Multiplayer Anxiety

[royohz]

I've been thinking about this for a while, but being busy with attending 'boarding school' I haven't been able to make a post about it.

I was reminded earlier today, as I was sitting down getting pretty excited to get to play some Team Fortress 2, since I'm home for a week's vacation. I was going to play the 'new' game mode Mann vs. Machine, when I realised that I was afraid to join a server. I really wanted to play the game, but I couldn't help but feel that I would be judged and harassed for not knowing everything about the game mode and all the tactics forwards and backwards. The pressure built up and I decided to quit the game before I'd even started playing. I'd much prefer to just play the game mode with a some friends and have a great time, but that wasn't much of an option with like, three friends online, being busy playing something else. I have the same problem with Dota 2. I don't play much, but when I do, I very much prefer to just play a round or two with bots. No pressure. No harassment. Tons of fun.

So, I ask you escapists, is this a common problem? Is it an increasing issue? And is Valve's plan to punish trash-talkers and reward nice players going to help? [small]...Derailing like a *****.[/small]

 

[Steppin Razor]

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same. I don't want to be That Guy who drags the whole team down because I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. It's the reason I had Killing Floor for a year or so before playing it for the first time. It's why I haven't played much Stellar Impact despite it being an incredibly fun game and why PAYDAY: The Heist sits on my hard drive with only a quick bit of solo play done on it.

Also, I think Valve's plan is outright retarded. Some people trash talk because they're asshats. Others do it because they're trolls. The trolls will just stop trash talking and abuse the new system instead.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

yeah I get it a lot, I probably wouldn't have even tried DOTA 2 if it wasn't for male friends playing and learning it alongside me.

I notice I don't play as well when people I know are there too. I'm overly concerned about what they think about my killscore or whatever. Being a girl makes it ten time worse I think as if you screw up it's because you are a girl not because you are new or whatever. I always feel like I have to be 10 times as good as anyone else. It's kind of a complex of mine. 90% of the time they probably don't actually think that, but try telling my brain that lol.

 

[Bertylicious]

STFU noob.

Heh, nah it's perfectly reasonable. You're not afraid of trash talk, I hope not anyway, that'd make you a total fassy, you're just afraid of failure. Remind yourself how to play with bots then jump back in.

 

[DazZ.]

I remember getting nervous when I was the last one left in Counter Strike or Call of Duty 2 SnD, with everyone watching you but got over that fairly quickly and now I'm fairly confident in my ability. Certainly at FPS games now I'll happily wander into anything with no prior knowledge and be adequate at least.

It's sort of like sex, at first you really don't want to make mistakes and worry about all your fumbles but after a few times you can wander in drunkenly and just laugh off any accidental minor mishaps whilst just having fun with the whole thing.

 

[The Wykydtron]

LOL what a nooblord. XD

The same thing can be said about LoL... I suppose DOTA 2 is harder to learn gameplay-wise since from what i've gathered you need mystical things called Couriers, use side shops, get fucked over if you die since you lose money and other crazy shenanigans but overall the same stuff will get you raged at.

Not knowing your character and/or not knowing wtf the enemy characters can do is one of the key reasons in my opinion. In LoL for the longest time I was dying and had no idea what just happened...


People get far too pissed over this crap. Yes i'm trying to learn Vayne, yes I in fact am a noob Vayne. Well done it's my third game with her, sorry for sucking.

I thought that was what Normals were for? Fair enough if I booted up a Ranked game, instapicked Vayne, proceeded to fail horribly then announce "oops third game, sorry guys!" I should be fucking crucified since Ranked is srs bsns to the vast majority of people.

I swear whenever anyone else plays Vayne and turns on Final Hour she's a slippery invisible ninja who is everywhere and is destroying you. Whenever I play her I just die a second slower.

 

[Catfood220]

Yeah, I mean I got Brink last Christmas and I stuck it on to have a look at what it was like, not knowing much about it at all and it struck me, it was an online multiplayer type affair. My first thoughts were "Oh no, this is going to suck, I'm going to suck and everyone was going to hate me". Then I started playing it and was dumbstruck as people, well the people on my team, were actually helping out healing and buffing me and working as a team instead of being total dickwads. Took me totally by surprise.

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of the online multiplayer thing, but a couple of games like Brink and the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer are quite welcoming to new players I ended up really enjoying those, even Modern Warfare 1 + 2 weren't bad for the total noob in me.

