I understand that sometimes getting angry with a game is better for some people because its better to take your frustrations out on a piece of plastic than your family or friends, but after several broken controllers or systems is can get expensive to have an angry gamer in the house.
If you are an angry gamer or know someone who is, here are some tips for dealing with anger during gaming sessions.
1. Keep an item such as a pillow or stuffed animal beside you when playing, so that you can punch or throw the item instead of throwing the controller, hitting something valuable or hitting someone near you.
2. If you are going to scream and swear during an online gaming session, don’t use your headset. In the end, all you will end up with is a bunch of bad reviews from the people playing you and fewer people wanting to play with you.

3. If you are a PS2 player, invest in the Nerf Pelican PS2 controller. The rubber skin on the controller allows it to take more damage without breaking than normal controllers do. This way you’ll spend less money on replacement controllers.
4. When you buy your system, invest in a second controller with a protection warranty. This will cover all the controllers you break during a moment of rage. It’s better to pay $20 now than $50 later for each controller you smash and you’ll always have an extra controller available for when you do break one.
5. Always remember that it’s just a game and no matter how mad you get, NEVER take out your anger on a living thing. Objects can be replaced, but people and animals can’t.
For those of you living with an angry gamer, here are some tips to deal with them:
1. Try listening to some music with a pair of noise canceling headphones that way you don’t have to listen to them screaming at the TV.
2. Don’t try to change the behavior of the angry gamer because its better that they take their frustrations out on the game then anything else. Some people just need an outlet for all their daily stress.
3. Never make fun of an angry gamer when they are losing. You’re just asking for a controller to be thrown at your head.
4. If you are playing online with an angry gamer, just ignore them. Fighting with them only takes away from your fun. If possible, just put them on mute.
I hope these tips help all the angry gamers out there and anyone living with them.
[Title picture via Aggravated Gamers]
"3. Never make fun of an angry gamer when they are losing."
Ah yes, the joys of playing Halo 2 online.
3. Never make fun of an angry gamer when they are losing. You’re just asking for a controller to be thrown at your head.
This is a risk my friends and I are readily willing to accept.
And piestuff has made me redundant!! 0H N035!!!
Also, sometimes it seems harmless enough to give yourself a good rap on the leg when you're frustrated and sitting. Don't over-do it. You'll always regret it.
Awesome avatar. Nice article Faith, two thumbs up.
(is an angry gamer, whoever thinks they can best me in Gears today, Gamertag : Snaileb)
I'll be on in an hour. =) HushGush you better fuckin find me.
pie: your avatar makes me laff
i live with 2 angry gamers... usually I just ignore them if we're all playing together... it's kind of hard sometimes because they are also the biggest shit talkers... it's so difficult to not throw in a "noob" comment when you pwn them sometimes
Very true, my brother is a screamer when he plays.."WHAT THE *#@$, THAT WAS A HEADSHOT OMFG *@#&$(*@#%!$%!" I've started to just ignore him...My dad yells in bursts: ".........*#%&@!!!!!........."
I really just don't ever lose badly enough for any of this to apply :D
Everybody should read this. EVERYBODY.
I'd admit that I'm an angry gamer. I have 2 fist sized holes in my bedroom wall thanks to Soul Caliber 2. Also I have smashed a gamecube controller because being frustrated that my Action Replay would not work with 007: Everything or Nothing.
Hmmm. >_> My brother is a sore loser when I kick his ass in checkers. Haven't played games with him though.
Note to self: Beat brother's ass in his own video games and wear a helmet.
I can take losing in game I just don't understand when people have to throw things. >_> Seriously just scream into a pillow or something. Don't ruin the controller. It'll only make it harder to win.
guilty.
also guilty of taunting angry gamers when they're losing.
brusies are temporary, a good burn, thats forever.
I think I used to be an angry gamer. Usually when playing damn hard games like Battletoads and Kid Icarus on the NES. Over the years since I've mellowed immensely. My wife beats me in WiiGolf and it doesn't bother me much anymore. Honestly, I'm just happy that she's playing too.
slow news day, huh
I actually find that when I'm playing my DS, I'll get more frustrated playing if I heard someone else getting mad at their game.
