I seem to need stress over fun, any one else feel that way ?

delete5230

I love mmoprg's above all else for the "social aspect".  I argue with a lot of this community because of the need for feeling "stress too". 

I just mentioned in another OP how I'm temporary on medication that’s blocks my short and long term memory and I don't feel like playing games.......Simple games never worked for me. 

Now that's one thing, but it makes me aware of the stress I need to have FUN.  I programmed myself that way over the years and it's how my jobs had always been.  

Do others feel deep down inside the need for stress and complexity ?

This may be a dumb topic, if so let it slide to the bottom and let it go away.  Just thinking out loud. 

lahnmir

I don’t think its a dumb topic at all. Actually, I just wrapped up many years of stressful gaming a year or so ago with games like Dark Souls, Nioh and Sekiro. Before that, besides PC gaming, I was living in Ikaruga, FZero, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry etc. games that constantly require your full attention and are easily capable of utterly wrecking you.

And then, about a year ago, I dropped these games. My life is hectic enough as it is, I need to unwind, not the other way around. I never had any stress in MMORPGs, I find all of them quite relaxing. That was after I dropped raiding though 

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

MightyUnclean

delete5230 said:

I love mmoprg's above all else for the "social aspect".  I argue with a lot of this community because of the need for feeling "stress too". 

I just mentioned in another OP how I'm temporary on a short and long term medication that’s blocks my short and long term memory and I don't feel like playing games.......Simple games never worked for me. 

Now that's one thing, but it makes me aware of the stress I need to have FUN.  I programmed myself that way over the years and it's how my jobs had always been.  

Do others feel deep down inside the need for stress and complexity ?

This may be a dumb topic, if so let it slide to the bottom and let it go away.  Just thinking out loud. 

Wait, if you're temporarily on a medication, how can it also be long term?

And no, I don't enjoy games that cause me much stress.  The older I get, the more I want to relax when I play.

Amathe

I don't like stress. For example, I pull a quest and discover it is timed. I hate deadlines. My rl job is a neverending series of stressful deadlines. I game to escape that.

But just as a good horror movie can be enjoyable, I like fear. Trying to get through a dark forest filled with scary mobs that can off me. That I like.

I also like a challenge. I remember breaking into Plane of Hate in EQ. Just getting into that place was a test.

But stress, by its very definition, isn't something I consider fun. 

Wizardry

Complexity yes,stress ...hell no .

I don't even jump on the bandwagon of needing a game to be overly difficult,i am somewhere in the middle.What i have noticed about too many layers,too much difficulty is i get a headache doing tons of reading to figure stuff out,i don't like reading,my eyesight is not so good anymore,reading gives me a headache.

what i want from games is CHOICE and not a linear path that i MUST follow.EVERY single mmorpg right now forces you into a linear path of progression,it is EASIER for them to design a game that way but not the best form a game can have.

When FFXI was a game from level 1-75,there was no forced progression,you could go do whatever you wanted,where ever you wanted.The fun was being around other players enjoying your character and combat,working as a team and unlocking new aspects of the game and your characters.

Look at that mob,we never seen that before,he looks tough,we better be careful.The intrigue of fighting some new mob was fun but you knew you didn't NEED i-level 119 gear to beat it,you knew it was possible just the way you were because the game was about you and your group.

So NO i do not need any stress,i need mmorpg's to get back on track,to move in the proper direction instead of this WOWish movement towards stupid gaming.

Remember the aged argument game play >graphics
Well now to me it is design a mmorpg so it is Player >gear and not this movement towards gear>player.

Kyleran

Amathe said:

I don't like stress. For example, I pull a quest and discover it is timed. I hate deadlines. My rl job is a neverending series of stressful deadlines. I game to escape that.

But just as a good horror movie can be enjoyable, I like fear. Trying to get through a dark forest filled with scary mobs that can off me. That I like.

I also like a challenge. I remember breaking into Plane of Hate in EQ. Just getting into that place was a test.

But stress, by its very definition, isn't something I consider fun. 

This is so much me...quest asks me to collect 1000 frog legs, no problem, but if it asks me to get just 10, in less than 5 minutes....arghhhh

/delete, play a different game....

Do not put me on a timer, nor give me "daily" quests unless the same ones are available every single day.

delete5230

I'm not good at stress, I break down easily and secretly even at work, I hide it well..... that's not to say I thrive on it anyway for some odd reason. 

As far as timer quest, that's not only stress, they suck bad.  

