Survey for my dissertation, please answer honestly :)

[Lernyd]

Hello! I'm a student studying games design and I plan on writing my dissertation on the topic of why players return to games that cause negative emotions. I want to focus on Splatoon, so I figured it would be best to put out surveys in some relevant places as research.

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
This question is self-explanatory. A majority of players experience tilt in one way or another, but I want to see just how big that majority really is.

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
This can be anything from a certain weapon or class, players being toxic, bad maps, whatever gets you tilted. Don't be ashamed to admit anything, I need as much detail as possible :)

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
This is the big one. Splatoon is a very tilting game for some, but they keep coming back regardless (see putz12). Regardless of how much Splatoon frustrates you, I want to know why you keep coming back. Don't just say something simple like "it's fun", I want you to really think deep about what makes it fun for you and how it outweighs all the negatives.


Thank you so much for your participation, your responses will be extremely helpful :D

 

[DzNutsKong]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?

Yes. Like, a lot. I'm a very impulsive and emotional person and always have been. If I can get stressed out and upset over a casual game of bowling with family (I never even play bowling!) then I WILL get pissed off over a hobby I've put lots of hours into. It's like this with literally every game I've ever played, as unfortunate as it is.


What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?

The biggest problems boil down to two things in particular. One is during solo play specifically if it feels like my team isn't pulling their weight or making mistakes that feel obvious to me even if not obvious to the average player. The other is playing against the few weapons in the game where I very often feel like the correct counterplay either doesn't change anything or is super unintuitive. Triple Splashdown and Trizooka absolutely require that you're paying attention to what active specials the opponents have compared to the rest of the game where everything is very reactable and all of Blaster, Range Blaster, Splat Charger, E-Liter, and to a lesser degree Trizooka completely ignore the problems that come with players getting inside of their threat bubbles if the users can just hit one shot.

With previous games I've played to this extent though, if it helps at all, I have two to go over. Pokemon's was fairly straightforward - poor handling of RNG. I understand the merit to having notable RNG in a competitive game like that because it leaves players in a losing position to always try and find a way out of bad situations while a winning player can still play in such a way that mitigates whatever risk there is from RNG screwing them over. However, this doesn't change the fact that winning games to RNG feels hollow and kind of disappointing while losing well-played games to RNG can feel horrendous. One of my favorite parts of competitive games as well is getting a strong feeling of how much I've improved over time or how well or poorly I'm playing on a given day and RNG being as prevalent as it is can muddy everything up there. Over time, if RNG is effecting both players equally, in a game like Pokemon, then good days and bad days should balance out to make it so a majority of games won or lost are earned over a period of time, but I can't shake all of the feelings I just listed.

For Smash it's kind of weird but I think the general bad mentality of the playerbase eventually caught up with me. If you spend any amount of time with most Smash players, say a character's name and ask their opinion of them, 90% of the time they will tell you they hate playing against that character. After 90% of tournaments they'll tell you they're not satisfied with their run for one reason or another. I genuinely question why most people play competitive Smash because they claim to love it, but act like it's a massive problem plaguing their lives that they're forced into. If you surround yourself with people like that every time you think about a game then those kinds of thoughts will start to seep their way into your mind as well. I get the feeling it's because of how deeply-rooted the competitive Smash community is into Twitter because Twitter as a whole is notorious for being like this and the few local communities I've spoken to that largely aren't connected to Twitter were the more positive and energetic bunch but I have no hard proof of that.


Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?

With Smash and Pokemon, if it matters, I used to keep going back because I was in a state of thinking the parts of those games I enjoyed were worth the parts I hated. Only recently did I realize that there's not a lot with actually playing Pokemon that I ever liked playing outside of getting to understand its intricacies as a game better because it's super complex and that much will always fascinate me. Smash I kept going back to for a while because I hadn't yet sunken into the same pitfalls everyone else around me had and it took me a while to first develop that same problem everyone else had, then a while to realize that I actually was becoming a part of the problem. I still do play Smash from time to time if it's with friends or if I'm greatly limiting how much I go out to tournaments because I know I'll get less tilted from both of those.

With Splatoon though, most of my, uh, moments don't last very long and aren't nearly as bad as they used to be. I'm better at recognizing when they're starting up and can snap myself out of it before it gets too much worse. Even if I were to never get angry at any of them, Splatoon as a game has always just been way more fun to me than the other two.

