Multiplayer Anxiety

[Shaved Apple]

Sometimes when I'm new to the game. Once I get good at it then it doesn't bother me much.

 

[krazykidd]

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.

Problem with this is . Some hardcore troll players will choose beginer to crush their opponent and increase their rating . The number of times iv'e seen a experience player wander in to beginner lobbies in fighting games is staggering .

OT: that is weird . Why do you care? How do you think you learn? Baptism by fire . Plus worst case scenerio you get kicked , best case you have fun .

 

[anthony87]

I only started playing WoW around 4 months ago and at that time I was always nervous about doing dungeons and whatnot because I'd be doing them blind, wouldn't know the tactics and whatnot and everyone would get pissed at me but I got over it soon enough.

Haven't had a chance to play Mists of Pandaria yet but I imagine I'll be the same until I hit 90 and get more comfortable with the dungeons and raids. For me it's just not wanting to be "that guy" who holds back the entire run y'know?

 

[DementedSheep]

Yeah I do the same thing. It?s not really the fear of being ridiculed I just hate feeling like I?m the one who is dragging everyone else down because I don?t know what I?m doing. I wish all multiplayer games would have the option to play some actual maps with bots first.
Unfortunately I do this in real life too and it causes me to give up and without really trying on a lot things.

 

[Snowblindblitz]

I still only play DOTA 2 with bots by myself since getting the beta invite...because the first DOTA it was so terrible I don't want to go near other players.

FPS I'm fairly confident in, TF2 especially. I've become comfortable enough with all classes to know when I need to switch to help the team, or switch when I realize I'm just not feeling it today.

Dark Souls I have a lot of fun there. A guy invaded me twice today, the first time he killed me (shocker) the second time, he ran around naked, dropping items and prism stones, and then used prism stones to draw a giant cock and balls. Then let me back stab him to death. I was so confused and laughing.

 

[Quicksilver_Phoenix]

Yeah, this is a fairly big problem for me, especially with LoL. I really want to like that game and i've played it quite a bit. But contrary to what many people have posted, I found that "taking a dive" and trying to get used to the transition from bot games to full PvP actually made things worse. There's a lot more pressure on you as a player to both play well as your character and assist your team mates. The matchmaking is atrocious, so you'll often be matched against level 30's, smurfs, or consistently better players. I've ended up more or less quitting because the pressure is quite so bad.

It's a shame really. I got a similar pressure in WoW when tanking a dungeon for the first time, but that lessens as every time you do it, it gets easier.

 

[Nouw]

When I start a new game or game-mode sure, I do feel that anxiety. Does that stop me from playing? No. Everyone has to start somewhere and it's best to learn from your mistakes, regardless of what your team has to say about you.

 

[Calibanbutcher]

Today I decided to try my hand at Team Fortress 2 again.
After my second round I was messaged by a guy calling me every name in the book for not being as good as he was.
Reminding me why I usually do not play online.

 

[deathninja]

It's why I never touched TF2 after buying it and trying a few games, you just get yelled at constantly for not knowing exactly what the team had in mind for you, and bots can only teach you so much.

Fuck it, I've got better things to do than come home from work and still get chewed out.

 

[WanderingFool]

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.

Thing about Brink though is that playing as a lone wolf is so counterproductive in that game. Its not like COD where, even if you are playing team based game modes, you really are playing aganst everyone else. Its one of the things I loved about Brink[footnote]I do wish Brink did well enough to get a sequal, it was a fun game, all it needed was some ironing for the kinks.[/footnote]...

I dont play enough new MP games to get this feeling (mostly COD).

 

[o_O]

OP, just give no fucks.

Seriously, just don't care what they think. If they get pissed about you being a newb, just fire back, "What, you were never new to this game? You popped out of the womb knowing everything about a game that wouldn't be released for a decade? I didn't think so. Now, you can help me get better, or suck it up."

Mind you, that's concerning random unranked games. Random games are exactly what you're supposed to do to learn, train, and just relax, so anybody taking them seriously is an idiot. You definitely shouldn't be playing anything with a stake if you're new though, that's just common courtesy.

 

[AnarchistFish]

I kinda know where you're coming from cos in Mass Effect 3, 80% of the time I finish last, but I don't really care. They don't know you, so so what?

 

[vun]

I don't get that at all with FPS games. I've never been yelled at for being useless in TF2 and only a few times in CS when I'm the last remaining member and I miss a shot I should've nailed.

Though if you're not confident and don't really want people yelling at you, never play LoL or DotA2 with randoms. It's not bad if you have 4 more friends to play with you though.

Personally I can't get myself to play SC2 ladder games, not because of the community because so far the SC2 community has been just amazing, it's all in my head, which is a bit silly.

And a TF2 side note: Chances are you'll get yelled at more often if you're a US gamer because, well, people there all speak English. I'm a European gamer so there's not really that much chat going on because people can't be bothered making small talk in a language they're not comfortable with.
This applies for more games of course, but most noticeable in TF2 and least noticeable in DotA2 and LoL where it seems to have no effect at all.

 

[Frankster]

Aint a competitive person by nature so tend to get multiplayer anxiety in correlation with the "hardcoreness of the game" multiplied by the overall attitude of the community.

So for games like Lol, i actually have to mentally steel myself before i play so i can deal with whatever crap might be thrown my way. I find that on the net, sometimes people just wanna wind other peeps up and in games like lol, its practically expected so to a degree, normalized.
Those kinda games aint "lets play to have fun" in my eyes.

Conversly i love games like mount and blade: napoleonic warfare because i can play as poorly as i like and wont affect my enjoyment or that of others one iota. Heck its the only game i know you can 0 kills 18 deaths and still have as much as fun as if the score was reversed ^^

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

I don't actually feel that bad when I lose a game of Age of Empires III. But when I'm joining one, I get this feeling of anxiety like I'm putting my life on the line.

 

[w00tage]

Left 4 Dead 2 Versus play is a terrific example of a game which causes this. It's a head-to-head horror survival game which is tense as heck, takes an hour or more to play out a match, demands a high level of teamwork on both sides, routinely uses disorienting/perception-blocking effects on players, and has ZERO matchmaking.

Yeah. That last works out exactly as well as you'd think. That's a game which screams for a match difficulty selector to let people skill up and skill-based matchmaking to make the game fair for everyone, and Valve's official response to avoid the chronic problems of ragequitting / kicking at the least excuse is "Play with friends".

I have not played the game in months, and the thought of firing it up right now and joining a Versus match gives me a stress reaction. I would have to reskill up to pro survivor on Campaign Advanced difficulty (Expert is too different to have value as a benchmark) before I even thought of joining a Versus game, and when I did, I'd have to immediately say "been out awhile, please bear with me" over mic and chat to avoid an early kick.

And even then, I might get kicked just for disclosing that I'm not pro, or at least imagine that I am. That's how stressy people are in Versus matches - they will punt you just for imagining that you'd drag the team down.

 

[royohz]

snip

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.

I've never let trash talk get to me, but I do get annoyed as always. It isn't really the trash talk that puts me off, it's more the thought of it. Like so many have said in the thread, the thought of being an anchor.

 

[GonzoGamer]

It's just a game.
Most people don't care if you suck.
I suck at cod but I still play.
Anyone who would give you grief for not being as proficient as them is taking it way too seriously

 

[Squilookle]

This is exactly what stopped me playing Left 4 Dead. Couldn't stand all these furious players harassing me for not knowing every-single-facet of the game.

This is also why all multiplayer games should have bots in all maps and modes. Yeah you heard me- every single multiplayer game. No excuses.