On June 9th, I made the decision that I wanted to get better at fighting games. I went ahead and purchased Street Fighter 6 and started playing the game.

Ten days later, I uninstalled the game, as I realized that fighters are extremely unhealthy for me.

The Thought Process Behind Wanting to Get Better at Fighters

My gaming "career" has almost always been in MMORPG's. For as long as I can remember, MMO's have been my go to game to play. Honestly, they have been the only genre of games that I regularly enjoy playing.

I do, from time to time, play other genre of games and enjoy them. This includes sim racing games, some single-player RPG's, and from time to time, fighting games.

The reason why I made the decision to start getting better at fighting games is that I have always wanted to start streaming. MMO's aren't really a good category of games to stream, and I do not have the available funds to get a new sim racing wheel to potentially start streaming sim racing content. Since I rarely play single player RPG's, I decided that maybe I should get into fighters. More specifically, Street Fighter 6. This decision was solely on the fact that I used to play Street Fighter 4 fairly regularly, and I would consider myself okayish at the game. I did a couple local tournaments and placed, usually, within the top 10.

But, I quit playing when Street Fighter 5 came out, as I was not enjoying the new mechanics.

Street Fighter 6, on the other hand, is better then Street Fighter 5, in my opinion, and my main from Street Fighter 4, Juri, was in the game and had almost the same exact move set. Unlike Street Fighter 5, where Juri was vastly different.

So, I made the choice to purchase the game, and start my "Rookie to Pro" journey. I set a goal of attending a local tournament on July 9th, giving me one month to learn the game, practice, and at least win one match at the tournament.

I was excited. I was looking forward to it. Heck, I even went ahead and purchased a hitbox-style controller and started practicing with my keyboard, as it was most similar to a leverless controller, while I waited for it to arrive.

Quickly Realizing that Fighters are not for Me

The first few days of playing Street Fighter 6, I had a blast. I spent time in training, practicing combos, learning the mechanics of the game, and just getting comfortable with using a hitbox-style layout controller.

After I felt comfortable with everything, I decided to start playing online. This was when I realized why I truly left the fighting game scene back when Street Fighter 5 came out, and barely played any of the other fighters I purchased since then.

I have major Fighting Game Frustration.

At first, it is tolerable. But, after playing my ten placement matches, and being placed in Gold, I quickly realized that I should probably not be Gold ranked, and although I was winning some of my matches, my nerves just broke down while playing.

I could not focus on not button mashing. My combo's were failing miserably, and I was falling for things I shouldn't fall for. To make matters worse, I quickly go on tilt after a match or two, and my frustration just escalates from there.

Frustration Issues and Making a Decision for My Health

I have always been an extremely competitive person. If I lose, even if the other person is better then me, I start to get upset. I have gotten a lot better recently, ever since I started taking Bowling more seriously and I am now able to enjoy Bowling, for the most part, with little to no frustration.

However, that was thrown out the window with fighters. Unlike Bowling, where I have a short break in between each frame, while I wait for others to finish bowling, in fighting games, matches are one after another. Yes, I could impose a self restriction in between each match, but while Bowling has a forced wait (you can't just throw your ball for the next frame before others finish the current frame), fighting games are quick to throw you into the next match.

When you have someone who is highly competitive, and deals with frustration issues, this just does not mesh well.

Over the weekend, I tried to work on this issue. But each day, I would end up giving in, getting extremely frustrated, and then ruining the rest of the day with my mood which affected myself, and those close to me.

Come Sunday, and I got so frustrated to the point that I slammed my hand on my desk and physically hurt myself. Nothing major, but it was enough to shock me back into reality, close out the game, uninstall it, and wrap up the controller for, what will probably be, forever.

In fact, I am already looking into potentially returning the controller or sell it to someone, as it was not cheap.

My frustration issues with competitive activities is definitely something I need to work on. I will continue to work on them with Bowling and Mahjong, which are both slower, or semi-slow activities that give me time to cool down. Fighting games, on the other hand, are too quick. That quickness leads me to getting frustrated much quicker, with little time to cool down, and I can only handle so much before my bubble bursts and my mood gets extremely sour, or I end up with gamer rage.

Back to Playing Games I Enjoy

With that being said, starting today, I am going to go back to playing games that I enjoy. Games that do not make me want to throw something, and instead enjoy the few hours I have per day for this hobby. I'll continue to play MMO's, Sim Racers, online Mahjong, and the occasional ARPG or single-player RPG.

I will likely not pick up playing a fighting game again. If anything, I would only play it when my friends want to play it, as that is the only time I have truly enjoyed fighting games, and did not get frustrated while playing them.