The only game that I haven't had a good time with is Uncharted 2 and 3 despite repeated attempts, the multiplayer is full of arseholes, I even got booted on the Uncharted 3 beta for repeatedly dying. I mean come on, the demo has been out for a day and there are already people who are so good at it that they feel the need to kick me. I've not really bothered with it since.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I remember getting nervous when I was the last one left in Counter Strike or Call of Duty 2 SnD, with everyone watching you but got over that fairly quickly and now I'm fairly confident in my ability. Certainly at FPS games now I'll happily wander into anything with no prior knowledge and be adequate at least.

It's sort of like sex, at first you really don't want to make mistakes and worry about all your fumbles but after a few times you can wander in drunkenly and just laugh off any accidental minor mishaps whilst just having fun with the whole thing.

That last sentence is insanely siggable. It's kind of too bad The Escapist doesn't have the things.

OT: Pretty much this, minus the remembering getting nervous part. Just jump in and play, OP. There's no reason to get upset. If trash talkers on the internet bother you, you really need to grow a thicker skin. They're assholes playing a videogame and getting mad about it, pretty much the opposite of what should be used as a barometer for your self esteem.

Edit: Feeling pressure while playing MOBAs is a bit different, but the trash talkers should bother you even less. The games are so complicated that, yeah, starting out is stressful. It's because the rulesets are super complicated and you have to know them backwards and forward before you can start to win. It has nothing to do with the other players.

 

[MammothBlade]

Surprisingly, no. I only get anxious that the other players are more experienced and quicker than I am, I'm far too on edge about the actual gameplay to worry about the nasty people

 

[bchampnd]

I'm not a big online gamer but one thing I've always felt is that all online games should have matchmaking options where you can choose your play style - serious, casual and beginner. Serious for the hardcore people where winning is everything, casual for the people who want to win but it's not life or death to them and are playing to have fun, and beginner for people who are learning the game or learning to play with a new character class in a low stress setting.

It's not fun for anyone if someone that's just starting to learn the game, or who is just starting to learn a new class, gets thrown in with experienced players who take winning and losing very seriously. Sure, the people racking up kills and improving their stats might enjoy it for a match or two, but after that they may start feel like playing with a noob is cheapening their accomplishments and they'll be frustrated if that person ends up on their team in the next round.

I think Gears of War 3 was onto something when it introduced its beginners mode but it was a mistake to lock out anyone who had played a previous Gears game. They should have made the mode available to everyone and given players the option to opt out of it.

 

[cathou]

I don't really like multiplayer honestly. I like to play by myself, and I don't really like coop play. And since I don't use a mic, because first when I play I have my wife sleeping in the next room and I don't want to wake her, and second because I'm so bad at speaking English that most people don't understand what I'm saying, people sometime complain that I don't talk...

 

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

Everytime I think about playing a ranked match of League of Legends, a wave of apprehension permeates my chest. On the rare occasion I do convince myself to play, I always get stuck with support, and always lose (although I've only played like 30?? ranked matches this season, which has lasted over a year now?). I'm still above 1200, but wow my team and I have just sucked it up the last ten or so ranked I'm tried over the past few months. I'm afraid to call mid; I know it's my best role but I'm too afraid of failing, so I'll often not call anything and thus end up with support.

I get a similar apprehension when asked to play a co-op game (like actually co-op, not team competitive). Because I know I won't have nearly as much fun as I wish I could, because I'll either feel held back by my friends or like a dopey noob being hauled forward on their skill. I wish I could love co-op, but I'm so freaking competitive in video games, I HAVE to win, or else somebody better call a Waaah-bulance. I so wish my having fun wasn't as dependent on winning/doing well as it is.

I only get these nerves with games that use matchmaking, especially if it's a form of ranked. If I can just pop in and out of servers of my choosing, I'm good to go. Who cares if I suck, I can just leave between rounds to end my team's suffering. So: DotA 2, LoL and Bloodline Champions = mortified, and TF2, Awesomenauts = who really cares how I do? I always try my best, I don't mean to imply that I don't care how my team does.

Frustration Ventilation Time:

Random Jax: WTF raka?! Why didn't you come?
In my head: Riven had full health; we both had half health. We're doing poorly, thus my heals are weak and far apart; you're 3 levels below Riven, and she is well farmed while you are not. Plus, she had ignite, so my heal would have done even less. At the end of the fight, you'd barely taken 15% of her maximum health, I don't think a 1 second silence and a pitifully weak starcall would have made the difference.
Out loud: Sorry

ARAM is way more fun, I wish it was a standard mode so I could get a decent amount of IP.

