Game Anxiety, how do you deal with it?

[fairfang]

Everytime someone approaches me I instantly gets anxious and run away, I feel bad because I know they just wanted to talk but I cant help but feel nervous and feel like I'll embarrass myself so I'd end up logging out of the game and come back when I know they're gone. I just cant make a small conversation with someone without getting nervous af

[Saltysquidoon]

I am not a doctor but it sounds to me like you have social anxiety so severe that random talking heads on a videogame forum are probably ill-equipped to assist you.

[MrLachyG]

Everytime someone approaches me I instantly gets anxious and run away, I feel bad because I know they just wanted to talk but I cant help but feel nervous and feel like I'll embarrass myself so I'd end up logging out of the game and come back when I know they're gone. I just cant make a small conversation with someone without getting nervous af

do you have that problem irl as well? if you do yeah probably posting here won't get much. I'd seek outside help from a doctor

[KOUNTERPARTS]

I don't have game anxiety. It's a game.


I know this phrase is often used as an insult but, genuinely, you may want to seek professional help.

[RadasNoir]

For the most part, I just ignore them until they wander off. The one good thing about the sort of people that just walk up and try to make a conversation with you, is they are usually doing it because they are bored. As soon as they realize you aren't going to provide them with any sort of entertainment, they look elsewhere.

[deenman]

Everytime someone approaches me I instantly gets anxious and run away, I feel bad because I know they just wanted to talk but I cant help but feel nervous and feel like I'll embarrass myself so I'd end up logging out of the game and come back when I know they're gone. I just cant make a small conversation with someone without getting nervous af

seek professional help specialy if this happens irl,and until then,just stop playing social games,pick up some singleplayer games that wont trigger this

good luck

[spalernTJ]

Everytime someone approaches me I instantly gets anxious and run away, I feel bad because I know they just wanted to talk but I cant help but feel nervous and feel like I'll embarrass myself so I'd end up logging out of the game and come back when I know they're gone. I just cant make a small conversation with someone without getting nervous af

This makes me think social anxiety. If it's only online / in-game, not sure what to do about it, if it reaches outside the game and you have a hard time interacting with people, strangers or not, then it's probably social anxiety, and you'll need to seek some real help.

[Triceron]

It depends on what your goal is.

Do you want to actively be more social, or do you want to continue playing solo and just not be bothered by the anxiety of having to make small talk? Depending on what you actually want to do, there are different ways of dealing with anxiety.

[loras]

Everytime someone approaches me I instantly gets anxious and run away, I feel bad because I know they just wanted to talk but I cant help but feel nervous and feel like I'll embarrass myself so I'd end up logging out of the game and come back when I know they're gone. I just cant make a small conversation with someone without getting nervous af

I'll be blunt: it sounds like something is very wrong in your head, they're just voices and pretty much virtual ones at that.

Go see a doctor, and make some effort to ensure that it's a good one.

[Dread Pirate Phayde]

They call booze liquid courage for a reason.

I'm more surprised you have random people come up and talk to you. Are you dancing on mailboxes in Goldshire?

[Santti]

Not really any different from these forums, though? We have our avatars here next to your avatar, with our speech bubbles, interacting with each other.

We'll make you love us through Stockholm Syndrome. Stop resisting.

[Nastard]

I have a hotkey that I press that automatically puts an afk tag over my head and /sit. Then instead of socializing, everyone just thinks I went AFK and I have an excuse for not responding to them. Meanwhile I keep a watchful eye with my heart racing and head pounding. Once the coast is clear I stand back up again and continue to play this single player online RPG. Sometimes I hit my afk hotkey if an enemy NPC is approaching because I fear it could be an actual person in disguise. I do the same thing in real life and always carry around a big AFK sign to hold over my head if anyone approaches me at the bus stop. It gets really awkward sometimes. The weirdest thing though is that I get anxious when someone in game approaches me, but have no problem making threads on a gaming forum knowing that MANY people will respond to me. Odd how a single person can perturb me in one circumstance, yet I'm unfazed in a different one that yields a ton of attention.

[beanman12345]

I mean if you don't want to socialize, than just don't, ignore them continue press afk whatever. it's no big deal, they'll get the message pretty quick, if not just use group finder to realm hop.

