Jason "Pulsaris" Thomsen tackles the age old question: “Why do we play video games if they get us so frustrated?”
My night began just like any other night. I fired up the XBOX and put in my game of choice for the evening. This particular evening it was Battlefield 3. I joined my Battlefield buddies and began my daily attempt to become a soldier that is feared by my enemies. In actuality what resulted was quite the opposite. Every step my soldier took was one step closer to death. My soldier from time to time would reincarnate in this world, in a location that would make any rational man quickly question his sanity. Generally, it is not a good idea to appear directly in front of an enemy with a knife or a very powerful weapon. In the real world, the level of profanities being spewed after my soldier’s death would make any sailor blush. My wife, sitting on the couch enjoying her book, could clearly see that I was just a bit unhappy at what was happening to me and asked me a very innocent question: “Why are you playing if it gets you so frustrated?”
While the question itself was pretty straightforward, it made me think. Gaming, for myself as well as most of 2old2play, is a hobby. We take time from saving the real world to turn on our console of choice to make an attempt to save another. Whether it is leading our favorite sports team to victory or saving a blue hedgehog from defeat from a pudgy moustached villain, we make attempts to be victorious. Through all these attempts, many factors can lead to limitless failures.
Frustration with Games
As early as the first video game, game developers have come up with ways for gamers to pull out their hair. In the early days of gaming, the causes for frustration were a bit more limited. Generally my moments of banging my head against an arcade cabinet were caused by two main factors. First was the challenge of a high score. I think we’ve all had a moment like this: You’re on your last life and just as you’re about to beat the new score a flaming barrel takes your character and your dream of bragging rights up in smoke. The other is the infamous boss fight. Making it all the way through a level is a challenge of itself, but when a fifty-story tall Gorilla stomps your dude to death, no amount of quarters will bring back your dignity.
Fast forward to present day gaming, and developers have become much more creative in their methods to create anger and hatred towards their new creations. One example of this was a game I played on Playstation 3, called Demon’s Souls. Demon’s Souls is a game that advertises itself as a game in which you will die a LOT. Death is actually a gaming mechanic. There are even blood spots where other people have died and you can watch their unfortunate demise. As many times as my character bit the dust, I was surprised there was not an option for my character to put his sword down and go home and choose to retire on a sunny island where death was a little less frequent.
Games also use other methods to create frustration. While “lives” are not as much of a factor as they used to be, they’ve more than made up for it in other ways. Save points, while meant to award a job well done, can create many moments of controller tossing. Imagine this scenario: your soldier/knight/enchanted bunny traversing through spinning blades of doom. Just as your character reaches the save point, he/she/it slides into an abyss only to have to perform the same arduous task yet again and again. There is a distinct point where a game makes a change from challenging and fun to broken controller and re-plastered wall (raises hand emphatically).
Frustration Created from Developers’ “oops” Moments
While perfection is a goal worth achieving, many games miss the mark and can lead to very unexpected results. A likely scenario:
Your hero has been crossing the desert for hours in search of the long lost Kazoo of Souls. Before you reach the destination, you cross the dreaded Bridge of Blades. As you pass the very last blade unscathed and cross back onto land, the ground disappears and your hero is now lost in limbo wondering why he didn’t just say “no”.
Moments such as this can not only be frustrating, but can be enough to call it quits for a particular game for good.
Other glitches can occur when performing a fairly trivial task. I recall playing Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers on XBOX live in a multiplayer match with friends. As the game was nearing the end, someone played a card that another was unfamiliar with. He took a look at the card, a fairly innocent task, and the game froze. How dare my friend do such a thing!
These type of glitches and countless others are very hard to overlook. We purchase a game in the expectations that we are getting a finished product. Games go through trials and beta testing with other gamers searching for errors. Then we purchase this game, press the A button three times in a row and die immediately. Not really what one would expect. It would be like purchasing a hamburger and as you’re about to eat it, it punches you in the face and walks off.
Frustration Created from our Gaming “Abilities” and Expectations
There are times where we can be the source of our own frustration. While we may all strive to be Master Chief, there are times we’d be lucky to be qualified as a Grunt. Our expectations on what we want to achieve can cause a certain amount of frustration. A few weeks ago I was playing Rock Band rocking out on drums. During my session I thought I was putting on a show to make any band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame jealous. What resulted was a very disappointing three star show. While three stars is nothing shake a stick at (sorry, couldn’t resist), it was a reality check that sent me from headliner to roadie.
Another cause of frustration are the constant mistakes that we make. I admit that I do a LOT of stupid things in games that cause frustration. When playing Call of Duty, generally it is a very bad idea to run around in the open for extended periods of time. I am aware of this, yet I find myself still doing it from time to time. Obviously, my soldier gets shot and dies a humiliating death. The frustration creates a spiral of stupidity which causes more mistakes and more idiotic decisions. This in turn leads to more frustration.
Frustration Caused by Other Gamers
Then there are the other gamers in which we share our experience with. From Timmies to old geezers, they may be some of the worst culprits of our frustration. When gaming, far too many people flip a switch that turns off any humanitarian feelings towards their fellow air breathers. Getting shot by a voiceless computer player over and over for many would be sufficiently frustrating. Now add a voice telling you how they did unspeakable acts to your mother/wife/goldfish while tea-bagging your dead body is enough for many sessions of therapy. If the vocal barrages were not enough for you, add on their unfathomable knowledge of every glitch and cheat that not even the game developers thought were possible. Let’s not forget that many of these gamers appear to eat, sleep and breathe the games you play and they are better than you in every shape and form.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Any one of these frustrations could cause a normally sane person to drink all of the alcohol in the house (I would never do anything like that!). When more of these factors combine, they create a Voltron of hate that would cause even the most loved family member to lock you away for life. Through it all, there are ways to maintain your sanity and keep gaming enjoyable.
When I get frustrated I try to remember why I am a gamer. I absolutely love video games and they are my number one hobby. From the Atari and Intellivision days of the eighties, to the XBOX and Playstation 3 days of today, I have constantly enjoyed gaming. Games not only engage me with their story, but with their gameplay and challenge as well. If I love gaming so much, why should I allow it to become such a frustrating experience? The answer is simple: I shouldn’t.
Since there are so many outside factors that can lead to frustration, it’s important to separate the things that you can control from things that you cannot. I may not be able to prevent little Timmy from humping my dead body, but I can control my reaction to it. Reacting negatively to opposing trash talk or actions is exactly what they want, and there’s no reason to play into their strategy. I can’t control glitches in the game, either, but I can choose what I do when I encounter one. I can wait for a solution to that fix, do something different in the game, or accept that is just how the game is at that particular point in time. Either way it puts the control back in my own hands.
Other times it’s just best to just take a step back from the game. At times I’ve tried working through the frustration only to have it compound and get worse. Sometimes it’s best to switch games or just turn off the console completely. Your controller and your console will thank you.
It’s always important to remember why we play. We play to have fun and enjoy ourselves. There’s no reason why gaming should be anything other than that.
About the Author
Jason "Pulsaris" Thomsen joined 2old2play in 2006. He is 33 years old and lives with his wife in Radford, Virginia. Jason is a 2003 graduate of James Madison University with a Bachelors of Science degree. His first gaming console was the Intellivision and he has been gaming since. Gaming favorites include first-person shooters, role playing games, and sports games. He loves playing for both competition and for fun, as well as for the social interaction with his friends. Other activities include playing trumpet and skiing.
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