But everyone knows I love to group and, find myself trying to please them except the ass hats. That's the stress I like...... I'm usually exhausted from sitting at the edge of my seat for hours on end....and love it. 

maskedweasel

I like stressful situations, sometimes. Mostly I find that PvP or extreme difficulties cause stressful situations.  It can be fun, but it could also be too much for extended periods of time. 

When I was younger I could run PvP all day, now, I can only handle it for some of my playtime, my nerves get shot if I continuously play PvP.  


It's not just MMOs and arena games that cause stressors too, there are even mobile card games that come down to the wire that can give me a rush.  How times have changed from 3 decades ago.

Iselin

maskedweasel said:

I like stressful situations, sometimes. Mostly I find that PvP or extreme difficulties cause stressful situations.  It can be fun, but it could also be too much for extended periods of time. 

When I was younger I could run PvP all day, now, I can only handle it for some of my playtime, my nerves get shot if I continuously play PvP.  


It's not just MMOs and arena games that cause stressors too, there are even mobile card games that come down to the wire that can give me a rush.  How times have changed from 3 decades ago.

This thing you're calling stress I call focusing or just plain giving the game my undivided attention.

I've always done that in MMOs. PvP is a good example and so are long dungeon runs or raids. But I've also always played at times giving the game half of my attention often while following a hockey game on TV. That's where soloing or crafting comes in handy.

A game has to have both, things that need my full attention and things where I can just chill for a while, for me to even consider playing it.

APThug

It's kind of interesting that you bring this topic up, because I've always felt the same way. I seem to only thrive while under lots of pressure.

Without going into too much detail; in my real life I can be quite lazy sometimes. I procrastinate doing easy things and find it a little annoying when people ask me to do easy things for them, when they can just easily do it themselves. Like, being the middle man when someone wants to send cash to someone else. (Just send your own dam money to the person you want to send it to, why the hell do I gotta get involved when it has nothing to do with me?)

On the flip side, when Im presented with a challenge or something difficult, I drop everything and focus on the problem with intensity until Ive sovled it. Its led me to winning some competitions, gaining all kinds of trophies, awards, and certificates. But now they just hang on the wall. All that stuff is just paper and copper to me now until I meet my next challenge.

In terms of video games, I've always played games at its highest difficulty. Even on my first playthroughs. So games like Darks Souls are some of my favorite games to play. Currently playing Doom Eternal on nightmare. I feel like i thrive in stressful situations. I'm 28, i have tons of grey hair mixed with my black hair. Almost everyone I meet, they comment about it. I personally really like my natural grey hairs. 

Sovrath

I'm like Amathe, I like fear. I do like some challenge but never stress. My whole life is geared to mimimizing as much stress as possible.

Quizzical

If you need stress and are good at fixing things that cause stress, that's a decent enough high-level description of a lot of real-life jobs that pay well.  Of course, if what you need is to cause stress for others, that doesn't pay so well.

maskedweasel

Iselin said:

maskedweasel said:

I like stressful situations, sometimes. Mostly I find that PvP or extreme difficulties cause stressful situations.  It can be fun, but it could also be too much for extended periods of time. 

When I was younger I could run PvP all day, now, I can only handle it for some of my playtime, my nerves get shot if I continuously play PvP.  


It's not just MMOs and arena games that cause stressors too, there are even mobile card games that come down to the wire that can give me a rush.  How times have changed from 3 decades ago.

This thing you're calling stress I call focusing or just plain giving the game my undivided attention.

I've always done that in MMOs. PvP is a good example and so are long dungeon runs or raids. But I've also always played at times giving the game half of my attention often while following a hockey game on TV. That's where soloing or crafting comes in handy.

A game has to have both, things that need my full attention and things where I can just chill for a while, for me to even consider playing it.

It's not focus for me. I can focus just fine. It's stressful, because I generally only do team play, and I carry a lot of... I guess you could call it anxiety, in doing the best I can for the team.  

It's fun for me, and stressful, to take on responsibilities in a team.  I'm not the kind of guy who just sits back with a DPS character, hoping everyone else will do their job. My ideal classes always have an element of support. 

The "make or break" feeling of some matches, even some purely PvE encounters in some games, heightens the focus I do have, but it also puts additional stress on me, in ways it didn't used to when I was younger. I guess I just cared less if things went horribly wrong in those situations before. 

Iselin

maskedweasel said:

Iselin said:

maskedweasel said:

I like stressful situations, sometimes. Mostly I find that PvP or extreme difficulties cause stressful situations.  It can be fun, but it could also be too much for extended periods of time. 

