Frustration, Anger and Games

[IcePak]

I recently have been wondering whether frustration is a part of games.

The reason this came up is because recently at a LAN I noticed a friend of mine kept getting frustrated, and thus pissed off at a game because he found it too hard. He kept moaning about it too.

His brother is even worse. He keeps complaining about how games are crap purely because he couldn't pass a section. He blames the developers and the game for this, when clearly it is his fault of skill. He also gets reallly frustrated to the point that he's yelling and being very violent about it.

I used be the same in the past, especially when working on the computer. I would start yelling and upset everyone around me, including myself. Since then I've come to terms with my frustration and if anything gets me worked up to that point (which is very rarely these days) I step away and come back at a later time once I've cooled off.

Now is this frustration a neccessary part of games? Do we as gamers need to become frustrated in order to progress through a game? And is this a fault of the game structure or the developers?

Personally I think not. Games are meant to be an enjoyable experience, and frustration is only a player bemoaning his/her skills at said game.

However, I thought this might make for an interesting discussion.

[Ady]

The rare times I experience total frustration at a game, I conclude it's not for me and move on. However, for the most part, I've always approached games with patience and dogged determination (two very important things I'd say gaming has taught me since childhood). To me, unless I really don't like a game, giving up is not an option.

Usually, people with short tempers tend to have less patience with games in general and are quick to throw their controllers at the wall and give up. I'm more inclined to believe this says more about the individual than the game.

I'm not criticising anyone here (don't get me wrong), but essentially, everyone's different.

[tankplanker]

It depends on the type of game for me, if its an exploration based game (gross generalisation of most 1 player FPS, platform, 3rd person games) that has large sections to replay if you muck it up or its never clear what to do after a few minutes wandering around, then I tend to get fed up pretty quickly.

I have a small amount of time (less than 8 hours per week) to spend playing games, so I do not like wasting time endlessly repeating the same large section of a game. Obviously I realise that if I was blessed with the ninja reflexes and timing that some people who post here appear to have that this wouldn't be happening.

Perversely I will endlessly replay games like GT, R Type, SF II even though I'm never going to be a forementioned ninja master - I guess its because the tasks needed to be completed giving sense of satisfaction is much smaller?

[Bleeders]

Personally I think not. Games are meant to be an enjoyable experience, and frustration is only a player bemoaning his/her skills at said game.

I agree with this to a point, since there have been many occassions where I've felt "cheated" by game.

Pro Evolution Soccer 3 for example; a great game as it is, but some of the refereeing decisions can be blatantly wrong, whilst it could be argued that it serves to authenticate the experience, for me at least, it's frustrating to see an opposing side receive an innocuous penalty or free-kick for a nothing challenge.

Mistakes such as this frustrate me far more than my own inability to successfully navigate a particular section in a game.

[tankplanker]

I think the bigger problem with the Pro Evo 3 ref desicions is that they are used to blatantly cheat by the AI - if it wasn't such an obvious (and over used) crutch used by the AI to increase the difficulty then I don't think it would be a problem.

Beach spikers also has blatant cheating AI, I remember playing it for a couple of weeks and showing it to a mate when he came round, I could predict which points the AI would let me win and which it would not with 100% accuracy - and obviously I was able to return all of the AIs shots, some rallys for a single point went on for minutes before I gave up.

[Ady]

I have a small amount of time (less than 8 hours per week) to spend playing games, so I do not like wasting time endlessly repeating the same large section of a game. Obviously I realise that if I was blessed with the ninja reflexes and timing that some people who post here appear to have that this wouldn't be happening.

Of your own admission, you haven't had much time to devote to a given game. Time is all that's really needed.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to belong to some kind of master race to be good at a game, you just need the time to adequately devote yourself to it.

[Spatial]

I used to get really frustrated with games when I was a lot younger, but found that when I learned to swear like a trooper I could vent my frustration and go back for more

( yes, a sign of an uneducated mind I know, but it helps me )

Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age ( yeah right )

But I do think age has something to do with it - my 6 year old nephew was playing FIFA 2003 the other day and loosing badly. In complete frustration and anger hethrew the controller acorss the room and then went and headbutted the bathroom door

Not only did he knock himself out, but gave himself a black eye and fractured his nose

See kids - videogames do cause violence

[Ady]

When we wre kids, my mum sent my sister and I to some camp during the summer. At this camp, they had a computer room, and we were allowed to go there in the evening.

There was this one kid there who had no patience whatsoever. Every time he lost, he swore, shouted and screamed, not realising that the more worked up he got, the more he was likely to mess up.

I can just picture his fiery red carrot top right now as I write this.

[Chadruharazzeb]

I tend to not get a fraction as furious as I used to back in the 16-bit days. The number of Amiga joysticks/ Megadrive pads I got through was immense as most of them ended up being thrown against the wall.

