I would consider myself an intermediate gamer after getting fully acquainted with games and the gaming world with a little help from my gamer friends. I can’t say I am a total newbie at gaming. I played with my friends’ and family’s consoles when I went over their houses as a kid. Even then, I never had the nagging desire to be a gamer until much later in life with the introduction of motion games and the increasingly well made RPGs you find out there these days.
During my pre-gamer days, I would watch as my friends and family, who have been gamers since they were old enough to hold a controller, would on occasion get the overwhelming feeling of gamer rage when they encounter a frustrating part of a game.
I’ll admit, I never understood why they would get worked up over a game. It just seems silly to me to get mad at a TV screen filled with pixelated characters as if they are real people you are venting off at. Of course, I realized later that you have to be a gamer to understand. Believe me, I get it now.
Gamers are a passionate bunch. We play to have fun and escape. Let’s face it, it’s much cooler to explore a world that is different from our own, and it’s much better to follow the journey of someone else for a change. The combat systems are amazing to get our hands on, and most of the time the story of the hero we are controlling is so intriguing you just want to keep playing to find out how it will end.
The enjoyment gets slightly dampened when gamer rage suddenly hits you. It may be a boss fight or a random gamer being a jerk to you during online multi-player. Whatever it is, it makes us want to throw our controllers…among other things.
The first time I experienced gamer rage was when I played Final Fantasy IV for the Nintendo DS. I encountered a boss that was hard to beat. I have tried just about everything to beat it. After maybe a fifth try, I had to put down my DS before I threw it out the window.
The worse case of it was when I played Mass Effect 3. One of the boss fights I didn’t particularly enjoy fighting was Kai Leng. One of my friends said playing as a certain class in this game makes it quite easy to beat him. Apparently, I wasn’t playing the right class at the time to beat him. Eventually, I figured out the right strategy playing as a Vanguard class during the game––keep your distance and run like hell. It took a few tries for me to finally figure it out. Still, I didn’t like the smug and cocky jerk, and I let loose tons of colorful language as I watched him kill my Shepard instantly many times over. But once I figured out what I needed to do, it was very gratifying to watch my Shepard really stick it to him once and for all.
I’ll never forget the one thing my friend said to me when I was over her house and we were playing a game. I got frustrated at one point in the game and really slammed the controller on the bed. Watching me with an amused expression on her face she said, “You are now a gamer.” According to her, I have undergone a rite of passage to be considered a true gamer. I still think it’s comical how we gamers take our games too seriously, but you shrug it off and keep playing. At least the satisfaction of finally overcoming a boss or level is just waiting around the corner. You just have to be patient and maybe hurl insults at your TV for a little while before getting there.
Have you experienced a particularly bad gamer rage moment? Do you believe you aren’t truly a gamer without knowing some frustration while playing a game?
simpleek 
Great post. It’s funny but I experienced the most rage when I was totally new to gaming, because I just did not know what I was doing yet! I have done a few rage quits over difficult boss fights. Most recently I got upset when I was repeatedly swarmed by husks in ME2… Far from a boss fight, but really frustrating until I figured out my strategy. My roommate thought I’d gone nuts.
Haha! That used to be me when I wasn’t much of a gamer yet. I would watch my friends rage and rant, and thought how insane they were acting. At times their gamer rage can be funny too. My friends laugh at themselves after it passes. But yes, the husks can be annoying. I think I freak out when one comes at me out of nowhere.
Er, one horribad experience…actually happened while I was playing Brawl. Was playing Intense Mode for the Boss Battle segment. After some trial and error, I finally got to face Tabuu, the last boss. It usually ended with me flying off the screen a few times, but I stuck with it and eventually got the timing down right to avoid his insta kill move. So, one time, I ended up facing him and was doing pretty good. I then managed to get him to the point where I just needed one more hit. I was about 60%.
He then got me with bombs. I was too high up in the air, and apparently, I was damaged enough after that (when it hadn’t happened to me before) to have my character fly off the screen. Needless to say, I felt defeated all day >_< It nearly ended with me crying…
Tabuu! I nearly forgot how annoying that boss fight can be. I never played Brawl on intense mode, but even on normal mode it’s pretty damn frustrating. I played through the story mode with my friend, and we both raged at how we nearly shrank down his health only to get KO’ed by one of his stronger attacks at the last second. I know your pain all too well. I know for sure that fight was one where you needed to step away from the console for a bit.
YES! The Mass Effect series left me with several moments of rage, where I had to turn the game off and cool down for a bit before continuing again (this is without even speaking of the insane amount of rage that left me speechless at the end of ME3).
I think one of my most rageful moments came when fighting the Brood Mother in Dragon Age Origins. I just couldn’t figure out the strategy and she kept killing me over and over. My dog thought I had lost my mind, it was pretty rough!
Aside from the Kai Leng fight from ME3, there was the one with the Reaper you had to kill. I forget which part of the game this was, but you had to line the shot just right and then dodge and roll like hell to avoid the Reaper’s death beam. This was one of the other fights from the Mass Effect series that had me raging so badly. Luckily, I was alone when I had a bad case of gamer rage.