When I was younger I could run PvP all day, now, I can only handle it for some of my playtime, my nerves get shot if I continuously play PvP.  


It's not just MMOs and arena games that cause stressors too, there are even mobile card games that come down to the wire that can give me a rush.  How times have changed from 3 decades ago.

This thing you're calling stress I call focusing or just plain giving the game my undivided attention.

I've always done that in MMOs. PvP is a good example and so are long dungeon runs or raids. But I've also always played at times giving the game half of my attention often while following a hockey game on TV. That's where soloing or crafting comes in handy.

A game has to have both, things that need my full attention and things where I can just chill for a while, for me to even consider playing it.

It's not focus for me. I can focus just fine. It's stressful, because I generally only do team play, and I carry a lot of... I guess you could call it anxiety, in doing the best I can for the team.  

It's fun for me, and stressful, to take on responsibilities in a team.  I'm not the kind of guy who just sits back with a DPS character, hoping everyone else will do their job. My ideal classes always have an element of support. 

The "make or break" feeling of some matches, even some purely PvE encounters in some games, heightens the focus I do have, but it also puts additional stress on me, in ways it didn't used to when I was younger. I guess I just cared less if things went horribly wrong in those situations before. 

I'm not a DPS guy either, I'm a healer in most group content. If you've been a healer then you know that what you do is often the make or break thing. I take my role seriously and have saved my groups ass despite them doing everything imaginable to fail more times than I can count.

But to me its still fun and just focus. If I found it stressful I wouldn't do it. It actually takes a whole lot more than that to stress me out and it's usually situations where I have no control. Focus and responsibility just don't stress me.

delete5230

Iselin said:

maskedweasel said:

Iselin said:

maskedweasel said:

I like stressful situations, sometimes. Mostly I find that PvP or extreme difficulties cause stressful situations.  It can be fun, but it could also be too much for extended periods of time. 

When I was younger I could run PvP all day, now, I can only handle it for some of my playtime, my nerves get shot if I continuously play PvP.  


It's not just MMOs and arena games that cause stressors too, there are even mobile card games that come down to the wire that can give me a rush.  How times have changed from 3 decades ago.

This thing you're calling stress I call focusing or just plain giving the game my undivided attention.

I've always done that in MMOs. PvP is a good example and so are long dungeon runs or raids. But I've also always played at times giving the game half of my attention often while following a hockey game on TV. That's where soloing or crafting comes in handy.

A game has to have both, things that need my full attention and things where I can just chill for a while, for me to even consider playing it.

It's not focus for me. I can focus just fine. It's stressful, because I generally only do team play, and I carry a lot of... I guess you could call it anxiety, in doing the best I can for the team.  

It's fun for me, and stressful, to take on responsibilities in a team.  I'm not the kind of guy who just sits back with a DPS character, hoping everyone else will do their job. My ideal classes always have an element of support. 

The "make or break" feeling of some matches, even some purely PvE encounters in some games, heightens the focus I do have, but it also puts additional stress on me, in ways it didn't used to when I was younger. I guess I just cared less if things went horribly wrong in those situations before. 

I'm not a DPS guy either, I'm a healer in most group content. If you've been a healer then you know that what you do is often the make or break thing. I take my role seriously and have saved my groups ass despite them doing everything imaginable to fail more times than I can count.

But to me its still fun and just focus. If I found it stressful I wouldn't do it. It actually takes a whole lot more than that to stress me out and it's usually situations where I have no control. Focus an responsibility just don't stress me.

I always liked healing, good at it too..... In most recent games the content is so easy in dungeons players run as fast as they possibly can and don't care about their health, yet expect you to keep them alive. 

They use you as pawns...... 

Hawkaya399

Amathe said:

I don't like stress. For example, I pull a quest and discover it is timed. I hate deadlines. My rl job is a neverending series of stressful deadlines. I game to escape that.

But just as a good horror movie can be enjoyable, I like fear. Trying to get through a dark forest filled with scary mobs that can off me. That I like.

I also like a challenge. I remember breaking into Plane of Hate in EQ. Just getting into that place was a test.

But stress, by its very definition, isn't something I consider fun. 

