Wait, fun can be an antidote to stress and anxiety?! Since when?
this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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As a lifelong gamer and and an almost lifelong enjoyer of the despair of watching humanity defile our one and only home... duh.
Video games are weapons grade copium for smart people.
It's not just about dopamine/cope either. Knowing that people saw the state of the world they lived in, and came together to make good art anyway, is good for the soul. It reminds us that there is still good in the world worth fighting for.
It's easy to forget that when algorithms show us the worst and stupidest of humanity every day for peak engagement.
Video games are weapons grade copium
Using this from now on.
I agree it's really obvious to anyone who plays games, but it's always nice to be backed up with proper research.
Woah, I couldn't tell that my relaxing daily singleplayer gaming sessions in the evening are a stress relief without this research.
It's still important to do the research though. That way you can show your boss when he pulls you in his office for gaming all morning.
And why you need to spend an extra 2 hours this afternoon to recover now.
Good point
Unless you play competitive online team games. Then your stress and anxiety go up even higher.
There's a lot of things that are like "duh", but it's good that someone writes it down so someone else later down the line will have a harder time saying "um acktually video games cause stress and anxiety, not the lower wages and hotter summers" and get a fat cheque from the Heritage Foundation.
I mean, isn't "winding down" and having fun a main reason a lot of people play video games to start with?
There's few things more satisfying than a well tossed stick of dynamite landing in a KKK meeting in RDR2, then cleaning up the leftovers with a shotgun.
To be honest, most of the games I've played in the past 5+ years since I've started to get back into the hobby are stressful in various ways. That doesn't mean they aren't "quelling" stress and anxiety for me, just that when I'm playing them, they stress me out and give me anxiety.
Take for instance my current game du jour: Doom 2016. When battles are going, I'm for sure sweating and amped up, stressed, anxious, and what have you. It's anything but relaxing while playing. But still quite enjoyable.
So, perhaps the "quelling" comes after? A bit like a workout, where you're hyped up and exerting yourself, but after the fact you mellow out and relax?
If you like the stress of combat, and as much as you say “quelling”, I must recommend Warhammer 40k Darktide. Since the last big content patch in ~October that pretty much finally brought it to 1.0, it has essentially been the roguelite, frenetic FPS I’ve been searching for. High skill ceiling, skill-based movement system, target prioritization is paramount, tons of play styles with builds and classes. Give it a shot. Do some ripping and tearing for the emperor.
I go into a meditative, Zen-like Trance playing the Doom titles.
For reference, I've been playing Doom since it came out in 1993, arguably, I've played it for more hours than possibly anyone alive on the Internet at the present moment. Maybe over a solid 128,000 hours between D1/D2/D3/D2016/D:Eternal.
I still play it, various MegaWADS featured in the CacoAwards, and whatnot, but I digress.
My feeling with this is, as they'd say:
"Your judgement for the sin of wrath is an eternity in Hell".
"Why are you smiling? It's supposed to be a punishment."
"No, adjudicator, I heard you perfectly. An eternity in paradise."
If you are a fan of extremely fast-paced and frantic combat, you should try ULTRAKILL.
Nothing calms me down like the adrenaline rush of cutting demons in half with a chainsaw in Doom Eternal
Most FPSs give me the same feeling. Whenever I play one I keep a second relaxing game going as well because some days it's not the right call
That's so cool! On Firefox mobile I recommend putting it into desktop mode, but you're right, it's a bit broken on Firefox.
Duh!