Recently I just broke up with my girlfriend. Without going into too much detail (like you guys care anyways) suffice it to say that it was stressful. So, I started thinking about ways to relieve my stress and I figured "why not play some games?" It takes your mind off things, you are engaged, and it's entertaining. Now, games aren't the only way I relieve stress, exercising and listenting to music are still my favorites, so please don't call me things like...oh, I dont know "An addicted faggot who deserved to lose his relationship". So, here's my question to you guys, What are your favorite games to play to relieve stress or anger and why?
Personally, I like Rock Band, Pac Man Championship Edition DX, and GTA 4. Playing the drums on Rock Band makes me focus on the charts, the music, and my arm movements, so I really don't have time to think of anything else. GTA 4 is violent, realistic, and hilarious. Running into a hobo on the street and hearing him yell "I DON'T HAVE ANY BANANAS!" makes my day. And Pac Man Championship Edition DX is the video game equivalent to injecting hard drugs into your system, going to the loudest techno dance club in the world, and having a massive orgy inside that dance club. It's mindlessly addictive.
Dance Central is a good stress reliever. There's almost nothing better than getting up and dancing when you need to forget about your problems. Speaking of this, I really need to go play some Dance central right now! I've been stressin'!
I've found the original Katarmari Damacy to be a good way to unwind and tune out the rest of the world for a while. The whole rolling-stuff-up jazz, while I wouldn't call it meditative, can be kind of mentally therapeautic, if only because of how surreal and laissez-faire most of that game is. It's also just one of those games that good to play no matter how much time you want to spend with it, whether it's just a few minutes or a few hours. It's a very noncommittal thing like that.
" Dance Central is a good stress reliever. There's almost nothing better than getting up and dancing when you need to forget about your problems. Speaking of this, I really need to go play some Dance central right now! I've been stressin'! "
You sound like my girlfriend. Almost every Friday night she says that she wants me to take her out to the club so that she can dance away all the stress she gets from work.
Anyway when I want to blow off steam I'll usually play a nice relaxing game of Skate 3 since you pretty much just skate around, relax and do nothing.
Sometimes games are the source of stress. But I like a big open world game like Fallout or something, just wander around with no goal and maybe VATS a fool here and there.
When I'm stressed, I stick to good, kinda "chill out" games, like Katamari, Little Big Planet (appropriately, one just came out), or Mario Galaxy. Minecraft too. Just games that kinda take me back to my childhood imagination or aren't particularly challenging.
I don't really play any particular games to relieve stress. If I did, top choices would probably be stuff like Fallout 3 or Animal Crossing. Or maybe some GTA or Rock Band.
I'll be so happy when gamers stop using faggot as an insult...
WOW is great for that. Nice people to talk to and some nice grinding to get your mind off of whatever is bothering you. Racing Games are great too. Just play things you know aren't going to make you way frustrated.
@EndlessObsidian:@dungbootle:@benpicko: If you guys ever 100% the game please remember what you wrote here and tell us you were wrong, hehe.
For me it would be something like Chime or Bejeweled (endless modes).. just focus without a real chance to get frustrated. Actually I rarely do play games when I'm stressed out, working out, any kind of sports or meditating is more helpful for me.
Since I got really determined that I want to design games, they have started to feel more and more like work (after all, you have to keep up). This has made it really hard to view games as stress relief, and it starts to go the other way. I actually gave up on Silent Hill for this reason, because its already a fucking stressful game. I suppose Counter-Strike is probably the game that I will always be able to relax with.
Actually, just multiplayer games in general. If I'm playing a single player game that I've already beaten I just feel guilty about all the other games that I could be playing or work that I could be doing.
EDIT: Ok, Rock Band will always be good, even in single player"
None recently but in the past it was gta3 alot of that game was my therapy and boy would Jack Thompson be disturbed if he saw the circle 8 blood trail I left under the car with the peds under it lol.Another game I would say would be UMK3 when i started mastering infinite combos and owning AI which isn't that hard really but there was a certain art to it that was alot of fun.Oh and using the PKM in BF2.
I generally don't play games when I'm stressed... then again, I don't think I've ever felt enough stress to feel the need to take it out on something. So I'm going to say... Bayonetta is awesome, when I finished it, I had a big doofy grin on my face for hours, great game.
Either fighting games on the easiest difficulty setting, or any of the Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider games since there isn't that much challenge to them yet the low octane platforming and set piece moments along side some large scale puzzle solving let your mind escape from whatever is ailing you for pretty good chunks of time.
Torchlight, Oblivion, Saints Row 2, Osmos, Spore, Sims 2, Tropico, SimGolf, Jade Empire and KotOR spring to mind. Zen games, nothing too difficult -- lots of relaxing music and moods (except for maybe SR2, but that's zen in a different way)
My favorites are flower, We <3 Katamari, any of the Sly Cooper games, Rock Band (not singing, though), Okami, LoZ: Wind Waker, Lumines and Chime. Basically, anything easy, satisfying and aesthetically-pleasing.
I'd also say LittleBigPlanet, but sometimes the loading can actually become stressful for me.
Log in to comment