What I love about competitive games the most is the endless depth of going from a new player to top level and the literal infinite amount of learning you can do to get as close to perfect play as humanly possible. Every opponent you face is almost like a boss fight would be in a single-player game and as you get better, the opponents just have more and more complex of patterns, and it's on you to both figure out how to exploit theirs and how they might be trying to exploit yours. Growing as a player in Splatoon is something I've found way more intuitive than with other games although that might be in some part because I'm having more fun with it and both getting less angry with it and playing it more as a result.

 

[Catloafman]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
yeah... honestly it happens more often then I would like to admit but I have been getting better at moving past tilt after a tilting game

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
I play brella which can have both a inconsistent shield and damage which can be quite tilting when you like to take your splatoon matches somewhat seriously
But above all else the single most tilting thing in this game imo is anarchy series matchmaking especially how it interacts with backline weapons, it feels like there is no checks whatsoever if one team has too many anchors than the other and it sucks

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
Because this game even though it can be frustrating, it can also be really silly
like you can play a bathtub with a throwing dart or a washing machine with a goku special in this game
and the shenanigans you can end up in this game put a smile on my face and gosh darn it if thats not what video games are made for...
Also I enjoy improving

 

[Eel-Ectric]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
Yes, but not very often and not as much as when I play other games (Elden Ring and Touhou get me so invested that I give myself headaches while playing)

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
Mostly it's when an opponent squidbags me or when the same opponent splats me multiple times in the same game. In singleplayer, it's usually when I am really close to a goal then get destroyed by the level (this happens a lot in Side Order).

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
The frustrations don't occur often enough to deter me, the gameplay's fun-ness overwhelms the feeling of frustration, or I am feeling really stubborn that particular day and the feeling of winning outweighs the headaches (last one is mostly for single player). Even if I lose very, very often in Splatoon matches, the game itself brings me enjoyment, so even if one match goes wrong I can just stop playing with the same group and wait for a new group of players to play with. The feeling of winning despite the frustration generally also outweighs any frustration I had in a game.

 

[Yosi Spring]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
Probably for at least 1 match every time I play

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
Netcode lag, misinputs, or losing streaks. If I see someone teleporting around I'll quit out of the lobby after the match ends. Misinputs would just be stuff like accidentally pressing Y and messing up the camera, or pressing Jump too early and failing a squid roll.

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
Overall I tend to get good connections, don't make too many misinputs, and win more than 50% of my games. So the majority of the time I'm playing Splatoon, I'm not frustrated. I would definitely play the game less if I didn't have an ethernet connection.

 

[OnePotWonder]

Yes, and more often than most, I would say.

The main things that make me tilt are fighting shooter weapons, maps not giving me enough agency on defense (or more often giving the enemies way too much agency on offense), or my team completely failing to pull their weight in solo queue.

The reason why I keep coming back is very simple. Splatoon may have its fair share of major flaws, but it’s still better and more unique than everything else on the market. If I need a break from the game I’ll go play something like JSaB or Minecraft or watch people dissect the game on YouTube. You can’t find weapons like Splatoon weapons in other games. Except for shooters, which I hate fighting.

 

[DzNutsKong]

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
Mostly it's when an opponent squidbags me or when the same opponent splats me multiple times in the same game.

I'm sorry if this post is pushing this thread a bit too far off topic, but try not to worry too hard about this. I've definitely had moments where I've done this, either accidental or purposefully, but it's never anything personal. Mostly is because the person on the other end either just so happens to play to a lot of similar spots in a map as I need to play in or because I think their weapon is particularly important to the opposing team's success and I need to prioritize taking it down for that reason. I've even had a handful of games where multiple people say it feels like I'm targeting them! It's nothing against the player in any of those cases, and I definitely feel bad when this happens because it feels like bullying, but I never want or intend for it to come across that way.

 

[jeffthesquid]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?

Yes, the first game was awesome because of the way the levels were set up. You could just hide in the flanks or on top of the walls. Jeff is an ambush predator and prefers the element of surprise.

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?

The level design, lack of flank routes, difficultly in getting swim and run abilities without playing a ton. I used to be fast both swimming and running. With my nozzlenose gun I was almost impossible to catch and quite intimidating. The weapon was well balanced with it's shields that were indestructible.

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?