Challenge IS stress. Having some fear IS stress. I think you're confusing high stress with plain jane stress. Stress to me is just some level of requirement for awareness. For me, it's key for immersion. That's relaly the only kind of stress I know in games. High challenge and risk leads to a lot of stress. If anything, it leads to a lot of death and that'll lead to stress. Boogeyman sounds mean nothing if the boogeyman never strikes, so your remark about fear is hollow if you're touching on atmosphere only.

I don't like timers. I do like tough fights and occasionally dying, suffering some genuine losses. Otherwise it gets too grindy.

In general I need to get mad sometimes, basically. It's better to be mad than go crazy with boredom in a grind.

I know what it's, btw. I've played a LOT of open world pvp in PvE that can already kill you on its own--it leads to extra tension overall. I usually dial up difficulty in SP games to hard or higher because I need to feel like I'm struggling. I need to feel like it matters what I do. On easier difficulties you don't need to remember things--it's very forgiving. I don't usually like it to be forgiving. That was the only way to play for years and years. However I find as I get older, I just play a game to see what's there, so sometimes I"ll go on easy difficulty. I even contemplate watching Lets Play on youtube and not even playing myself. I think as we get older we run out of time and we can't tolerate what we used to.

I'd like to see PvP-enabled MMORPGs dial up the PvE difficulty, while dialing down the PvP open world. Too many dial up the open world PvP but never think to dial up PvE instead. It's better to dial up PvE because I think PvP leads to more stress. Players will cheat and lie and steal, and this can cause a lot of pain in hte game world. PvE, by comparison, is much safer. There's a large audience of players who want tougher PvE. This won't eliminate stress, but it'll reduce it. A more constructive stress.

Theocritus

I know I played much better when I feared for my life in Everquest than I ever did in games like WoW, ESO, etc that had no real death penalty.

VengeSunsoar

Nope. Sorry. Not me. After clinic with all day (well Telehealth now). Dealing with people's aches and paind, being more empathetic than is my normal nature, then charting and dealing with other clinics,  insurance, stats... stress is there last thing I want.

That game, whichever it is, has only one purpose in being on my computer, to entertain me (whether that means fun or building or grind or whatever I feel like at that time). I don't find stress (assuming your taking about distress and not eustress) entertaining.

Ancient_Exile

Wizardry said:

Complexity yes,stress ...hell no .

I don't even jump on the bandwagon of needing a game to be overly difficult,i am somewhere in the middle.What i have noticed about too many layers,too much difficulty is i get a headache doing tons of reading to figure stuff out,i don't like reading,my eyesight is not so good anymore,reading gives me a headache.

what i want from games is CHOICE and not a linear path that i MUST follow.EVERY single mmorpg right now forces you into a linear path of progression,it is EASIER for them to design a game that way but not the best form a game can have.

When FFXI was a game from level 1-75,there was no forced progression,you could go do whatever you wanted,where ever you wanted.The fun was being around other players enjoying your character and combat,working as a team and unlocking new aspects of the game and your characters.

Look at that mob,we never seen that before,he looks tough,we better be careful.The intrigue of fighting some new mob was fun but you knew you didn't NEED i-level 119 gear to beat it,you knew it was possible just the way you were because the game was about you and your group.

So NO i do not need any stress,i need mmorpg's to get back on track,to move in the proper direction instead of this WOWish movement towards stupid gaming.

Remember the aged argument game play >graphics
Well now to me it is design a mmorpg so it is Player >gear and not this movement towards gear>player.

An MMORPG where player choices/actions can effect the game world for good or evil, better or worse.  That's pretty much the core of what I want.  A dynamic rather than static world.

Ancient_Exile

Theocritus said:

I know I played much better when I feared for my life in Everquest than I ever did in games like WoW, ESO, etc that had no real death penalty.

The first MMORPG I played for any length of time was Runes of Magic.  It had a stiff death penalty (though not as bad as original EQ I'm sure).  Each death gave you a significant amount of XP debt.  And it could stack up horribly if you died a few times in a row.  Oh, also, the amount of XP debt grew larger as you gained levels.  So, I got to the point where I was actually afraid to die in that game.  I liked that.  I like penalties and restrictions in games.  I like having choices that matter.  Also, I enjoy figuring out systems and forming strategies based on my understanding of those systems.  Generally, I try to avoid looking at guides until after I've started playing for a little while.  Challenge is fun.  Learning is part of the challenge and, thus, part of the fun.

delete5230

Again as always "Vanilla World of Warcraft" was always the perfect game. 


It was large, LARGE !....... It allowed players to be themselves with a large variety of both play styles and moods.

