I’m sure we’ve all had those moments where we’re just about ready to pick up our controllers/keyboards and slam them all over the floor or on the wall out of sheer frustration. It’s really tempting to let the anger take over and direct all of it towards anything or anyone we can get our hands on, but as true gamers, we should never let it get to that point.
Which begs the question, why do we rage at all? What causes us to get so upset that we momentarily lose our sense of reasoning and understanding? What triggers us to become cavemen where the only logical conclusion we come up with for taking it our anger is by smashing anything within our line of sight?
While there are a lot of factors that contribute to this, here are some of the most common reasons as to why a lot of gamers (especially those in the modern era) rage:
Faulty Internet Connection
This is probably one of the biggest reasons why people are continuously upset when playing online; especially to those who live in Southeast Asia. We’ve all heard it before, people saying “Sorry guys but I’m lagging” or “OMG F#@%$! INTERENET!”. If by some unfortunate circumstance wherein you’re suddenly disconnected from a very important match which will most likely affect your in-game rank (such as in League of Legends or Dota 2), then you’ve probably said your fair share of “Sh@ts!” or “F#@k!” throughout your entire gaming existence. If you know that your internet isn’t stable, then I suggest that you hold off playing your favorite online game until everything gets better or if you’ve decided to switch to a much better internet provider. Because even you wouldn’t want to keep losing matches if you can’t even play it the way you’re supposed to now would you?
Home Streaming
This is for those who are unlucky enough to share one internet connection with all of the family members under the same roof. When one person in the household starts streaming Youtube videos in 1080p while you’re currently playing an important game, then it isn’t much of a surprise if you’ve had that situation where you ended up screaming something along the lines of “STOP F#@CKING STREAMING! I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF A DAMN MATCH!”.
Streaming usually results in an online game lagging, and this in turn prevents players from playing at their full potential. If you can come up with a schedule wherein you and your family can agree who gets full use of the internet connection on certain days, then that’s most likely the best way to go about the whole streaming problem. If not, then looks like you’re going to have to play when you think there isn’t anybody hogging up the internet, or you can always go for the option of paying for your own separate connection (assuming that you can actually have the finances to do so).
Constant and Large Updates
While this isn’t something that upsets players who are in-game, it’s more focused on those who just want to actually start playing. Lets say that you’re just about geared up to play one of your favorite online games then BOOM! You’re suddenly hit with a 10 gigabyte update out of nowhere! Then after you’ve downloaded that one, the game hits you with another update that’ll take you at least another hour until you can finally play!
Although it’s understandable that developers have to do this in order to fix in-game bugs or to balance everything out, it can end up being very annoying; so annoying to the point where you scream internally while waiting for the update to complete. This isn’t much of a problem for those with incredibly fast internet connections, but those that only have the standard internet speed are definitely going to feel the sting of the size of every update that they encounter. Sometimes this is even enough for them to stop playing a particular game as a whole and find something else that they can better spend their time with.
Trolls
We’ve all encountered this type of online gaming personality. If you don’t know what a Troll is, then they’re the type of people who love to cost other players matches by disregarding the rules of the game and doing whatever the hell they want. For example, you’re about to win a very important match in Call of Duty where you’re one kill away from victory. It’s down to you and one of your teammates against one opponent, so naturally the odds are in your favor right? But what if that one teammate decides to toss a grenade out of nowhere and ends up killing the both of you just because he felt like it? Or what if he continuously fires random shots while spinning around like an idiot just for laughs?
It’s these kind of people that have ruined the gaming community and I honestly can’t blame anyone who gets mad at them. However, it’s also important not to show your frustration as that may be exactly what they want. Trolls love it when they successfully ruin online matches and having frustrated players showering them with all the negative attention that they crave. My advice? Ignore these people and carry on with the game, they’ll get what’s coming to them in the long run.
Noobs
Now this is something that’s completely different from a Troll. A Noob is someone that’s new to the game, and by new I mean to the point where he or she has just recently started playing and has no idea how the in-game mechanics work. While it isn’t their fault for not being able to grasp the everything as soon as they play it, some players are often frustrated with Noobs because they tend to end up in places where they aren’t supposed to be; specifically in ranked online matches. This situation tends to happen every once in awhile, you playing with a team that’s aiming to win, only to have that one member who hasn’t even covered the most basic parts of the game.
This can honestly be very upsetting as it will cost you a match every now and then, but you need to have an open mind when it comes to situations such as this. What if that person made a mistake and ended up finding a ranked match instead of a normal one? Instead of whining about why that person is in the game, why don’t you try and help that person instead? People have to remember that they shouldn’t be too harsh as they were once Noobs themselves. So do what you can to help these people out and who knows? They may just thank you and commend you for being such a nice player, and that’s something I know a lot of players want to experience.
In-Game Chat
You should know what it means when I say that in-game chat is definitely one of the biggest reasons why people tend to get really upset. Say that you’ve played a game that took much longer than you’ve anticipated and one wherein you ended up losing. While the rest of the opposing team calls out to you and your teammates respectfully by saying things such as “GG” or “Nice game guys”, there’s that one person who barely did anything and has the cojones to say something like “Too F#@king ez!” or “Lose please noobs”.
If it’s not that, then it’s your own teammates spamming “D@cks!” or “Noob Sh$ts!” in the chat box, or even going as far as using their microphones to abuse the in-game voice chat by blaring ear piercing songs or screaming whatever comes out of the top of their obnoxious little heads. These people are the reason why the “mute” button exists and I’m telling you right now that if you ever encounter them, press that button right away and just enjoy the game.
It definitely feels invigorating to just go wild and take everything out on whatever you can find after a ton of horrible online matches, but I’m telling you that it’s never worth it. Can you honestly say that you can stand seeing yourself breaking your favorite console just because you lost one little online match? Is it really worth taking out your anger on someone that you may end up hurting forever?
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t get angry, but that you should find ways to channel it in a manner that will ensure you remain calm and composed. You can end up punching a pillow or screaming into it for an hour for all I care. Just think of it this way, it’s much better to lose in an online game than doing something you’re going to regret for the rest of your life.
What makes your blood boil? If you would like to share your thoughts on the matter, then do so by commenting on the chat box below!