PS: While I'm irritated. Anyone who taunts others while playing Riven at low level play should have their head soaked. She's easy! You're not good! It's pretty much luck who wins at this level, as there's no teamwork. Whoever happens to have the most individually skilled players will probably win. Just cause you happened to lane against someone significantly worse than you, does not mean you're good--you no cooldown, OP PIECA L)(*#@&$()*@#$.... oh, sorry lost control. Wow, this post got long.

 

[Fappy]

I get this occasionally if it's a game or community I am not very familiar with. It may take me awhile but I eventually swallow the anxiety and jump in.

 

[teqrevisited]

I usually only play multiplayer casually. Still with the intention of winning, of course, but laid back and relaxed. I'm open to suggestions and tactics but the minute someone literally just says something like "OMFG you all suck go and die in a hole" it always makes me smile and I can then happily spend the rest of the round finding ways to troll the shit out of them.

The competitive spirit is all well and good but what do they honestly expect out of a public server? Always makes me laugh anyway.

 

[DugMachine]

I get it whenever I join servers that are very uh vocal and strong in community. I feel very out of the loop with all the inside jokes flying around and I'm just there like "hehe yeah cool!"

Either that or when I get lumped with extremely skilled players and I feel like dead weight. I'm pretty good at most games I pick up but sometimes I'll get into a LoL match with 4 other players doing premade and they're so coordinated and awesome.

 

[Fappy]

I get it whenever I join servers that are very uh vocal and strong in community. I feel very out of the loop with all the inside jokes flying around and I'm just there like "hehe yeah cool!"

Either that or when I get lumped with extremely skilled players and I feel like dead weight. I'm pretty good at most games I pick up but sometimes I'll get into a LoL match with 4 other players doing premade and they're so coordinated and awesome.

You must be that rando we always dread playing with.

Nah, I'm just messn' wit'cha! ;P

 

[DugMachine]

I get it whenever I join servers that are very uh vocal and strong in community. I feel very out of the loop with all the inside jokes flying around and I'm just there like "hehe yeah cool!"

Either that or when I get lumped with extremely skilled players and I feel like dead weight. I'm pretty good at most games I pick up but sometimes I'll get into a LoL match with 4 other players doing premade and they're so coordinated and awesome.

You must be that rando we always dread playing with.

Nah, I'm just messn' wit'cha! ;P

I just might haha! Most of the time I'm in the premade with 3 other friends with some random guy. Even if they don't do as good as us I try to be nice. I've been in their shoes..

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I don't really care about trash talk, but I HATE being the guy who has no idea what he's doing. If I'm really into a game I'll push past it, but if I'm on the fence I won't touch it. I also get anxiety in rigorous matching games like Starcraft, where I'm always being tested against someone equal to or slightly better than me. I find it INCREDIBLY stressful, to the point where it's tempting to just lose a lot so I can play some weak matches and relax/experiment. Getting to Diamond pretty much broke Starcraft for me, I didn't even want to touch it after that.

 

[corvuscorrax]

It amuses me the fear or just outright hatred people can have for multiplayer games especially online.

How can you be concerned what a bunch of random guys online think about you. Gotta learn sometime.

 

[SquidVicious]

I can definitely relate, the breaking point for me with multiplayer was in Counter-Strike when I'd be the last guy alive and lose the match. It brought back horrible memories of middle school P.E. when we played baseball, a game I had absolutely no skill in. That "all eyes on you" kind of pressure, knowing that if you screw up you're going to let your team down, and when your team is a group of random strangers connected to you by a username and interent connection, it's even worse. I enjoy competition, but at the end of the day it's just a game, and not even a game like baseball, football, or hockey that has jerseys, roots, international fans, etc... it's just a death match in a game the average person doesn't even know exists.

I grew up on adventure games so video games were always just a different method of having a story told to me, with gameplay always being a secondary function, so I only really got into multiplayer as a way of appeasing the demands of my friends. But if I'm being reminded of P.E. while playing a game that's suppose to be a leisure activity, something has gone incredibly wrong, and that's when I decided I was done with multiplayer.

I definitely feel your pain though, even if my experience is different from yours.