Killing the Hulk: How I Overcame the Rage

I suffered severely from the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

This is a super interesting comment to me. David Dunning actually did a great AMA a month ago, for those who have not read it. (One of the top Qs is actually from a DotA guy.) http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/2m6d68

By definition, I think, we cannot be aware of what we are less proficient at than we think. The first step is to recognize this, which it sounds like you have done and that's very cool. It's important for everyone to remember though that this initial recognition still requires us to approach everything else from a learning-oriented, engaged, humble perspective as a preventive measure.

I think as people who play video games, we need to look at why we're playing and what we want from social games like Heroes. When I identify that I play for the fun of gaming with friends, personal improvement, etc., I am able to suffer through incredibly painful losses because I am mindful of what my goals are in a game. When I am just mindlessly clicking around and doing bullshit, I get way more irritated with myself and play worse. I don't really "rage" in games, but when I am more focused on what I'm doing and why I'm playing, I certainly think nicer thoughts.

I think the negativity that is not uncommon in gaming is really harmful to us as players and people. So much of what happens in online gaming seems incredibly unhealthy and I think we owe it to ourselves to come in better control of our emotions and how we handle other people's emotional issues.

I've lost way too many games after having a big lead and most of the time it's because we lost a single teamfight, a person flips out and bags on the team or a specific person, and then everything spirals out of control. You can see it in how people play. They act nervously, won't commit to fights, get impatient and make poor decisions, etc. In general, I think, if players can't say anything nice, they should just keep quiet because raging at the team isn't going to solve anything. Not gonna help the team win, not gonna improve anyone else's day, and, in the long run, it's not good for the people losing their cool.

/r/heroesofthestorm Thread