How to Deal With Video Game Anger
You have some health left on this boss. One more hit and you’re done. Then, out of nowhere, his ax penetrates inside and chops off your last bit of life … again. Your controller flies around the room as curses burst from your mouth. Sounds familiar? Game rage sucks. Here’s how to keep it in check.
Personally, I love challenging games. My favorite games as a kid were Battletoads, Ghosts n Goblins and Ninja Gaiden. As an adult, I switched to Bloodborne, 1001 Spikes, Super Meat Boy and Trials. All of these games are built around rage-inducing moments that can cause even the calmest of people to strangle their controller in anger. Since Ghosts and Goblins made me break my first controller as a kid, I’ve adapted several techniques to prevent overwhelming rage. After all, I’m a grown man. I shouldn’t be stomping around the room and yelling at the TV like some hideous gamer stereotype.
Take breaks
Most of the anger generated by a game arises after repeating (and failing) a task many times. Perhaps you’ve tried unsuccessfully to solve a particularly tricky puzzle, or a boss fight just isn’t right. I don’t know about you, but after seven or eight deaths, I whine about it and no longer enjoy life. Even worse, I don’t try new techniques, I just do the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different result. So what’s the point?
So, to curb your rage, try taking a break for 15-20 minutes, especially if you’re stuck. Any pent-up anger will disappear as soon as you are free. Like everything else , we can often only complete specific tasks in about 90 minutes. Get through it and you probably won’t be successful. It’s easy to lose track of time when playing games, so set your alarm as a reminder.
Best in breaks? This gives you time to relax and think about things. It also gives you that joyous moment when you come back to the game after a few hours and go through the part you were stuck on for an hour the first time.
Reduce the difficulty
When I was a child, I gave up on simple regimen. I was better than that. I played games well. Easy mode was for weaklings and I wanted to feel successful. However, as an adult, I realized that this is a path to frustration and wasted time. Now I reject the difficulty without hesitation.
There is no shame in easy mode . If the game stops being fun and becomes a source of frustration, why play it? This disgusting first-person shooter turret level that kills me every time? I’ll skip this down to the smallest setting available. This ridiculous RPG boss fight that requires me to grind for 20 hours? I’ll throw it there too. You don’t have to do this in all games (or even in the entire game – you can usually change the difficulty just to beat this one frustrating battle), but if that means the difference between fun and frustration, it’s an easy solution.
Read a step-by-step guide or tips on how to stop sucking
As a kid, I thought reading walkthroughs was cheating, as was reducing difficulty. I will currently be looking for a guide after a few deaths so I can skip to the section.
Obviously, this is only useful for certain types of games. Walkthroughs don’t really help you when you’re playing a particularly diabolical platformer, but they are useful for games like Dark Souls, which are known for being difficult. I’ve played every Souls game with a travel guide nearby, and while some say it defies the heart of the matter, it gave me pleasure, not hype. After all, knowledge is power, even if it’s just knowing that the boss fight is going to be really difficult.
Tips on how to play certain types of games are also very helpful. Whether you’re playing Call of Duty online or delving into Destiny for the first time, reading an introductory blog post on how systems work can improve your game. The better you are, the less likely you are to get angry with the game. The Kotaku “Before Your Start” series is really good for this.
Remind yourself that playing is a learning process.
Some games are downright hard, and that’s part of what makes them great. Punishment games give us a true sense of accomplishment, but you’ll have to go through a lot of setbacks to get there, which causes anger. As we noted earlier , it is the emotional fluctuations between stress and reward that make games so interesting. Failing over and over again? This is how you get better .
While multiple deaths in a game are certainly emotionally exhausting, they can still be fun – heck, this is one of my favorite parts of games. I wouldn’t play hard games if I didn’t like the difference between stress and reward. While it’s hard to remind myself of this in moments of anger, it’s often enough to keep me from getting angry at the game. Many games are about dying and learning from those deaths, so if you want to play them you must learn to enjoy the experience, not get upset about it. The game is (usually) not unfair – it is trying to teach you something instead. The more you fail, the better you get. When I repeat this mantra while playing, I go into Zen mode and filter the angry mental energy into something more productive so I can get through the difficult part without throwing a hiss of teenage rage.
However, if you’re just banging your head against a wall in a game, be sure to go back to the first tip and take a break. Learning from your mistakes is great, but sometimes you really need to walk away. If difficult games still piss you off all the time, then it’s probably best to consider a different style of play.
When all else fails: give yourself an outlet for your rage.
Sometimes you just get mad at the game and there’s nothing you can do about it. Instead of tossing the controller at the TV, it’s best to come up with other outlets for anger so as not to spoil your nice stuff.
Our very own Patrick Allan admitted to installing landing cushions around the couch. Instead of tossing this controller against the wall, he tossed it in a nice little soft spot for happiness. You are out of rage and your controller is still operational.
If this isn’t your first rodeo, you may already have a few broken controllers. I had a friend who broke a couple of PS3 controllers during his first playthrough of Demon’s Souls. If this sounds familiar, keep broken controllers nearby while playing. Instead of crushing this new Dualshock with the Hulk’s hands, grab the broken one.
Indeed, everything works here. If you need to play sports, do it. Want to call your friends for a little cry? Take action. You can embrace that anger and use it more productively than breaking the controller.