...So that the dragon on the right is almost invisible

[machomuu]

Probably one of the first things that many games will prompt is brightness, and a lot of times a set brightness is intended by the developer for a specific experience. For an example made relevant again just recently, Dragon's Dogma, due to its taking place in a medieval-esque fantasy setting, has dark nights and limited visibility in the dark that drastically changes the player's approach to fighting and creates a wholly different atmosphere. Heck, most of my most memorable first experiences in that game came from the difference that darkness makes.

But maybe you don't want this. Maybe you just want to explore and darkness is just an annoyance. Or maybe you're too unsettled by the dark, to the point that it gets in the way of an otherwise enjoyable experience.

How do you generally go about brightness settings? Do you keep things bright or follow the recommended brightness? Or, contrarily, do you go the other way and intentionally make things darker?

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

Pretty much always default.

There's a big exception, though.
DRIVECLUB. Because someone thought it's absolutely cool to drive in the night... But that's not all! It's a night where you don't even see the curve but obviously AI is absolutely unaffected by that.

 

[pkmin3033]

Ew, Dragon's Dogma...

I usually crank the volume up one or two notches from the default setting, games these days are far too dark, and I like seeing where I'm going. I mean, sure, it can convey a great atmosphere, but when you're trying to find something and run past it several times...yeah. A good game is plenty tense without the need to obscure your vision anyway; I had the brightness on Demon's Souls up pretty high to compensate for the ridiculously dark areas and I was still on edge even though I could see where my enemies were...seeing where they were only made it worse, in fact, because I had time to ruminate about how I was going to try and fail to avoid an untimely demise. I find stumbling about blindly in the dark ridiculously aggravating.

Screen glare is also a real nuisance that gets worse with games on low brightness, although that's more an issue with the position of my window than it is the game I'm playing, I suppose.

 

[Luck]

I keep them on default for most games, but if it's a game with a heavy focus on isolation and atmosphere like Dark Souls, then I put it around the lowest darkness setting.

 

[Shhwonk]

My eyesight has really bad contrast between light and dark unfortunately, so I always have to set the brightness to about 70 or 80%.

 

[Morkula]

I tend to get it just barely visible like they tell you to...then take it just a notch or two brighter. Pitch-black areas are no fun, and I enjoy being able to at least somewhat see where I'm going.

 

[Yukari]

Is is bad that my fear of the dark translates into video games? ;-;

So yeah I usually turn in up quite a bit.

 

[Legobricks]

I usually leave gamma settings alone. If anything I may turn it down somewhat, since I very much dislike Hollywood darkness, but at the same time I don't like when darkness isn't something that limits the AI as much as the player. I once tried a mod that made Skyrim's nights darker (which I liked for making things like light-casting spells worthwhile) but this led me to frequently bumble into combat unawares while outdoors with a torch in hand.

 

[TY]

I leave them alone usually cause they are fine to me, but sometimes i turn them up when things get too dark for me.

 

[GanguEevee]

If the brightness affects how much battery power the device will have, I will keep it pretty low. As long as I can still see what I'm doing, brightness only matters if I'm playing on a device that needs to charges sometimes.

 

[Lusus]

The only game i have ever changed the brightness setting is Minecraft (fully maxed), mainly because, like Team Fail said, you need to know where you are going. In other games, having brightness as anything a bit past default usually makes the game look... ugly? Idk what word to use here, but the game just doesn't look right if it isn't on default. Minecraft looks for the most part the same, so I don't mind it there.