Serious Stress in Gmod communities

[Hudson]

I remember Dallas making a post about stress which I found illuminating, and I felt like this was a topic that doesn't really get talked about much, so I just wanted to see if it was worth opening the discussion.

From my experience years ago it's been a total disaster where people didn't care at all, and in some cases didn't even take staff abuse seriously, so you'd keep having straws placed on your back until you reached breaking point (if you didn't slowly burn out before that point).

How common is it for people in the scene to feel stressed or anxious or frustrated? Is it only people in staff positions working on big things that might have this issue?

Does this have a negative impact on the scene? Has stress ever been a factor in making you leave, or want to leave? Does stress/anxiety keep you away from certain things, like being staff/running events?

Do you find that anything helps to handle stress? Should people in stressful roles take breaks? What could high-ranking staff do to help lower-ranking staff that might be stressed out? Should headstaff care about things like that? Could the community as a whole do anything to help the issue? How important is it for a community to be a friendly place?

This could also just be a place to vent. When I take onboard the montage video projects I tend to get stressed from a fear that they're going to end up bad, but then feel relieved when they turn out okay, and everyone's always been grateful when I post them.

 

[MaXenzie]

gmod is a fucking stress goldmine

the amount of people i know that've gone dark due to hl2rp is insane
suicide, isolation and "off the grid" isnt uncommon in some servers

 

[Kafe]

In the 4-5 years I've been in these communities, I've cut off contact with a lot of people because to be frank, these places can get really abusive.
For a while that rubbed off on me, and I got rather toxic for a while too. But after taking a multiple month long break, I re-entered with a different approach, which so far, has done fine.

Problems still exist, I'm just doing my best to moderate my experience now days.

 

[Akula]

nebulous is pretty much the only gaming community I can be a part of these days without being wracked by anxiety because at least here I know people and admins

I never really feel fully safe though, but roleplay is an addiction, I guess

 

[afric]

nebulous is pretty much the only gaming community I can be a part of these days without being wracked by anxiety because at least here I know people and admins

I never really feel fully safe though, but roleplay is an addiction, I guess

watch yourself in d4 buddy

 

[Dallas]

what post did i make mr hudson

 

[Hudson]

what post did i make mr hudson

I'm not sure if the post is even public anymore. I think it was you talking about the stress of running events.

 

[Dallas]

I'm not sure if the post is even public anymore. I think it was you talking about the stress of running events.

my philosophy, as i recall, was to let things happen and accept that there are many things in life you cant and shouldnt have complete control over - and that applies to events, dont script every detail, mind that the players are the ones making choices here

 

[Stalker]

I don't think gmod rp causes stress so much as it elevates or adds onto things going on IRL with you at the time. As things get more and more stressful outside of it you sort of bring it along for the ride with you here since this is a hobby you spend a lot of time on.

Personally stress has made me leave twice, IRL stress elevates, you get more and more easily annoyed or anxious about things in a gmod server that you really shouldn't be annoyed or anxious about and it builds up and up and up. I'm pretty sure if you have a nice, stable life outside of this you're nice and stable inside communities and stuff too, but when things are really shit IRL, it becomes even shitter with RP.

I probably butchered this paragraph completely but the best thing you can do if you feel stressed or anxious is just take a step back and do other things, which really really helped me a lot while I also focused on sorting IRL things out to a point where I didn't feel burdened 24/7

 

[avralwobniar]

I dont stress over roleplay because its a video game
only nerds stress and im a jock

Really though, most people I've seen stress over Gmod roleplay care way too much about their characters. A lot of 'self-inserts' will flip out, go off the grid or otherwise because an e-girl in RP shut them down. It's not healthy, and I personally stay away from that sort of thing.

 

[Deleted member 6062]

i have never experienced stress with communities because i do not get attached to them, im just another user that pops up every now and then looking for something fun to do

 

[PilotBland]

I don’t get stress. I get antsy for near deaths, pissed from the PKs and actions of that moment I deem unnecessary and will argue and be an ass to you

but it never comes out of the forums or in the server, it doesn’t gnaw at me I just let it go. I’ll make memes at best, but I’m more stressed about IRL shit then I can be at hl2rp

so I guess this server is my vent :)

I get annoyed at people who I see as shit and think they’re retards and the like

but I don’t get an amount of stress from ic, I just get bored. I say “this server sucks” and leave for a bit at best if something critical happens

 

[Jas691]

I dont stress over roleplay because its a video game
nerds stress and i got a big cock

Thats a very healthy alttitude
Keep it up

 

[Erkor]

this community

nearly every aspect of it

is making me lose hair

 

[Deleted member 243]

The only stress I had in vidya was when I was 12 and my self insert family got lit ablaze by some random tard trying to cook with lvl 0 cooking

 

[rang]

A lot of 'self-inserts' will flip out, go off the grid or otherwise because an e-girl in RP shut them down. It's not healthy, and I personally stay away from that sort of thing.

hmm today I will suicide because of roleplay relationship

 

[Powley]

@PilotBland caused me stress

Administrators caused me stress

The general idea of this community caused me stress

Roleplay doesn’t, just this community really

 

[Deleted member 243]

hmm today I will suicide because of roleplay relationship

an hero for the virtual pussy

 

[JohnLugo]

online communities as a whole are a cesspool of people who're quacking crazy that god forbid if you don't do things exactly their way or believe the same things they do

to lower people's levels of stress and anxiety i think that without a bit of sarcasm they should be made to go outside for an hour or too and leave the computer

 

[Rabid]

My main sources of stress as SD on Neb came from four main places:

1. People here usually forget (or don't care, more to the point) about the time or effort you put into doing something and making it work. The fact someone has put energy into providing for them usually goes over their heads when they skip having a civil discussion and will move on to ripping it down and calling you shit.
   
   
2. Players not understanding why certain decisions were made even when it was explained to them which usually led to backlash.
   
   
3. Some people who play on Gmod are not above doxxing you or sharing doxxed information if they don't like you or if you upset them during roleplay. I've had this happen to me before and Neb has typically attracted more of those people than most places by dint of being large.
   
   
4. Neb, like any community, is a social situation where you invest yourself in it and get to know people - and as said above, if you upset people by doing one thing or another they can decide to make your life a living hell and either ruin your experience or in the worst case push you out entirely. It isn't a nice thing to be a social outcast and viewed as a complete retard especially because some people have no trouble circling back to doxing you.

I forced myself to put up with this sort of thing for months and months in 2016 until I realised my hobby had turned into an absolute chore and was impacting me IRL. My obligation to come on and SD and be active was starting to make me dread coming on because I knew I'd be walking into some fresh pot of drama or one sort of attack or another which would last throughout the day. These things aren't endemic to Nebulous, they're a part of the Gmod scene as a whole. There's a few diamonds in the rough, obviously, and the community is much better than it was back then but I still feel like some of the above is applicable today.

Taking a break and stepping away helped me for sure though. I still grumble when people are shortsighted but I'm not anywhere near how I used to be.

So technically no - Roleplay has never stressed me out, but surrounding factors have.