Game Rage: How to Deal with It

Raging at video games is a very common occurrence. Gamers usually get angry when they feel like the game ripped them off in some way, shape, or form. Expressing anger at being robbed in a video game is a normal response for people who are not used to being cheated in real life. Although almost everyone has gotten mad at a video game at some point in time, people still tend to be embarrassed by it because sometimes it can get out control. Breaking controls or punching walls is never a good thing. Here are five tips on how to deal with video game related rage.

Express it

Support groups such as 'Rageaholics Anonymous' usually advocate that you express your anger in a controlled manner instead of bottling it up. When you bottle up anger, it tends to grow worse and worse over time until you finally explode with all too often violent results. Expressing your anger as you experience it can be a healthy release. There's nothing wrong with screaming at the television within reason. If a game is making you mad, tell the game why it sucks! Talk aloud to yourself about all the problems with the game that makes it unfair such as how the game was shoddily made or why the developers were incompetent. This will make you feel better.

If the subject of your rage is online multiplayer or more specifically, a person you're playing against online, mute your microphone and then tell them off. The key here is to mute your mic so they can't actually hear you. It still helps because you're expressing how much you hate them without them actually being affected by what you're saying (because they can't hear you). This method is similar to how people write an angry letter to someone and then throw it away instead of actually mailing it. Just expressing your feelings “toward” that person helps make you feel better.

Keep an outlet nearby

Some gamers get so furious that they inevitably end up breaking things whether it be smashing controllers, throwing headsets, snapping discs in half, punching a hole in the wall, or even chucking entire gaming consoles across the room such as YouTube commentator ElPresador once did with his PlayStation 3 after encountering some lag on Call of Duty: World at War. Not only does this type of violent anger set a dangerous precedent for when you lose your temper in real life, it can also be an expensive habit if you constantly have to buy replacement gaming accessories. Wireless controllers can cost like fifty bucks a pop!

If you absolutely feel the need to break something, one tip would be to keep an already broken controller or headset nearby. Then find a safe place (such as the floor) to throw it and let ‘er rip. It's already broken anyway. Just be sure you don't break something else when you're throwing it or that would defeat the whole purpose. As cliché as it sounds, another good method is to punch a pillow. It really does help.

Ragequit

As common sense as this seems, sometimes quitting is all it takes to make yourself feel better. In gamer terminology this is called ragequitting. Simply saying “screw this!” and turning off or even unplugging the console helps to draw a psychological disconnect between yourself and the cause of your anger. On PC games there are usually keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to quit the program to the desktop in mere seconds. For example, on StarCraft holding the ALT key and pressing X three times would quit the game. Typically you'll start to feel better right away. Take a break for a few minutes, though. One mistake people make is to ragequit a game and then angrily start matchmaking again right away as if things will suddenly start to go better for them. You're going to be a lot more sensitive to little things going wrong in the next game because you're still mad about the previous game. If you aren't planning on quitting your gaming session altogether, at least take five minutes before starting another game.

Remember that everybody has bad games

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is considered by many to be among the best players in the NFL. Manning is a five-time NFL MVP and has set literally dozens of league records including most passing yards in a season and most touchdown passes in a season in 2013. Nevertheless, Manning had one of the worst games of his career during Super Bowl XLVIII when the Broncos embarrassingly fell to the Seahawks 43-8. Manning had more interceptions than touchdowns, a rarity for him, and fumbled on the very first snap of the game which led to the Seahawks getting a safety. Think about Peyton next time you are getting owned in a video game and you're getting angry. Just because you're having a bad game doesn't mean you suck. Everybody has bad games once in awhile. Even the best.

Exercise

Sometimes you need to work off that angry energy and exercising can be a much healthier alternative than yelling, throwing things, or ragequitting. People feel like they're ready to take on the world when they're mad. Good! Go lift some weights. Perhaps the anger will make you stronger like how Gohan's power level drastically increases in Dragon Ball Z when he is angry. Similar to punching a pillow, you could also throw on some boxing gloves and work the heavy bag at the gym. Now your anger is working for you instead of the other way around. You'll be doing something constructive rather than destructive. Then the next time someone asks how you got so buff, you can tell them by playing Call of Duty online.

Let us know if you've ever been impacted with moments of game rage in our comments section below...

Posted: 11th Jul 2014 by Alexander Hinkley
Tags: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3,