- Stickily a solo player well then be it.
- Strictly a Raid or Dungeon runner well then be it.
- If your in a mood where you don't want to talk to anyone, play that way all night.
- If you is a social mood, do that all night. 
- level fast, level slow, no one should care.  If to competitive, run with a different crew. 
- Everything in between, lots of gray area..... Only game with gray area.

To this day try and find this quality in any mmorpg, you can't even in 2020.

Theirs a huge reason it was #1 back in its day..... Stress, no stress, pick your poison.


Not your style anyway..... Well so be it, style of development can't please everyone. 

Ancient_Exile

delete5230 said:

Again as always "Vanilla World of Warcraft" was always the perfect game. 


It was large, LARGE !....... It allowed players to be themselves with a large variety of both play styles and moods.

- Stickily a solo player well then be it.
- Strictly a Raid or Dungeon runner well then be it.
- If your in a mood where you don't want to talk to anyone, play that way all night.
- If you is a social mood, do that all night. 
- level fast, level slow, no one should care.  If to competitive, run with a different crew. 
- Everything in between, lots of gray area..... Only game with gray area.

To this day try and find this quality in any mmorpg, you can't even in 2020.

Theirs a huge reason it was #1 back in its day..... Stress, no stress, pick your poison.


Not your style anyway..... Well so be it, style of development can't please everyone. 

IMHO, EQ2 had the potential to be a far better game.  If the developers had stuck to their guns and continued to make the game more realistic as opposed to trying to make it more like WoW.  I didn't play EQ2 until 2014, but I had more fun playing it than I did playing WoW for a bit back in 2010.  And trying to play WoW again in 2015 was totally boring.  I tried playing Vanilla WoW on a private server a few years ago as well , but I wasn't terribly impressed.  And it didn't work so well to play solo without enough other players around to help thin out the mobs.

delete5230

Ancient_Exile said:

delete5230 said:

Again as always "Vanilla World of Warcraft" was always the perfect game. 


It was large, LARGE !....... It allowed players to be themselves with a large variety of both play styles and moods.

- Stickily a solo player well then be it.
- Strictly a Raid or Dungeon runner well then be it.
- If your in a mood where you don't want to talk to anyone, play that way all night.
- If you is a social mood, do that all night. 
- level fast, level slow, no one should care.  If to competitive, run with a different crew. 
- Everything in between, lots of gray area..... Only game with gray area.

To this day try and find this quality in any mmorpg, you can't even in 2020.

Theirs a huge reason it was #1 back in its day..... Stress, no stress, pick your poison.


Not your style anyway..... Well so be it, style of development can't please everyone. 

IMHO, EQ2 had the potential to be a far better game.  If the developers had stuck to their guns and continued to make the game more realistic as opposed to trying to make it more like WoW.  I didn't play EQ2 until 2014, but I had more fun playing it than playing WoW for a bit back in 2010.  And trying to play WoW again in 2015 was totally boring.  I tried playing Vanilla WoW on a private server a few years ago as well , but I wasn't terribly impressed.  And it didn't work so well to play solo without enough other players around to help thin out the mobs.

As the last line says, development can't please every one. 

EQ2 and shortly LoTRO followed the same pattern. But things from their went haywire and it was the end of the true mmorpg, now their solo games on line with other people around you. 

kitarad

Amathe said:

I don't like stress. For example, I pull a quest and discover it is timed. I hate deadlines. My rl job is a neverending series of stressful deadlines. I game to escape that.

But just as a good horror movie can be enjoyable, I like fear. Trying to get through a dark forest filled with scary mobs that can off me. That I like.

I also like a challenge. I remember breaking into Plane of Hate in EQ. Just getting into that place was a test.

But stress, by its very definition, isn't something I consider fun. 

Yeah me too hate timers I keep looking at the clock instead of playing. Very stressful.

Scot

Guys we are getting old, the high octane games we used to live for are getting stressful!!!???

I find it is as much about time, if I wanted to play as well as I did back in the day I would need to devote more time to fewer games. Overall the amount of time I spend gaming has not dropped much, but the length of time I play an individual game has. This has only effected co-op games and MMOs, single player games are played to the end and wrung out to dry. That said, if a good MMO came along I would dive back in and it might well dominate my gaming time. My last MMO only got dropped because I objected to the endgame megagrind or P2W choice they forced on you.

Akulas

Sounds strange but it feels better to be in an environment where there is competition with each other as opposed to help from each other. Not really stress but for me to be my best there needs to be a little bit of pressure.