Bugs the hell out of me.
Yeah when I get frustrated to a certain point I just shut the game off or play something else and then come back to it. I have a friend who will just yell as loud as he can because apparently everyone on halo 2 hacks (so he says, which I know is not true) but you know how it is.
I was going to say something constructive but got caught up reading Bahamut's avatar....
For real though, I used to be terrible with it. Screaming and accusing the computer of cheating ("It knows the move I'm trying to do and won't let me do it!") and even biting the controller cords. I've definitely cooled down a lot since then (I believe it was third or fourth grade) and I really just shrug stuff off nowadays.
"4. If you are playing online with an angry gamer, just ignore them. Fighting with them only takes away from your fun. If possible, just put them on mute."
im sorry but im always the guy that eggs the angry gamer on, i find it hilarious when people are constantly cursing cuase they died to someone better than him/her, also sometimes they come up with curses ive never heard before
The first image for the article looks just like Snaileb! Though he took it pretty well when I kicked his agent off of the roof the other night on crackdown.
Let us never forget..
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I don't these techniques would work for my brother. He has chucked a Game Gear on a cement floor and shattered it. He broke 3 N64 controllers, at least 4 PS2 controllers. And to top it all off, you crack the screen our our 50" TV, I wasn't too happy about that one, neither were our parents.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ex-TeSxHHLk
I threw my spare Xbox 360 controller at the ground and it just so happened to hand directly on the left analog stick and that broke. It was still attached but it was loose, loose like the old worn out analog sticks at department store video game kiosks. I also broke my charge and play kit for the 360 by chucking it at the floor. Dear god, I'm an angry gamer! D:
I always beat the piss out of my pillow. I've never thrown a controller but man I have wanted too.. After I beat and throw my pillow I usually try once more and if I fail I turn it off and try again the next day.
@namelessted
Your brother is a little punk ass bitch. I knew a kid that would throw the NES controller EVERY time he died at Mega Man 2. That is a hard game, so he threw that controller alot. He sreamed until he was red. He would try again,, fail and then he would cry, and pick up the controller to keep playing. I haven't seen Todd in forever. Seriously, it was one of the saddest, most pathetic things I'd ever seen.
I get angry but I hide it. Most of the time anyways. But lemme tell you about my little brother. He is 12 and he goes apeshit when he is losing. He starts punching himself in the head and legs and once he does it too hard he starts to cry and gets even angrier. Thus resorting to punching himself again. A vicious circle that is. Luckily for me I am a safe distance away and can laugh. O, and did I mention he isn't too bright?
"also sometimes they come up with curses ive never heard before"
very true.. THAT is funny. In css I'm usually pretty chill when I die, but one of my roomates calls everyone a hacker and bangs on the desk a lot... and the other one blames it on other problems like "registration" i dont know how many times he's said "reg plz" and he just screams obscenities at the top of his lungs ... i laff at that kind of stuff... then i shoot them in the head :P
Snail when I played you were you just out of you element? because I won a lot and i can tell you are much better.
I remember the angry gamer called WEEDS on Gears, We and my team sorta demolished his spirit with no side effects whatsoever.
<- angry gamer. Just today I broke my damn headset. Why? One effin guy who had umpteen grenade kills and refused to die upon point-blank shotgun blasts.
Yeah it's silly. It's a friggin game!
Next time, walking away and a nearby pillow will help.
Thanks for the article (and earlier thread, you little researching reporter you).
i remember recording one of the podtoids with you and hearing him scream in the background. so hilarious
I remember early in my video game career I was introduces to tecmo football for the snes by my bro. When I scored a touchdown before he did. He threw the controller at the wall and got grounded for it. honestly i feed off angry gamers temper tantrums, it makes me compete more
I was a pretty stressy little gamer when I was younger. I recall one time getting so pissed with Mario64 (how and why I dont know) that I ripped the cart outta the machine and flugn it out my bedroom door into the wall, where it then tumbled down the stairs.
Thannk goodness at some poitn I realised there were more important things than games - guess I grew out of it.
