Rage is a powerful tool, as any experienced competitive (read: playing
games that revolve around competition) gamer will attest to. However, it’s also a
complex concept, the surface of which is merely scratched by the above-average
player. There’s a huge difference between knowing about rage and understanding it. As understanding it will give you an edge over your opponents, my goal is to get you to that point.
When the word “rage” comes to mind, you usually think of someone getting
irritated or angry at a game mechanic or another player. What happens when someone
gets angry? Generally speaking, they lose focus. You could try to be that one cool guy
and say “oh, anger helps me focus,” but your performance almost certainly would reflect
otherwise.
What’s the first thing on your mind when you receive that message saying that
you’ve been dominated in Team Fortress 2? When someone successfully knifes you in
Call of Duty when you were trying to shoot them, what are you thinking?
PRIMARY DIRECTIVE: REVENGE
It holds true for all of us. A lot of it is an ego thing. We want to be better than
those guys that killed us in embarrassing or extreme ways, and we want to prove it both
to ourselves and to them. Pretty psychological.
However, instead of using our noggins to overcome the hated adversary, we
often charge in half-blinded by our thoughts and emotions. This gets us killed again,
often by the same person. You can keep this from happening with a couple of standard
management techniques:
1. Let that respawn timer count down without you staring at it. Take a deep breath,
look at something in your surroundings besides the computer, or just alt + tab to a
webpage with something entertaining on it (I usually keep reddit.com open while
playing multiplayer games). The only thing you need to remember is what went
wrong.
2. Refocus yourself. When your focus becomes a single player or, for that matter,
anything other than the objective, your performance drops. Consider your next move
without giving thought to your killer – he or she is not worth your mental energy.
That said, I have some fantastic news for you: rage works both ways. You are
not the only person in your lobby affected by it. What better to do than take advantage
of this fact? Gaming is war, there is no mercy, there are no morals (another subject
entirely), and your enemies are pigs. Make ‘em squeal! Play off what your victims know.
When you kill someone, think about what they were doing when you tagged ‘em. Think
about what they saw, and what they will probably try to do to kill you this time.
Reposition yourself after each kill. Set up traps.
Bottom line: kill your rage before it kills you. Use your success to compound the
victory against opponents who just won’t learn. You’ll be a better player for it.
Now talk back: What experiences have you had with nerd rage? Do you get enemy players to rage often?
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