Frustrated gamer Dave Hodder talks about his perpetual rage quits!
Have you ever just turned off a game in utter frustration and vowed never to play it again?
I have, many times, and this is my confession. I am an angry gamer.
There have been many occasions when I have got so frustrated at my lack of progress with a game that I’ve just quit, only to return within a few minutes vowing that “this will not beat me”. So the cycle repeats, and repeats, and repeats.
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I remember many years ago playing a Star Trek game on the SNES, and I was utterly convinced that the programmers had only programmed the first two levels as there was no way on Earth to progress, so therefore the rest of the game simply did not exist. Time and experience has not mellowed me (although I now appreciate that the rest of the game does exist, it’s just that I can’t get to it).
I’ve tried taking a break, taking deep breaths, and using YouTube walkthroughs. Here’s the thing with walkthroughs – they never seem to take the same route that I have just taken and it’s nigh on impossible to match up where the YouTuber is to where I am. At least that’s my experience, viewing the instruction through a red mist of incandescent rage.
It’s always the YouTuber’s fault that things don’t match up, never mine, and they are solely to blame when even they can’t guide me through. Again viewed through pure gaming rage and not based at all in rational thinking, as I’m sure they know exactly what they’re doing. The subscriber numbers on their channel would indicate as such, but you know – gaming rage!!!
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I’ve purchased many games, each time with the intention of not only completing it but enjoying it while I do. How very foolish of me, as I can’t think of a single game I’ve completed, let alone enjoyed.
I can’t seem to get through a game without getting the “gaming swears”. The creative language used when the protagonist doesn’t move, run, shoot, defend, attack, search, look, find or advance as I think they should. I’m pressing all the right buttons, in all the right order and yet… nothing. It is absolutely the fault of the character and nothing to do with me maybe not pressing all the right buttons in all the right order.
It’s always someone else’s fault. The programmers for not actually completing the game, the main character for not doing what they are supposed to, the YouTuber for not doing the exact same thing I have just done. It’s never me. It’s never me perhaps not completing the tutorial and jumping straight in. It’s never me skipping the parts where there might be useful information; it’s never me not taking the time to assess the situation and react accordingly. It’s never me going all Leeroy Jenkins and ploughing in without thinking.
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What I’ve learned from all of this is that I don’t really purchase games anymore, as I know that I won’t get to complete them as my rage will get the better of me. Perhaps I am missing out. Perhaps I am missing out on an exciting and distracting activity, missing out on a whole creative and imaginative world that skilled and talented people have spent time developing and marketing.
That’s my loss. Am I hopeful that I will one day complete a game and enjoy doing so? Yes. I’m not discounting that possibility and if it happens then I will recant my “confession” and join the band of happy gamers, of which I am sure there are many.