Nerve control in gaming

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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copy-paster
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Nerve control in gaming

Post by copy-paster »

When you're aiming for 1CC/No-miss/speedrun, at some point in mid-last stages sometimes your worst enemy coming in: Nerves! this is especially bad when you're far enough and almost reaching your goal, only to mess up because you can't control your nerves. Even more so when you're on live demonstration, that'd be sucks.

Now I'm curious about anyone here how do you control your nerves when this happens? Doing long breath is helpful but only for a short time to me, then it comes back again. This discussion also applies for shmups too, although I think posting on other gaming is more fitting.
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WelshMegalodon
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Re: Nerve control in gaming

Post by WelshMegalodon »

Practice, practice, practice. The more times you can dodge all of Hibachi's patterns in a controlled environment, the more likely you are to pull it off under pressure.
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BIL
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Re: Nerve control in gaming

Post by BIL »

For recording personal bests, I've found a small degree of controlled background noise helps concentration. Absolutely not something unfamiliar - that's distracting. More like an old favourite movie or podcast or album, something I've heard hundreds of times and know beat-for-beat. Glengarry Glen Ross and Peace Sells (But Who's Buying?) are reliable standbys.

I don't really hear while concentrating on the game, but if I start to lapse, it's good to have a familiar soundtrack to mentally land on. Needless to say, this is all highly idiosyncratic. I have noticed others report similar, RE the use of coloured noise to aid concentration (Icarus's posts here come to mind).

Physiologically, I try to ignore all humanity. Image :lol: I'm the doki-doki sort, I've had to get used to ignoring my own vital signs as the finish line nears. :mrgreen:
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copy-paster
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Re: Nerve control in gaming

Post by copy-paster »

Yeah I did the mute bgm off sometimes or lower the sound, unless the music is so awesome and fitting to things like "this is the final stage, best of luck!".
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Lethe
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Re: Nerve control in gaming

Post by Lethe »

Always play out your credits. The more natural the experience of seeing the game in sequence is, the less nerves you'll get. Extensive practice rarely works for me unless I'm doing something that demands rote precision - I'll hit diminishing returns quickly and inflate my performance anxiety, not diminish it. The important part is getting as much continuous experience as possible. You might have an ultimate goal in mind, but what you're really playing is what's happening NOW, and in the moment that's all that's worth thinking about.
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trap15
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Re: Nerve control in gaming

Post by trap15 »

Lethe wrote:Always play out your credits. The more natural the experience of seeing the game in sequence is, the less nerves you'll get. [...] You might have an ultimate goal in mind, but what you're really playing is what's happening NOW, and in the moment that's all that's worth thinking about.
Strong believer in this philosophy myself.
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Rastan78
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Re: Nerve control in gaming

Post by Rastan78 »

Yeah I go with the idea of playing each credit through. Scoring should never become a bigger priority than survival. When you have a trashy run going due to early mistakes use that to play more aggressive later on and go for things that might be a little risky. Eventually you can go for those more aggressive strategies in your "safe" scoring attempts. If you only play through perfect runs then you will be too timid to experiment during a full run out of fear of fucking up.

As far as nerves I think even if you are well practiced they can still creep in on the best of runs. Especially if it's a game with a random element like Garrega flamingos or Darius Gaiden silver medals. One day you're coming out of stage 3 or 4 looking at your score going oh shit this run could be huge if I don't blow it.

For me it helps to try and get pumped up a bit and use the adrenaline. I'm pretty laid back and not a really competitive person, but you see athletes, football players etc. use this all the time to get going. It's like you want to tell yourselves postive things that will switch your mindset to a bit more of "Fuck yeah bro. You got this," rather than "Oh my god one more boss. Pleeeeease don't fuck this up."

When nerves kick in are you gonna be a Chad or a virgin? :lol:
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