StaceyPowers Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 I think a lot of people play video games to get some kind of psychological release. Obviously you see this a lot with FPS games. Games give us a chance to do what we can’t do in real life. What gives you some form of catharsis while gaming? For me, it is games which allow me to take action against social ills I can’t do anything about in real life (i.e. striking out against bigotry). Even though nothing real is accomplished (obviously), there is still a sense of emotional satisfaction I can't experience IRL. Withywarlock and Katri Marcell 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katri Marcell Posted November 14, 2018 Share Posted November 14, 2018 You couldn't be any more true. It's good to feel powerful and extremely inteligent in video games and it sure gives you satisfaction when you manage to give justice to things. That's mainly the reason why I could never kill people without a reason in games. Even in multiplayer ones I prefer just doing the objective and avoid conflict 😄 StaceyPowers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyPowers Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 On 11/14/2018 at 11:47 AM, Katri Marcell said: That's mainly the reason why I could never kill people without a reason in games. Even in multiplayer ones I prefer just doing the objective and avoid conflict 😄 That's great. I never thought of it like that before, but you nailed it. If I kill people in games without a reason, I remove the emotional payoff of getting righteous results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyxx Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 Personally for me, being a trans female, creating female personas in games has always been important to me. Allows me to live in a world as the gender I identify as. Katri Marcell 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katri Marcell Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 17 hours ago, StaceyPowers said: That's great. I never thought of it like that before, but you nailed it. If I kill people in games without a reason, I remove the emotional payoff of getting righteous results. Exactly! Everyone is making fun of me for not killing in PUBG for instance. I just tell them where to shoot and revive them and hand them guns when needed. It's extra fun if you ask me hahahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katri Marcell Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 9 hours ago, Alyxx said: Personally for me, being a trans female, creating female personas in games has always been important to me. Allows me to live in a world as the gender I identify as. That's an amazing view on the topic. This gives people the opportunity to perfectly express their identities. Kudos for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyPowers Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 11 hours ago, Alyxx said: Personally for me, being a trans female, creating female personas in games has always been important to me. Allows me to live in a world as the gender I identify as. Awesome answer. Playing MMOs when I was young did a lot to open my eyes to a world beyond the demographic lines that other people in society have drawn. I wrote a number of papers on gaming in college and how it can help us see past social constructs and explore different aspects of our identities which might be suppressed in our day-to-day lives. Reality vs Adventure 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyPowers Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Katri Marcell said: Exactly! Everyone is making fun of me for not killing in PUBG for instance. I just tell them where to shoot and revive them and hand them guns when needed. It's extra fun if you ask me hahahaha I can relate to that in a way. In a small MMO I played for a couple of years, I got annoyed at the inconsistency of players killing NPCs without blinking to level up. I felt that in-character, they should be treated just like PCs. So I stopped killing them to level up. I took a lot of flak for that, and life was pretty hard (especially since I got banned from all the guilds for a while and had no class). But it was oddly rewarding pushing myself down a challenging path like that when nobody else would. Edited November 18, 2018 by StaceyPowers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katri Marcell Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 14 hours ago, StaceyPowers said: I can relate to that in a way. In a small MMO I played for a couple of years, I got annoyed at the inconsistency of players killing NPCs without blinking to level up. I felt that in-character, they should be treated just like PCs. So I stopped killing them to level up. I took a lot of flak for that, and life was pretty hard (especially since I got banned from all the guilds for a while and had no class). But it was oddly rewarding pushing myself down a challenging path like that when nobody else would. I get you totally! MMOs are even more immersive on that matter since you create a character and feel like you're him/her. It just gives you all those moral questions like would I do this if I was in that state? Why can't I negotiate instead? Why can't we just all get along?? 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyPowers Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 9 hours ago, Katri Marcell said: I get you totally! MMOs are even more immersive on that matter since you create a character and feel like you're him/her. It just gives you all those moral questions like would I do this if I was in that state? Why can't I negotiate instead? Why can't we just all get along?? 😄 Actually, playing that game was arguably how I developed a moral compass at all as a teenager =D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reality vs Adventure Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 I never even heard of the term catharsis before. This is a really good topic. I'm not sure what role games play for me. I have so many deep seeded problems that I can't really pin point one where I get an 'emotional release' through gaming. I started gaming in my last few months of drinking alcohol. But while drinking I couldn't play because my concentration and memory were shot to hell. So I wouldn't remember what happened n the game the next day. In a way, gaming has kept my mind focused on better things. On more beautiful things. On more interesting things. I always told myself that boredom is what made me drink. Gaming has taken that boredom away for the most part. And I have found better feelings in games that I haven't felt in years. I guess I'm an awakened zombie. That's my 'emotional release.' But it's more to it than that, I know there is. As time goes on, maybe I'll uncover more emotional burdens I kept bottled over the years. But it is amazing to be alive again and to explore all the beautiful environments brings me more pleasure without even grasping why. But there is a reason there for playing the games I play. And I can probably go on and on but I'll stop for now and think more on this for a while. Withywarlock 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatman Posted July 26, 2021 Share Posted July 26, 2021 Generally, my time with gaming is to catch fun while relaxing and it helps me to deal with life stress. Although I have played some games when I'm pissed and I needed to beat my anger into something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
