Why I Play Video Games That Make Me Angry

I have played video games for a long time.

I frequently will play video games even if they make me angry or frustrated to the point that I stop playing them for the day or a while. But I often come back to those same games and still enjoy playing them.

Why?

I am going to do my best to explain why I like playing games, even if they have frustrating moments. Maybe some readers will relate?

I Love Hard Video Games

I enjoy playing difficult video games. I enjoy the challenge of playing a video game more than the story or exploring the world most of the time.

Most of my favorite Steam games have the difficult tag on them. I did not make a deliberate choice to buy a lot of hard games. But it seems I gravitated to buying them without noticing it.

When I hear somebody say a video game is hard, that to me sounds like a challenge.

Sometimes I see people say a video game was so hard or frustrating it caused them to quit playing it. Reading a statement like that makes me wonder if I would feel the same way. That makes me want to try the game to find out.

I have bought a few games on Steam because I saw they had a mix of good and bad reviews, and some reviews mentioned the game was too hard.

I Am Stubborn

If I feel something is possible, I won’t stop trying to do it. Even this means trying well past the point of having fun doing it.

Often if games have challenge modes or hard bosses, I will do my best to beat them. Even if I already beat the game or have seen all of the story.

Why am I so stubborn?

I think it is because while playing video games, I hyper-focus. I don't think about anything else when I am in the zone.

I also don’t like admitting defeat or giving up.

Sometimes, making progress in a hard video game inspires me to make progress in other areas of my life.

I Play Games Better When Angry

I have noticed something interesting.

When I get angry at a video game, I sometimes play the game slightly better. For a while, that is. But eventually, I will be too frustrated to do anything useful anymore.

Sometimes I even imagine voices telling me I can’t do this or this is impossible. I like imagining things to defeat or overcome. I create imaginary haters to prove them wrong.

I Love and Hate Some Video Games

I used to play Counter-Strike, DOTA 2, and a few other multiplayer games. I very much enjoyed playing the games. Even if playing these games made me frustrated or annoyed.

It turns out I can like and be angry at a video game at the same time. I have this weird relationship with some games where I like to play them even if doing so slowly makes me angry or frustrated.

I don’t play most multiplayer video games anymore. So I don’t face these issues much. But I still felt this way about some single player video games.

Sometimes video games I struggle in and lose over and over tend to be my favorite games.

I once had lost over 50 times in a row while playing The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. But the next day, I still booted the game and kept on playing.

That is my odd combination of being stubborn and liking hard games. I still seek out new hard games to play to this day!