Rage, the primal feeling of mankind, is a result of suppressing hate and bitter feelings. Once rage bursts out, no logic could reason with that emotion anymore. So what role does it have in e-sports and gaming? Ironically, while video games are typically used to have fun and escape reality, it is hard to escape the feeling of anger and frustration in the competitive atmosphere.
Video games have been a major source of entertainment for the past year. Thanks to the recent pandemic, it is also widely known that video games are a way for people to escape their normal responsibilities, allowing them to experience something that could not necessarily happen in the real world. Although they are an escape, video games still cause frustration for quite a few players. How does someone get angry from playing a video game? It could be due to many reasons, such as annoying bosses or a glitch that just ruined the game out of nowhere. However, most of the time it is due to another player. In recent years, game developers have been pumping out multiplayer games that pit one or more players against each other. Due to the desire to win, frustration is caused by the other person, regardless if the two players are supposed to be teammates or enemies.
Gianpiero Tristano, who is a member of Greenville University’s Rainbow Six Siege Team, says, “It is fine to rage in a video game to get better, but there are some games that are purely meant to be fun. If you want to help the situation, you should not try to insult the other player. You should talk to them in a different tone or a different voice to help them understand the situation.”
This rage could cause many different outcomes, depending on what type of person the player is. They could scream in the chat, start trolling, refuse to work with you to win, or rage quit. Rage quiting is when a player immediately leaves the game due to frustration. Is this a bad thing for the gaming community? At the end of the day, the answer really depends on the circumstances, such as what kind of game you are currently playing and what kind of goal you are trying to achieve at that moment.
There is nothing wrong with being angry. Most players have certain moments where their emotions can’t be bottled up anylonger so it is forced to blow up whether they like it or not, but there are those who are willing to destroy other people’s enjoyment just because they are angry. When it comes to these kind of people, the best way to deal with them is to ignore them and focus on your enjoyment of the game. Do not let other people ruin your fun, and if you constantly get angry over the slightest thing, nothing else can be said except: “It’s just a game.”
Media by Minh La.
