Stress reliever or Stress inducer?

[Alfieri]

How do you play video games? Do you like to challenge yourself in the most ridiculous ways or do you prefer to turn a game on and just sit back and play?

Me personally do not enjoy playing video games that make me stressful on purpose. I don't want to play Mario the Lost Levels or Contra or Super Meat Boy. I don't like to do challenges like using only weak underleveled pokemon in a playthrough. I enjoy picking up a game I find fun and relaxing. Of course I love fighting games but I get enjoyment out of beating something up so it is more of a stress reliever for me.

 

[Necrum]

It really depends on my mood. I love playing platformers because they are both fun and challenging (well not all of them and some more than others but still), and Roguelikes when I feel like a real challenge, or Super Meat Boy. I usually derive a sense of pride when I accomplish something that gives me trouble, so in a way challenging stuff can help me relax as well. But, when I find something that I deem unfairly hard, I do get extremely frustrated (though I also have a hard time calling it quits haha). One instance of this is when I fought the optional bosses in Kingdom Hearts. I tried Sephiroth, I don't even know how many times, and I still to this day have never beaten him. I believe I beat the multi armed thing in Agrabah, but the clock tower phantom not so much.

But being as I am the Challenges moderator, I suppose my response is probably predictable.

 

[TY]

I play competively, so there is always that challenge and it is not always without stress or anger. But I also play a game for fun, on a easy setting just to enjoy the game at it's finest :P

 

[Lusus]

I prefer sitting back and relaxing. I only get competitive with friends.

Sadly you cannot sit back and enjoy playing LoL.

 

[Nah]

I'm lazy and I suck so I tend not to try and challenge myself. Doesn't help that completing a challenge or doing something the hard way generally doesn't give me a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction like it seems most people do.

Not that I haven't done any challenges or play on easy mode all the time. I've done a few monotype runs on Pokemon, but those aren't nearly as hard as like a Nuzlocke or a Wedlocke or something.

And then there's Phantasy Star Online, which I have this insane relationship with where I keep going between not trying to beat Ultimate mode and tying to beat it, and Ultimate is ****ing absurd sometimes.

 

[Necrum]

Not that I haven't done any challenges or play on easy mode all the time. I've done a few monotype runs on Pokemon, but those aren't nearly as hard as like a Nuzlocke or a Wedlocke or something.

Try playing Leaf Green as a Bug Monotype, with your rival having Charizard, then talk to me about how hard a Monotype can be.

 

[Nah]

Try playing Leaf Green as a Bug Monotype, with your rival having Charizard, then talk to me about how hard a Monotype can be.

Oh....I never thought of that. That sounds awful;-;

 

[Shiny Bunnelby]

The only time I play a game for a challenge is any game that is consisted of puzzles. I like to challenge myself on a mental level.

Everything else, particularly single-player RPG's, I play those for leisure and at low difficulty. I like scavenging and exploring without dying fifty times.

Dark Souls is my bane, but I keep trying again. I like it for some strange reason, even though I am absolutely horrible at it.
(´・ω・)

 

[SnowpointQuincy]

I can't play platformers without my hands and feet sweating a lot. A LOT! But I still play Mario and Donkey Kong and Shovel Knight.

 

[Prairie]

When I'm going through my massive backlog, I usually just play games on the medium difficulty, hoping I can just breeze through it without too much difficulty. Though, I also enjoy playing video games so difficult they make me want to just scream and throw my controller.

I think it's a sign that I hate myself. ;^;

 

[Captain Fabio]

100% both.
I use games to relax and wind down, but I often get frustrated when things don't go my way or when something is just annoying. I think everyone has an element of this in their gaming life, because it is just apart of us humans.

Example, I can be playing FIFA to relax and chill, but as soon as a decision doesn't go my way or a player gets randomly injured, it's beyond frustrating and rage inducing. I also don't play 'casual' games, so I will play FPS's, Platforms, Adventures, Fighters (and so on) to relax.​

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[Yukari]

Both really. I relax while playing games, but at the same time they can be a really stressful experience. Especially when I play difficult games.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

I might try to challenge myself, but not for the purpose of inducing stress - although that does often happen

I play to have fun and zone out

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

It's for fun and... it becomes stress inducer if some le wild ugly challenge appears...

 

[Dustmop]

My goal is almost always stress relief, lol. I have an ever-expanding list of cute, fun, or just tedious games set aside to help me wind down... especially for bad days. :3

Though I do like a good challenge every now and then! It would get boring if they were all as simple as a Hidden Object game, no? I'm just not sure stress is the right word.. I wouldn't say they're stress-inducing. Maybe rage-inducing.. Or psychosis-inducing..

But not stress.

Though, I also enjoy playing video games so difficult they make me want to just scream and throw my controller.

I think it's a sign that I hate myself. ;^;

I feel like you should at least know you're not alone, haha.
When I first read the title of this thread, I immediately started poking fun at Boyfriend. "They're all stress-inducing to you." :P

While he has this thing about always playing everything on Normal. Always. I'm pretty sure that with most games 'normal' is the 'hard' mode for him. Recently, I've seen him play a lot of different things where he dies a lot, blames the game (the only rational choice, really), and swears he'll "never touch it again!" ...Until a few hours later, when he tries again. And again. And again.

I can't even pick on him for being bad at the game anymore. I just tease him for constantly going back to something that he gets so upset/angry with. Though it's not like he's playing Super Meat Boy or FTL or anything else notoriously "difficult."

 

[Juno]

My goal is almost always stress relief, lol. I have an ever-expanding list of cute, fun, or just tedious games set aside to help me wind down... especially for bad days. :3

Though I do like a good challenge every now and then! It would get boring if they were all as simple as a Hidden Object game, no? I'm just not sure stress is the right word.. I wouldn't say they're stress-inducing. Maybe rage-inducing.. Or psychosis-inducing..

But not stress.

All of this. I'd say any game is a stress reliever for me, even if it's a bit of a challenge. And even if I'm constantly dying, I'd consider that more 'rage-inducing' that stressful - I think the distinction lies in the ability to rage-quit? Like I'm very stressed when I'm writing a paper hours until deadline because I can't just say "**** this, I'm done" and go do something else, but I can do that if I'm really fed up with a game, lol.

And yes, I also have a large collection of pointless, cutesy games that aren't very demanding, for when I want to play games without thinking too much.

 

[Bounsweet]

Both, depending on the game. I have actually gotten headaches from playing fighting games because of how frustrated I would get against some opponents, but at the same time fighting games can be a big stress relief if I'm doing really well.

Horror games stress me out a little too, but that's mostly because I'm a big wuss.

 

[Calamitastrophe]

Mario Party always destroys friendships, you all know that. That game's like magic. :p

 

[HollyYoshi]

That ultimately depends on the game. For instance, if it's something like the Ace Attorney series, I would hope the cases aren't too easy. Same with most platformers. However, I never want games to be so challenging that it takes me a freakishly long time to figure out.