5 Tips to Stay Calm While Playing Online Games

Ears drumming, breath shaking, blood boiling, the impulse to smash everything in the room seems much better than going back to the game you just quit. How do you exactly deal with anger, anxiety, and other pure emotions that make you love your gaming time? Rage quitting is the epitome of how playing online games can relieve stress. It calls for the need to do a 180-degree turn for it not to become the primary cause of stress. 

But why exactly do we players love playing games especially while they are stressed? Why do they enjoy it in general?

It has to do with people’s intrinsic motivation. It can be an escape. Players can be who they want to be in a game despite it just being a fictional representation of reality. It also affects emotions greatly. In a study by Frome in 2007, he concluded that video games generate emotions to understand what are the roles that players take up in the game. Also, some games also improve cognitive skills like problem-solving, three-dimensional thinking, and more. With this in mind here are tips on how to ease your stress levels while playing games to keep them from becoming your primary stressor.

How to Stop Panicking in Games?

When faced with an undefeatable foe or a time constricted quest, how do you react? 

Staying calm is not an easy feat especially when all your progress is lost, if you got defeated by a tough boss or the distraction you were hoping to gain from playing isn’t working. To have better gameplay experience, let’s dive into the techniques of how to stay calm while playing online games.

1. 5-5-5

This is a breathing technique often used to calm oneself down, a kind of grounding method for you to better assess the situation. Breathe in and count from one to five. Hold for another five seconds, and release for another five seconds. Repeat this until you feel that the impulse to do something rash while agitated starts to die down.

2. Distance

You know yourself better than anyone else. You know what you are capable of when you are angry. When you feel stress creeping up on you while playing, take a moment to step away from that monitor. It would not do you any good to continue to play while you are angry since it will only give rise to more negative emotions. Chronic stress is one of the leading factors to people’s death. When you play and feel stressed all the time, it could lessen your lifespan so take a step back for a bit. Go back to your game once you successfully set a distance from your unruly thoughts so you can play with ease and a better mental state.

3. Don’t be a Troll

Since you are playing a game, you can be whoever you want to be. This also gives you the cloak of anonymity that could corrupt the peace of your game. During a game, there is a possibility to experience or develop a condition called, ‘The Disinhibition Effect’. It was postulated by John Suller in 2004. It describes a circumstance where you behave in a manner different to your real self because no one knows you. Just because you are angry does not justify your insults towards another player. If they fought you with their words, would you appreciate it or get stressed as well? Think about that just before you retort to an insult thrown at you.

4. Watch your Mindset

When you are playing a game, is it for fun, for distraction, or something else entirely? Think about this as you continue playing, especially with other players. Remember that it is just a game, a fictitious reality made for leisure. If you play for sport, then make sure that you have sportsmanship, learn from your mistakes and better your gameplay instead of becoming a dread troll. What you say to others when you are angry has more impact on the receiver than you, the sender. 

Your gaming perspective directly affects how calm you are in playing.

5. Assistance

Most players who didn’t know any better then have experienced frustrating situations where the game interface is disrupted by a bug. Worse, some players had their accounts hacked without them knowing. 

Such inconveniences are among the most infuriating things to encounter when it comes to playing games. Make sure to check if the game you are playing has a virtual assistant available through the game’s platform. You can usually reach out to them through live chat. Real-time assistance helps ease your anxiety at that moment as well since you do not have to wait for hours and miss your daily gaming time especially when there is an ongoing special event.

These tips are for you to not only improve your gameplay by being calm, but it also helps you ease your anxiety and make your community safe and peaceful. Believe in yourself when you play. Just because you have certain setbacks, it doesn’t and shouldn’t nullify your skills. These tips right here will help you cope better when you play and give you a better experience. Happy gaming!