I'm not playing Splatoon anymore - sold my switch. I still engage in Splatoon lore which I think is cool. Someday, I want to work for Mr. Nogami and pitch my own Splatoon version.


Thank you so much for your participation, your responses will be extremely helpful :D

 

[SAMICOM]

Hello! I'm a student studying games design and I plan on writing my dissertation on the topic of why players return to games that cause negative emotions. I want to focus on Splatoon, so I figured it would be best to put out surveys in some relevant places as research.

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
This question is self-explanatory. A majority of players experience tilt in one way or another, but I want to see just how big that majority really is.

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
This can be anything from a certain weapon or class, players being toxic, bad maps, whatever gets you tilted. Don't be ashamed to admit anything, I need as much detail as possible :)

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
This is the big one. Splatoon is a very tilting game for some, but they keep coming back regardless (see putz12). Regardless of how much Splatoon frustrates you, I want to know why you keep coming back. Don't just say something simple like "it's fun", I want you to really think deep about what makes it fun for you and how it outweighs all the negatives.


Thank you so much for your participation, your responses will be extremely helpful :D

Hi everyone reading the research paper!

1: Okay, I'll be honest. the answer is yes. Probably 1-2 times per hour of game, from mild annoyance, to needing to step away and unwind.

2: oh god so much

Lack of weapon diversity in meta, 52 Gal, Flounder Heights, Clam Blitz soloq, people who really should be in a lower rank, people who really should be in a higher rank, when the enemy caps objective and holds it the ENTIRE TIME getting a knockout, 52 Gal, LACK OF PATCH NOTES (see my first point),.

3: everything else is chill! if i get mad, i just play tableturf and unwind! Games are only fun if you're having fun, and i just want to have fun. Besides, i NEED to play goo tuber.

speaking of goo tuber from a game design perspective. ADD GIMMICKY WEAPONS TO YOUR GAMES (are silly), also Make low-skill weapons a bit weaker than High skill ones, but make sure the gap between the two as small as possible.

 

[sevenleaf]

so where do we submit our info for the $10 amazon gift card raffle? /j

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
oh have i. i'm more of an inward tilter so if things aren't going right i get frustrated with myself really easily. also less of a "screaming on vc" type of tilter and more of a "crying after the luti set" tilter. the fact that i'm in a not so great place mental health-wise right now probably doesn't help me keep a level head when playing

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
i'm a (very low level) competitive player so when practice/scrims/tournaments don't go well that can get me tilting. particularly if i feel like i'm playing as well as i can but still not as well as i'd like to, or well enough to enable my team to win matches. i've honestly felt like the weakest link on my team for a while and i'm at a place where i'm struggling to see where to start improving. i can also get myself into weird complexes about getting splatted by the same player multiple times or getting outplayed by an opponent who uses a weapon i also play (i'm a dualie main and the first time the all-dualie challenge ran i had to stop playing it because i physically could not stop myself from going "oh every other dualie player is just better than me" every time i got outplayed or splatted). i also get frustrated with myself often when i'm trying my best to give verbal callouts when playing with my team and all i can get out is something along the lines of "uhhh left side st-- swor-- stamp-- no, splash-- in pit-- i'm down". while i'm more or less verbal i struggle with verbal communication at the best of times, so trying to communicate information really succinctly and really quickly is... hard, to say the least. it feels at this point like a barrier i can't get past.

i think even though nearly all the interactions i've had with other players in the comp scene have been positive and i'm the one who once went on a rant on this very forum about how the negative stereotypes about competitive gaming aren't true, there's still a part of me that expects every opponent i don't already know personally to be laughing at me on the other side of the screen. like at this point this isn't rational at all, i've never run into an outwardly toxic opposing team beyond just like, some kids squidbagging my teammates and me in open, but it's still a persistent feeling. probably says more about me than about the scene tbh

i also sometimes get frustrated when someone i'm playing with gets more tilted than i am. like, if i feel like a play session is going well, but someone i'm on vc with really doesn't see it that way. this mostly happens when i play with more casual friends, oddly enough

