How do you stay calm while playing?

General Discussion
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Just gonna get right to the point and say I can get pretty salty when playing OW, especially in comp. I mean when I know it’s my fault and know that I’m just performing badly on a specific hero, I know that I can just swap to a differ hero, or know that I can just stop, because I’m just not up to it at the moment.

But when it’s something that I have absolutely no control over, such as a thrower on my team, a teammate that’s just bad on everything they play or a teammate that refuses to switch when their pick isn’t working, I just get very frustrated, because there’s nothing I can do.

Like if a teammate is a Pharah main/one trick, and won’t switch off pharah even if the enemy widow/mccree/etc keeps picking them off, I get really frustrated. I mean I can’t MAKE them switch, the team asks them to switch but they won’t. We lose the game because it was basically a 5v6. We lost because of something out of our control. THAT’S the kind of thing that triggers me. I get angry and when I’m angry I have a harder time focusing during that game.

I try my best to tell myself “don’t let it bother you” but I just find it hard to stay calm, when in a situation like that. I guess it’s just me, but IDK.

Also to be clear I’m not saying “it’s never me, it’s only my teammates” trust me I KNOW when I’m doing a sucky job. And will usually swap to something else that’ll be slightly easier to play. Or ask to swap roles with a teammate. It doesn’t bother when it’s “my fault” because I can fix the problem by just swaping and to just stop playing when I’m done with the match.

I’m also a bit of an empath, so if my teammates get frustrated I tend to get agitated too, so when they’re mad at that “Pharah who won’t switch”, I’ll start to get agitated too. This is also why I solo queue when playing comp, because all my friends who I play OW with get triggered easily so playing with them would just be a nightmare.

I guess what I’m asking is, what do you guys do to keep yourselves in a chill mood when in a frustrating match while playing OW?

Some might say that since I’m an empath I should just leave VC so I won’t just “absorb the anger” could be good. But I like to stay in VC to hear call outs and such, so I feel like I’m in a bit of a pickle on what to do.

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i don’t care about anything.

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I try to “not care” so much, but I just find it frustrating to be losing due to something out of my control. IDK maybe it’s just a me thing.

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Just blast gachi meme music so that I can’t feel the pain.

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5

Try not to vocalize your anger.
Keep telling yourself it is a marathon not a sprint and there will be lost cause games.
You need to play in volume.
Try to learn something from losses also, even if it was because of a teammate, what could you have done differently?

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Just play each moment to your best and try to take something from each engagement. Also, losing isn’t that aweful is it? It is a video game after all. I kind of look at it like American Football: each play is a chance to make a difference. Focus on yourself during engagements and don’t worry too much about your teamates’ mistakes. If I get desperate I set myself one goal: Don’t die!

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I dont

On a real note, i just try to not care

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Just remember that it’s only a game. When you get a bad team and you start to feel yourself getting mad or frustrated because x teammate isn’t working with you just keep working with your teammates that will. You will have to grind out the one match, but after that take a break.

If you find yourself not being able to stay calm while playing a particularly frustrating game (ie no one is working together) that’s when you start to play some music. Get out of VC if no one is using it to make important calls, make sure you cam still hear the rest of the game, and just start playing music you enjoy in the background.

Then just play it like you would a solo player game! Pretend your team is the AI and you set the game on “hard mode”. Make it your mission to one up your past plays, every kill is a victory. You have to try to make the game aspect of it fun, because if your team isn’t working together you’re essentially playing a single player game where the friendly AI is set on “easy”

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soulslikes teach you patience

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I just stay off of team speak. I listen but do not speak. Why? because I’m already carrying and refuse to get mad over a video game…in team speak.

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I drink. I have to drink when playing comp otherwise there is no other way lol

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Your feelings of frustration are understandable.

I try to catch myself when I start getting a rise, and tell myself “no, you can’t get angry, it’s not right.” Then I finish out the match in resignation and either switch to another mode or stop playing for awhile to cool off, usually running off and doing some kind of errand, checking my email or reading some news helps a little bit. Then I can come back with a fresh slate.

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14

There’s a certain degree of irony that I find the SoulsBorne games less frustrating than Overwatch

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15

I listen to Porter Robinson

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I can’t help feel other people’s frustration, that combined with my ‘little tolerance of fools’ (including myself at times) and it really is in both my and my teams best interest I stay off comms and just stick to group chat.

In real life if someone talked to me the way they do in teamchat at times I’d no longer associate with them as they are little better than ‘animals’. I don’t need that kind of behavior to tilt me for the rest of the match and the next few matches.

I want to relax and have fun when I play Overwatch.

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17

Try to play with friends. I usually have more fun playing with my friends, even when we’re losing, than I do by myself. It makes it easier to laugh off those trigger moments.

Do whatever you need to do to get into your “flow” state before you hop into comp. I like shooting targets/bots in aim trainer maps (OW, cs:go, or online) and getting to a point where I have no attachment to whether I hit the target or not, just to hit it. I carry that mentality to the game where I’m not punishing myself for whiffing shots, I’m just calmly focused like a laser on hitting the target. This helps me shut up the inner-narrative that ultimately gets me salty in the first place.

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18

I continually remind myself that my anger is the result of a chemical reaction baised on an evolutionary trait that tells me losing a competition means ill either be killed or not get to repeoduce.

Loseing doent mean i die, winning doesnt mean i get to smaaash, life is a journey, time is a river, the door is ajar, polka will never die.

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19

Staying calm is easy when you focus on enjoying to do your best rather than focusing on the outcome.

Simple questions to ask yourself when you play :

  • is this loss really changing my personal life ?
  • do I really have to prove myself through a score in a game ? Rather than through concrete, real life facts ?
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I drink a whole can of arizona green tea. Then eat 3(Three) bbq flavoured roasted peanuts…