Controlling Your Rage While Gaming

While gaming can be a fun and enjoyable experience, there are really frustrating and annoying moments that can lead to rage. Whether you’re angry because you’re being trolled, dying a lot, losing or being yelled at, it is important to control your temper and rage before it controls you.

The first thing you need to do is to identify when you’re getting angry. You need to be able to acknowledge the fact that you’re angry before you can do anything to help it. When something happens that makes you slightly frustrated, tell yourself “I can’t get angry”. Take a few deep breaths or get a drink of water. If you do this before anger overwhelms you, chances are that you’ll calm down and continue playing properly.

If the above does not work and you’re still angry, simply leave the game and take a break. Your performance will not be as good when you’re angry and you’ll likely do worse and get even more angry. Tell yourself that it’s just a game and there’s nothing wrong with quitting. If you’re playing a single player game or in a public match, there Is nothing to lose in quitting. You’re not letting down a team or clan.

Another useful technique is to hold your breath until you really need to breathe, then take deep breaths. This works most of the time. Humour is also an effective method. When you’re angry, think about what you’re angry at. Most of the time it’s a stupid reason such as accidentally falling off a cliff or running into a grenade. Imagine that its someone else in that situation.

If you’re raging at a multiplayer game, just go on a single player game, set the difficulty to easy and destroy all the AI opponents. Imagine they are the people you were playing with. Even better, if the game has multiplayer with bots such as Combat Training on Black Ops or computer controlled opponents in multiplayer such as in Counter Strike or Battlefield 2, play that.

Being the victim of a troll can also make someone rage. If someone is deliberately making you annoyed, frustrated or angry, it is highly likely that they are trolling you. No matter how offensive or annoying the person is, do not abuse, yell or swear at them. This is just giving them a laugh because that’s their goal. Just simply ignore them or say “lol” to everything they say. If you are creative, you can even troll them back.