I remember the Brood Mother in Dragon Age Origins. I think I got lucky with that fight, and died maybe once during my playthrough. I currently have Final Fantasy XIII rage. Way too many boss fights that I hate in that game.
Haha. I have made it maybe 10 hours into Final Fantasy XIII because I get so tired with all the battles, but particularly the boss fights. They last for so long and there is just no need!
I definitely know this feeling. I started to replay Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance recently and, being the type of FE player who refuses to let a single character die, I feel a good dose of gamer rage playing it. But like you said, there’s that sense of satisfaction once you beat the level or overcome the obstacle. It’s worth the frustration.
Most definitely. I know I start hooting, hollering, and fist pumping the air when I finally beat a boss. Then when the moment is over, I realize how silly I’m being. XD
I don’t think I would label a true “gamer” as someone who has experienced gamer rage, since I think even someone very new to the whole culture might still get extremely angry, particularly in a FPS or fighting game against obviously more skilled players. Because of some lame matches in Halo when I was younger, I held a grudge against all FPS games for a long time. It wasn’t until I started dating a gamer in college that I gave them another try and actually found some that I really enjoy.
I have, however, felt my share of rage, both soloing a game and in multiplayer online. One instance I remember in particular was making the mistake of collecting all the demon weapons in Tales of Vesperia, thus triggering the third form of the final boss…which I had not leveled up enough to defeat. I also get really angry in games like Left 4 Dead 2 when playing either expert realism campaigns or versus realism with people who just don’t know what they’re doing and think saying “sorry” makes up for friendly fire or being plain idiotic.
I’m more surprised that players who aren’t very skilled at a game would try and play expert modes. If I’m a complete newbie at it, there’s no way I’m playing expert until I feel confident to do so.
True, any gamer will feel a certain amount of rage when playing fighting games, but I haven’t really felt consumed by it either. My rage has been worse for other games.
Hi, simpleek !
Maybe I’m not a true gamer? I get frustrated, almost weepy, but I have never raged ( oh, maybe screamed a few choice curse words), as far as I can recall. Well, I tend to drop the game, anyway. Ha ha Oh wait, resident Evil …..
I kinda think being brought to the edge of tears would be considered a form of gamer rage. I see gamer rage as any strong emotional feeling you get from being frustrated with a game. Whether you want to tear your room apart or sit in a corner and cry, that’s gamer rage I think. There are so many times when I wanted to cry because of a game.
I don’t have a lot of gamer rage nowadays, but I did when I was younger. I guess I’ve mellowed out? It takes a lot to get me frustrated and I can’t even remember the last time I had a big rage moment. I have gotten to the point where I feel too frustrated to play and turn the game off, but I haven’t really gotten angry in the past few years (like no slamming, no swearing, no bitter tears, just a feeling of disappointment and frustration that I let go). It might also be because it was the rage that caused me to stop playing games for a while. I just really hated that frustration, so when I picked them up again in late childhood, I unofficially swore not to let games frustrate me to the point where I was so angry and it wasn’t fun anymore. So now I just tend to shrug off frustrating moments.
That’s good that you don’t let a lot of games ruffle your feathers. I find that my rage gradually builds. It’s like a slow burn before becoming a full on inferno in my experience. It’s also true that if you rage too much with a game, it sucks the fun out of the activity. Probably the best thing to do is put down the controller, turn off the console, and walk away. Then come back when you are calmer and try again.
Definitely! That’s actually my strategy for avoiding rage moments and for exactly those reasons. Way back when games caused me a lot of rage and frustration, I quit for exactly those reasons. It just was not fun anymore. I probably wouldn’t be a gamer if not for the Pokemon fad, actually. As it was the popularity that tempted me back into the gaming fold. xD
Oh my gosh YES. I entirely inherited my gamer rage from my dad and brother. My dad doesn’t play games, but he can be very dramatic, and my brother’s gaming rage has led to dented doors and broken controllers. Combined with the anger issues I had as a small child, and bam! It was only a matter of time before I would experience gamer rage. Over the years my gamer rage has led me to attempting boss fights multiple times. Should I turn off the game and take a break? Yes. Should I go level up because I’m clearly too weak right now? Yes. But my gamer rage throws all those smart, reasonable ideas out the window and insists that I try and try again because it makes me competitive, like I HAVE to prove the game wrong, show it who’s boss. It’s a very bad habit needless to say, and I relate to this post on so many levels. 😀 Thanks for sharing!!
Haha, oh I understand that feeling all too well! Sometimes all rational thinking goes out the window when you want to prove to yourself and the game that you can get through the boss fight without more leveling up or simply taking a break from the game. I’m a pretty mellow person most of the time and rarely get angry. But when I encounter a frustrating situation, whether it’s playing video games or dealing with a personal issue, calm me becomes rage induced me with a potty mouth. 😛 Of course no amount of raging does help you beat an annoying part in the game and sometimes it is better to step away from the controller. I find when I come back to a game after a few hours or a day later, I’m able to beat a boss or level with success! 😀 Glad you enjoyed reading this old post of mine.