[Saurian]

There was this one kid there who had no patience whatsoever. Every time he lost, he swore, shouted and screamed, not realising that the more worked up he got, the more he was likely to mess up.

I can just picture his fiery red carrot top right now as I write this.

I cant stand being around people like that - I dont screw at all when I play games, I get pwn3d HARD on a regular when I go to challenges but it's the only way to improve. I remember this one brer came and challenged me at a beat em up in an arcade I used to play in. He was so ****ing crap and had no tactics to speak of yet he was getting vex at me for beating him, blaming the game and others around you just cos you dont practice is so pathetic. I remember this next brer that challenged me - how the hell can you get vex at losing when all you do is tap the kick buttons? It's insulting to think that people honestly believe they can take people out with such ****e that they spend no time over and then they get The Dog when they lose - some people just hold themselves to such high regard that it couldnt possibly be their own fault for getting pwn3d . If you are getting pwn3d on a game it's nobody's fault but yours - stop screwing and start practicing.

As was said before you dont have to be a genius to be good at games, just take a bit of time with what you play. Like mad shot weaving in shoot em ups - thats not a natural talent that's something you acquire through practice! I admit that old 8 and 16bit games were mostly 100% pure undiluted TEEF but these days good games are a lot easier and a lot more balanced.

OMG memories of this next guy swearing, spitting and sweating over the Gigawing2 machine I used to play are flooding back (it was disturbing to watch....and he was crap! )

[Ady]

As was said before you dont have to be a genius to be good at games, just take a bit of time with what you play.

Y'all hear that? He's talking sense.

Seriously, though this is a big problem today.

Again, not meaning to go on anything but their seems to be a big patience problem. The 80% of gamers who allegedly don't finish their games perhaps don't have enough time, but I also think they probably lack the patience to play.

As with all things in Popular Culture (as gaming now is, pretty much), everything moves quickly. You get your fix and move on. As such, people want a game that looks pretty and they can best just in time for the Next Big Thing. Time spent learning is time being lost on Franchise Iteration 60 on the Xbox 12.

Please note taht I'm speaking generally, here.

[Alf-Life]

I think it really depends on where the frustration originates.

If it's because of lack of skill, once you pass it you can look back and laugh.
If it's because of an obvious design flaw, or cheating AI it can piss you off into never playing the game again.


A really good difficulty curve and/or great gameplay can aleviate this. Example? (as Sam L Jackson might ask)
Well, Halo, Legendary, warping into the T&R with little ammo and health - I was playing this for a whole evening and the next day before completing it, but while I was in some cases near the edge of frustration (mainly down to stupid marines) never once did I feel frustration.
In GoldenEye; getting close to some of the cheats... it was exhilirating.

However, Monkeyball. Counter-Strike. Amplitude.
The venerable, blessed Monkeyball is the first and last game to ever cause me throwing my pad in anger. And it was a Wavebird, too. Of course, it's ridiculous because that game is all about skill, but at some points, with limited continues I found the level design erratic and frustrating.
Counter-Strike. You know when you have 'one of those games'? When you convince yourself the twat on the other team is cheating, when it's your ineptness, or your team being ****e. And then you watch your friend play and when he starts accusing someone of cheating and you laugh and tell them they're crap and the bloke's obviously not cheating, you catch a glimpse of the irony.
Amplitude. Good game, but like FreQ some jumps in difficulty (OK, so I'm on Insane) but I swear some of the combos weren't made for human fingers... and while I can see that I'll overcome that song and later laugh, at the moment it's about fluke and getting cheesy powerups to delay the inevitable.

[2097]

in my eyes frustration a lot fo the time can mean = bad design = total crap

although sometimes it can show how engrossed you are in the expericence and that the game is working .. you cant be happy all the time and a lot of games try to provoke different emotions and reactions at different times to work as a whole.

frustration doesnt always mean something is hard and the person playing it is useless.. pa rappa the rappa 2 i was screaming at the screen for most of the game yet it was easy and completed.. frequency is a very hard game that never feels frustraiting because of its excellent design, lack of flaws you can blame the game for your performance on, variety of challenges, well judged learning curve and that it is actually fun to repeat sections.. and you would do anyway even if you got through them..

[oracle]

i dont know why but the rock boss in metroid prime had me cursing the devolpers for ages, then i stopped caring and beat him

the marble of the story is that the collusion detecion sucked

[tankplanker]

I think my point as been completely missed, I do not like endlessly having to repeat a long section of a game because of a "challenge" at the end of the section. That is needlessly increasing the difficulty of the game - why can't you restart much closer to the source of the problem?

Its gotten right in Prince of Persia - you restart very close to where you die unless you turn off your console and start from the save game.

This has nothing to do with my lack of conviction to put the effort into completing games, its just that I will not spend 20 minutes completing a section of a game over and over as I do not have the time like I used to do this.

OT: I completed parappa 2 on my very first go, in one sitting, it really is too easy.