Lunchtime Discussion: Relaxation?
Games as relaxation? Pah!Published 31/12/2009 at 12:00 by Raen
Right now my job is pretty stressful. I won’t go into details, but it’s hard work, tiring and making me pull my hair out. So when I get home I really just want to relax. What do I do? Well for a start I avoid editing the podcast, because that’s the exact opposite of what I want – but yes it is coming it’s about half way done. And then, generally, I avoid my 360 like the plague. I’ll stick on a DVD or play some new music, but I won’t play a game. Now for someone who writes for a gaming site this might seem a little odd, but I’m fundamentally lazy at the core so when I want to relax I want a passive activity and games (if you exclude the likes of Flower) are very, very active.
It’s not that I’m playing Wii Fit or something and having to move about to ‘win’ at the game, it’s that games require input from the player. Obviously this is what separates games out from other forms of media and it’s why we love them. Feeling that you are involved in the story of a game is obviously very compelling, but it requires you to pay attention to what’s going on. If I’m in a shooter I have to avoid being shot at, if I’m playing a racing game it’s probably best if I watch the track so I don’t spin out round a corner. These all require my attention and my input. That’s not what I want when I come home, I want to sit down and stick something on to watch or listen to read the content on TSA, flick through a comic book, talk to my girlfriend, eat, whatever. None of these activities I can easily do whilst gaming, hence I tend to reserve gaming for days off.
Of course there’s always the frustration, the moments best described on the InGameChat podcast as the “dammit slam” where you want to throw you controller through a window. Unless you’re some kind of super-human gaming machine who always spots the solution or where the sniper is – I’m looking at you djhsecondnature, no human is that good at games – you will have experienced these moments in the majority of games you’ve played. Whether it’s dying whilst battling Poison Ivy for the 20th or 3oth time, trying to master juggle combos in Mortal Kombat or simply not being able to score a single goal in FIFA 10 – all low moments for me – everyone has had one of these frustrating moments, moments that make you want to stop playing the game and possibly feed the disk to your dog. These are certainly not relaxing.
So no, for me games are not a relaxing activity usually. I play them to be challenged or to have fun – not always relaxing – or simply to hangout with friends. But to relax? Give me the newest Batman comic or the latest CD from Bayside any day.
So what about you? Do you find games relaxing, or do you play them for vastly different reasons like I do?
Comments
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Blayney | 31/12/2009 14:29
Member
199 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2009
I don’t play as wide a variety of games as I used to. However the only games that I find rather relaxing to play are the Gran Turismo series. It may seem like you need to concentrate a lot, but on the older ones where the cars only real handling traits were safe understeer it was all a bit easy to hit a rhythm and drift off. I used to play the endurance races and I’d literally go into a daze, then 20 minutes later come out of it when it was time to pit and realise I’d done 10 fastest laps on the trot…
These days all I’ve been playing is MW2 and that’s not relaxing, at all.
gazzagb | 31/12/2009 15:34
Master of speling mitakse
2760 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Stress can be negative and positive, eustress is positive stress, distress is negative stress.
Tbh, i dont get distressed playing games, only once or twice have i found myself getting disstressed in MW2 when being spawn killed for the 10th time. LBP always relaxes me, as does random drving around in GTA IV. I like the adrenalin rush of FPS’s, which for me is eustress.
colmshan1990 | 31/12/2009 16:01
Member
1106 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
TSA=Relaxation.
Well, for the readers anyway. I don’t know about you hard-working staff members. Thanks for all your hard work, and keep up the quality going into the new decade!
CaptainMurdo | 31/12/2009 16:29
Team TSA: Writer
1867 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
You have a girlfriend?!
Back to the point. This may sound weird but I find playing MW2, especially with friends, quite relaxing. As long as everything is playing well and I’m not dying too much then I enjoy it and become relaxed. Puzzle games, if not taken too seriously, also help me relax. Games such as Peggle and Shooter also do the job. So yes, I do play to relax.
Credawg | 31/12/2009 16:30
Member
16 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2009
Game are certainly not relaxation for me! The lows in my gaming career go as fra back to when i was about 7 and put my playstation in the bin after i got sooo annoyed at crash bandicoots save system. Luckily i salvaged it after 3 hours but it drove me insane. I’ve also through dead or alive 2 out my window and never found it again
. The only game that got me so mad in this current genration would have to be modern warfare 2 when i got 2-18!!!! and i have had a KD of above 2 since the start. It was humilating and i didnt play for a whole week afterwards……
iNsAnE_gAmInG | 31/12/2009 16:32
* Banned *
-1930 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
I find things like GTA IV online or Resistance 2 co-operative fairly relaxing as you are not competing. However I have to be in an active mood to play something like Fifa and I agree music and television are great ways to relax at home.
seedaripper1973 | 31/12/2009 19:41
Member
1730 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
well, i’m agreeing with this im not sure if its age or responibilites (i have none) but nevertheless, sometimes i just prefer to put on playTV and just chill…my mates take the piss cause it takes me so long to complete a game…if at all! im usually reading up on games on the bloody internet than playing ‘em…well apart from uncharted2 and BB:FC2 beta