Games can make us angry. Whether it is rage quitting, breaking a controller, punching an inanimate object or screaming at the screen, most people who play games will have some experience with the frustration that games can bring out in players. They are competitive and they are challenging. That adrenaline that fills us in a boss battle or a really close multiplayer map is an example of how they affect us emotionally and can trigger chemical reactions within us.

Of late though it feels like gamers have being getting angrier and more violent. We all know of kids screaming insults and swears into the microphone in multiplayer matches, the death threats sent to developers, reviewers and competitive major league players and the new trend of ‘swatting’ (notifying authorities of terrorism to bring armed swat forces to game streamers’ houses). Then there is the ever present perception of gamers as unstable outcasts who are one breakdown away from shooting up a school. Continue reading →