Just a thought. To me, it seems that I'm more of an exception, in that I nearly always play games in their original aspect ratio (usually 4:3), if the aspect gets distorted when you force a game into widescreen resolution. The moment I see elipses instead of circles or rectangles instead of squares, I'm out and reverting to the original aspect immediately. Basically, unless there is a mod that ensures the original aspect is maintained AND adjusts the FoV levels so that they are the same as they were originally, I never force widescreen. Just recently, I played through Dungeon Siege 1 and 2 in 1920x1440 (largest 4:3 that fits on my 1440p screen).

However, one of the most frequently talked about things on forums and discussions for older games seems to be "how to set widescreen" or "modern resolutions for X game" etc. The thing is, it's usually not difficult to force a resolution but in 90+% of cases, it introduces the issues talked above.

So the question is: do you care about these things? Or do you just force widescreen whenever possible and don't care. Kind of interested in what the general sentiment is among GOGers.

Unless there are actual true widescreen settings possible: original aspect ratio all the time, everytime.

Miss me with that stretched shit.

I'm not sure what "force widescreen," means, exactly, since I don't think I have a "widescreen" monitor (it has a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 4K resolution), but I never play games, or watch videos, with black bars at any side of the screen.

That's the worst, most immersion-destroying, game-wrecking, fun-ruining thing ever.

So if I see black bars, either I will configure the game or video to display itself in a such a way so as they disappear, and if I cannot do so, then I simply will never watch that video or play that game.

Likewise, I don't buy re-releases of retro games for which the pubs/devs didn't bother to make the game display over the entire full screen.

If they have black bars at any side of the screen, and/or if they have tacky new borders drawn over the sides of the screen where the black bars would otherwise be displayed (those tacky border drawings are equally as bad as the black bars), then I avoid those games like the plague.

Then you in fact do have a widescreen monitor as 16:9 is considered widescreen. So is 16:10.
Then you can also have ultra-wide aspects, like 21:9.

I like to strech it so i don't see black bars.

Pretty much. Why would I look at a distorted image, if I don't have to?

I hate stretched images. Even went through my DOS collection and tweaked the 320x240 vs 320x200 setting so they look just right. :-)

I prefer to play games in their original ratio, even if it means having black bars on the sides of the screen. I'm particular about this with emulation too. I recently was playing Delta Force 2 using the original ratio. I prefer it that way. Same with playing original CNC and StarCraft.

. As I get older, I find that I care less about fancy things like gaming in widescreen or having the highest possible fps.

Original aspect. I hate distorted, stretched image and I don't mind the black bars. That being said, I often try to find an easy mod or a tweak to make it widescreen.

I only use aspect ratios and resolutions that don't distort the image, so for me to consider using a particular display option, it has to meet that first.

There are people who don't care, even if the game is 2D, they can play it horribly stretched. I can't.

Special mention to older strategy games like C&C games or Heroes of Might and Magic. I always burst out laughing when I see some gameplay of it on an insane resolution like 4K and basically can't see anything without a magnifying glass :D

Still play Age of Empires 2 in 800x600 to this day.

Some games were meant to be squares, and that's fine. Some games were made for weird ratios such as 5:4.

True. There was a time when a lot of monitors capped at 1280x1024. But either way, the jump between 5:4 vs 4:3 isn't nearly as jarring compared to 4:3 vs 16:9.

1280x1024 is 5:4
1280x960 is 4:3

I generally stretch the resolution as well. I don't mind the ellipses and FOV levels nearly as much as those distracting black bars.

It kind of ruins my immersion more than anything else. :-D

I'll take original aspect ratio and true widescreen every time of the day over some stretchy badness.