather than full screen.
• Make sure the room is ventilated and not overheated.

• Keep the area around you clear — cables, cups and pets do not survive a startled player.
• Do not play in a moving vehicle, on stairs, or anywhere a lapse of attention has consequences.
• If you use a pacemaker or other implanted medical device, follow its manufacturer's guidance about proximity to peripherals and wireless equipment.
• Keep drinks away from equipment, and do not use damaged cables or power supplies.

• Children are more susceptible to photosensitive seizures than adults, and less likely to report early symptoms. Ask directly whether they have felt dizzy or strange while playing.
• Agree how long a session lasts and enforce the break every hour — a child will not stop on their own.
• Set the volume yourself, especially with headphones.
• The game has online play and voice chat with other people. Decide whether that is appropriate, and talk about who they are talking to.
• Steam's own Family View and parental settings restrict access, playtime and communication features at the account level.

• You share the world with real people. What they say in chat or voice is not written by us and is not moderated in real time.
• Muting is immediate: click a name in the player list to silence that person, or switch the microphone off entirely.
• Do not share personal information — real name, address, school or workplace, contact details — with people you meet in a game.
• Report abusive behaviour through Steam's reporting tools and tell us in our community so we can act on our side.

What data the game handles is described in our Privacy Policy.

This warning is general guidance, not medical advice. If you have any condition that you think may be affected by playing, or if symptoms appear, consult a doctor — a page on the internet cannot assess you.