And in case you were wondering - the game still works to this day. Cartridges for the win.
Addendum: Don't ever even attempt to tease non-gamers about something on-screen they're doing that is genuinely funny. They will only yell at you and be ready to swear off video games completely.
Me? I don't get angry. I just get depressed. I don't think I'm normal, though.
I've never understood the angry gamer thing. I've seen some people throw tantrums that were just pathetic. The worst I've ever gotten is usually when I screw up something I'm trying to get a perfect on at the last second, and I'll say "fuck!" Never thrown a controller or smashed something once because of a game.
iamshinek needs a permaban.
you love getting the last word Mxy
I'm fairly good at hiding my anger too, although this hasn't always been the case. I remember starting kicking an arcade cabinet and having to beg security to let me back in again. Sometimes I still drop my controller outta disbelieve.
It's been years since I've gotten furious at a game. Hell, it's been years since I've died in anything other than an FPS. Games are getting too easy and dammit I miss the rage from constant failure.
Currently, I’m prepping for the March 13 release of God of War II by playing through the original on God mode (the hardest difficulty setting). It took me freaking forever to get through the beginning battles of the Challenge of Poseidon and later, the Challenge of Hades. The former features a circular arena with multiple respawning Cerberi and pups, and once that’s done, two Cyclopes (yes, I checked Merriam-Webster and according to them, that’s the correct plural form of ‘Cyclops’) come up the path leading out of the arena. The latter entails defeating eight Centaurs (total) in two different glowing rings on the ground (four in each). Man, that was a bitch.
Whenever I play games, I try to do so near my bed, so I can just harmlessly slam my fist down on it. I once barely missed and caught a bit of the bedpost...thought I broke my pinky finger, but luckily, it just looked purple for a few days. I’m also guilty of throwing controllers, but it always takes me a while to break in a console first. Like, I treat my PS3 very carefully, almost as if it was a baby, but I’m sure that I’ll be tossing my SIXAXIS around a few years down the road... Seriously, though, that’s very rare. I’ve thrown controllers less than ten times, ever, and I’ve owned an NES, a Genesis, and then all Sony systems: PS, PS2, and PS3.
My most recent (SPOILER FILLED) angry gamer moment was brought on by the cheap ass Dead Rising final boss "Brock". (Spoilers ahead) Here you spend the whole game using "everything as a weapon" and leveling up your character only to have to fight through a ridiculous vehicle based turret shooting gallery and finally an unarmed "fighting game" style boss fight. Brock is so cheap...I was maxed out and it still took me several tries (made all the worse by the lack of a save point, meaning you die...it's back to the tedious tank fight)...OH man I was choking on my own rage!
Of course, now that I think about it I'd have never learned to swear like a man if it hadn't been for the hours spent watching my Dad play space invaders on the ol' Atari 5200...that was an education! My dad...the OG Angry Gamer!
LMAO Im glad I dont live with an angry gamer but I can get pretty pissed sometimes when I cant beat something.
Nice use of the Aggravated Gamers logo ;)
Yeah I've got to beg to differ...I think it's all a maturity thing. When I had a NES back in the day, I remember chucking controllers like it was going out of style. I kinda lost track of games for a couple (dozen) years, and when I got a PS2, I no longer even get upset. Every once in a while during online play I'll yell from surprise, but that's about it. Also taunting guys that get all pissed off is FUCKING AWESOME. My theory is that it helps them grow up faster by sending them off the deep end...but the truth is that I just like to hear people flip their shit.
im a huge aggravated gamer if i cant beat something i liek freak out and scream and throw controllers.... im pretty bad
Good stuff. I'm pretty laid back when it comes to games...though I might swear under my breath and turn the game off. The game that pissed me off beyond all other games was NFL Blitz for the N64. It seemed like no matter who I play, the fumbles and interceptions were always in their favor...and I once got physically violent with my best friend when he wouldn't stop laughing at me :)
"4. If you are playing online with an angry gamer, just ignore them. Fighting with them only takes away from your fun. If possible, just put them on mute."
Ugh I missed this one when I was playing CoD4 with some douche on my team... Thanks for the tips!
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