If you have social anxiety and just want help dealing with that, a therapist or something might help with that.

[Zaktar]

I have a hotkey that I press that automatically puts an afk tag over my head and /sit. Then instead of socializing, everyone just thinks I went AFK and I have an excuse for not responding to them. Meanwhile I keep a watchful eye with my heart racing and head pounding. Once the coast is clear I stand back up again and continue to play this single player online RPG. Sometimes I hit my afk hotkey if an enemy NPC is approaching because I fear it could be an actual person in disguise. I do the same thing in real life and always carry around a big AFK sign to hold over my head if anyone approaches me at the bus stop. It gets really awkward sometimes. The weirdest thing though is that I get anxious when someone in game approaches me, but have no problem making threads on a gaming forum knowing that MANY people will respond to me. Odd how a single person can perturb me in one circumstance, yet I'm unfazed in a different one that yields a ton of attention.

Wait that works irl? Where did you get your sign? This could change everything for me.

[caractacus]

Well if you want bad advice from random strangers then here is mine. You need to force yourself into uncomfortable situations and build up your social skills, what it the worst that can happen? Are you worried about how you will be perceived in the game, a game that means a lot to you. Pick a random game that means nothing to you, where you can interact with other players and just start pushing yourself to approach random people.

If you want a personal recommendation play something like Town of Salem

[Kerrion]

I wouldn't call it "game anxiety", just anxiety. I get the feeling, I used to get stressed like this too. For me it was because you can never knows what to expect from a stranger online. But you know, the thing is you can always just turn the game off like you do. Or stop responding if you feel uncomfortable.

[Bigbazz]

The biggest way to get over it is to confront it head on, it's the worst thing you wanna hear when you have these kinda issues but it's the truth that you can condition yourself into having some form of functionality when you're in the situation and thus you feel more comfortable. Hiding from it seems like the easy way out but you will never get over it, this includes by the way letting people know you're busy or semi-afk if you are available but don't want to or can't interact right now, it's perfectly reasonable to be unavailable and to cut the interaction head on.

I have anxiety issues performing live as a musician, a mix of performance anxiety and imposter syndrome. A really strange one because when I started playing live at 19 years old (I'm 35) I thought I was a god among men and had all the confidence in the world, I'm a much more accomplished and experienced player now but hyper overanalyse everything and get paranoid about my playing which makes it difficult to relax and perform at my best, alchohol does help.

But the solution to this kinda anxiety is not to hide from it, a level of conditioning to it by meeting it head on is benefitial, even if it's difficult.

[Nastard]

Wait that works irl? Where did you get your sign? This could change everything for me.

Sorry about the late reply. When I saw you responded to me I immediately hid underneath a blanket for the entire weekend. I think I'm okay now, but... as a warning, if you respond again I might spend the next week underneath the bed.

The sign was pretty easy. Just cardboard and magic marker. I upgraded the idea by attempting to get a tattoo of the letters "AFK" on my forehead so I wouldn't have to lug around a big piece of cardboard everywhere. Unfortunately I was so uncomfortable by having the tattoo artist stare directly at my forehead that I jumped out the nearest window before he finished. Now I just have the letter "A" on my forehead which seems to have the opposite effect as I originally intended. Now people can't stop staring and pointing at me

[Zaktar]

Sorry about the late reply. When I saw you responded to me I immediately hid underneath a blanket for the entire weekend. I think I'm okay now, but... as a warning, if you respond again I might spend the next week underneath the bed.

The sign was pretty easy. Just cardboard and magic marker. I upgraded the idea by attempting to get a tattoo of the letters "AFK" on my forehead so I wouldn't have to lug around a big piece of cardboard everywhere. Unfortunately I was so uncomfortable by having the tattoo artist stare directly at my forehead that I jumped out the nearest window before he finished. Now I just have the letter "A" on my forehead which seems to have the opposite effect as I originally intended. Now people can't stop staring and pointing at me

It's okay, I was hoping you would just ignore me like most people. I got really cocky and posted, then immediately regretted it. Now I have to deal with the awkwardness of your incredibly terrible decision to get a forehead tattoo and I have no idea what to say. It... it'll be okay buddy.

[Rozz]

Please talk to a professional about these topics, advice for mental/physical health isn't appropriate.