Emotional state and your ability to play well

[Daemon888]

This is something that I have noticed about myself more and more recently. When I'm having a good day, enjoying time with a great friend or whatever I tend to play at a much higher skill level even in games that I am very well practiced in.

The flip-side, when I'm having a shit day I can totally suck.

For example, today is not the greatest so I went home, jumped on COD4 and thought I would blast some fools to make myself feel better. I am good at this game, trust me. I played three HQ sessions and got totally worked... I mean hard. Now I'm back at work and certainly not feeling better.

Games are supposed to be an escape... not a reflection of reality. Or is that to philosophical?

 

[Aries_Split]

Escapism is mroe philosophy than anything in my opinion. Then again, I'm always on my A game.

Escapism is something we use to shield ourself or replace reality because we can't deal with it. I guess you did forget about the world for a bit though?

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

i never know from to day wether i'll be good or not. thankfully, you can just change weapons until you find a rythm.

and i've never noticed my real world mood effecting my ability. however, my in-game frustration can cause me to suck more.

 

[Daemon888]

i never know from to day wether i'll be good or not. thankfully, you can just change weapons until you find a rythm.

and i've never noticed my real world mood effecting my ability. however, my in-game frustration can cause me to suck more.

Now that I'm very familiar with... I'm just amazed and more than a little irritated that real life has recently developed the ability to get back at me for abusing it so regularly by fucking with my gaming. Uncool, real life, most uncool.

 

[Break]

You only just noticed why morale is such a big deal?

 

[geldonyetich]

Offhand, I'd have to attribute this to not focusing. Negative things are much more important to us than positive things, and so if you're having a crappy day you're probably distracted more by the bad mojo that's going on. On the flip side, a good day has little of consequence to worry about.

 

[Theo Samaritan]

This would explain my constant level of suck =/

 

[itari]

Isn't happiness a distraction as well? If i am playing while i am happy, i let go of trying to be good, stop focusing or thinking and start messing around.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

This is pretty true. Today, I was in a pretty bad mood, partly because of other stuff but also because of how badly I was doing online. It became a downward spiral where I lost game after game. I eventually pulled a win, and after that I managed to drag my suicidal body away before my dreams were crushed once more.

 

[Kikosemmek]

I think it also has to do with the type of player you tend to be. Do you play to win, or do you play for fun?

Most of the greatest players I met online are people who play to win. They have clear-cut goals on what they do in every part of the game, as well as how to do it and when to do it. Their sense of fulfillment comes from the game's recognition of their efforts. For example, if they're playing as a Spy in TF2 and the game glitches them out of a great backstab, they'd be the people who get annoyed the most. They're usually more prone to whining. It seems to me that it isn't their emotional state that governs their gaming, but the opposite. It is their gaming that governs their emotional state while they play.

I observed in myself that I play for fun. I judge the merit of the game and the merit of my experience by the amount of fun I have while playing. If I'm a Pyro in TF2 and I storm a group of four guys, setting them all on fire and getting no kills, I'd still be stoked I disrupted a force of the enemy team that is greater than myself. If my team is getting absolutely slaughtered, then I tend to leave the game instead of trying to lead them on, because I know that it takes much time and effort to get players to cooperate and turn the tide. I go to another server. When I play, I tend to roam freely and form more immediate, short-term goals for instant gratification. In this case, my emotional state governs my gaming. If I'm not having fun, there's absolutely no reason to keep playing, since the object of the game is to entertain the player. So, when I'm happy I tend to enjoy myself better and usually do better in the game. When I'm pissed I usually don't play games, and focus on solving the problem that's giving me a hard time.

Some games (or sometimes), however, I observed that I play to win, such as SSBB, Soldat, Geometry Wars, or when I'm a sniper at any game.

 

[Spleeni]

Lies and slander.

I do very much the same; the only times that I get into the 'win at all costs' mode is in an actual competition.

 

[Samirat]

I can only play FPS's well after playing piano for a bit. I practice for 15 minutes or more, and I'm good for an hour or so, before I have to return to the piano. It just makes me quicker, more quick-witted, and most of all, apparently luckier.

 

[AlphaWolf13]

Meh, when you're pissed, try some simple single player games to cheer you up. Mood definitely has an effect with me on games. I can NOT play CS:S worth **** when I'm angry. Nor can I when I drink caffeine.

Why make yourself angrier?Just try something simple, something that doesn't involve lots of skill to be good at.

 

[Canniballisticduck]

I agree completely with this philosophy, for example when I was sniping on my favorite TF2 server (Dark Impulse's Orange_X server) where a few people on my team were gabbing of and ranting in a appendix bustingly funny manner I got a 25 kill streak with 18 head shots it was amazing and I'm still amazed that no one killed me when I was AFK after I fell of my chair due to laughing.\

I do very much the same; the only times that I get into the 'win at all costs' mode is in an actual competition.

Hmmm. whenever I swear upon the lives of several things that this level WILL NOT BEST ME, this anger usually comes after a got very far in that level then on the next life I die, being angry really fucks up my game when I get tired of being sniped on my favorite server (anyone who has ever played any of the Orange_X maps knows what I mean) i go scout or sniper and in my anti-sniper crusade my kill ratio always plummets like an unfavored mob member wearing cement shoes.

 

[Gooble]

Tired-I'm not the best, but I generally don't seem to care
Happy-Random
Sad-Random
Annoyed-I suck, which makes me more annoyed, which makes me suck even more
Ill-I don't even want to play

 

[Knight Templar]

If I do well I get happy and don't snap at team mates, so we all work better. If my team mates suck or piss me off we do bad.

Seems simple as far as anger goes.

 

[Imbrium]

I can only truly unleash my inner pwner when there's enough adrenaline coarsing through my veins to give a horse a heart attack.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

I'm glad someone posted this topic-- today is a perfect example.

All this morning I was playing Soul Calibur IV and racking up the wins. It was a good morning-- I had a nice breakfast, slept well, and was in an overall happy mood.

Then I went to work. Shit just kept fucking up all day-- by the time I clocked out, I was just waiting for someone to look at me funny in the parking lot so I could fuck their faces up. But I eventually got home without incident, and thought, "MAN, I'm going to fuck some kids up in Soul Calibur tonight!"

Except tonight, I'm playing worse than ever. I find that, when I become angry or frustrated, my gaming skill decreases dramatically.