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
it's fun :) nah to go into more detail splatoon is honestly the first pvp game that's really grabbed my interest. when i'm not beating myself up over every mistake i make i genuinely enjoy the gameplay, learning new strategies, how satisfying it is to play well, etc etc. as much as im telling myself "oh im the worst player on this team and i should give up" every other day i just like the game too much to give up on it. the reason i wanted to get into comp in the first place was because i got hooked on the game as a casual player and found myself wanting to take it further

i've also just met so many cool people through even my corner of low-level comp splatoon (shoutout to my teammates & everyone we've played against here ). another reason i got into comp was because what i saw of the scene from the outside looking in made it seem like a community i wanted to be a part of. it's not a perfect community by any means (we've been reminded of that quite a bit this year), but i saw enough good to want to be there. and i don't regret that, like i've said i've had pretty much nothing but good experiences interacting with other players

also just... i'm on a team, so i've made a commitment to play and try to improve. no matter how down i get about my skills i'm not willing to just back out of that.

i'm also really invested in the story and the lore of splatoon and making OCs and all that, but i would probably still be into all that even if i didn't get into comp and didn't play the game nearly as much as i do

 

[ProfEisner]

1. yes. all the time.
2. let's see:

• spawn camping, in any mode. i don't care if it's the "most optimal strategy in Turf War," i'm not having fun.
• how some weapons are wayyyyy more optimal than others, making those other weapons redundant.
  • as an added point, how some weapons are almost too optimal. seeing Tentatek Splattershot/Octo Shot Replica so much just annoys me. esp with how easily they can kill.
• toxic players. in general.
• how unfair some matches can feel.

3. because... oh my cod, i love splatoon. i am genuinely in love with this series. the environments, the characters, the atmosphere... i could never leave it. it's become such a central part of my hobbies that i genuinely still play it every day, despite all its flaws. i love this series. it's special to me. and it can still be a lot of fun, of course!

good luck on your work!

 

[Algae]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
Yes, those times do exist for me.

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
Usually the feeling that my efforts to improve my team's gameplay state are meaningless, whether or not it stems from my own shortcomings as a player. The issue of Splatoon 3 maps encouraging head-on combat more and giving less resilience to locking one team in their base is exacerbated by Turf War's remaining "Danger" signal, which no longer alerts you to anyone sneaking through your side to paint, only rubbing in the fact that you're losing. Losing emotes were also cut in favor of showing the enemy team's emotes to you. These factors make many buildups to the final result feel stressful and sisyphean, rather than exciting.
On the topic of specific weapons, the only ones that make me upset are both versions of Splashdown, as their counterplay is inaccessible for slower players; Ultra Stamp, since its rush mode is a hard counter to non-line-of-sight weapons like Sloshers; and any .52 Gal with a Splash Wall, due to the overtuned Shooter taking space faster with a Wall, reducing meaningful counterplay.
For single player, Side Order is the campaign I outright dislike the most, since its emphasis on mob destruction furthers an environment where outpowering the enemy is your biggest predictor of survivability, instead of controlling space around you, adapting to enemies' control zones, or managing health resources like in other roguelikes. This breaks the gameplay's psychological flow.

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
I don't actually play Splatoon 3's PVP anymore. I find Splatoon 2 more enjoyable for its consistently varied maps, brightly-colored ink that can be recognized instantly, faithfulness to its signature style of scenery, and more kits that I find fun to use (despite the significant flaws of certain specials). I think Splatoon 3's competitive metagame is in a fine spot, but that's not my place to put a detailed value judgement on.
As for the franchise as a whole, it's a quick-paced, family-friendly game with plenty of fun modes (from online arena shooter to the miniboss-based Salmon Run to puzzle-skill campaigns) and worldbuilding. It also lends well to neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ audiences, due to how OC-friendly it is.

 

[solz]

Just wen hackers are in my lobby's or wen a shot through wall occurs

 

[Masked_Katz]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?

Yeah, I'd say often, which is strange because I have never had this habit in any other game I've played before.

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?

This usually stems from me feeling like a team isn't putting in as much effort as me to win or learn from their mistakes as they play; it feels exhausting and unfair. I want to avoid the idea that I'm "carrying" and give the benefit of the doubt that people I play with do have the potential, but just don't realize how hard I'm trying to make an impact and aren't reciprocating. On another note, while this makes me sad more than it does make me angry, I really don't like when people go out of their way to grief or taunt. I'm aware these issues stem from something deeper on my end of things (I tend to overthink and take things too personally) and I don't ever see myself hating the game or its players for this; I honestly hate when people commit to a game yet only ever talk about how miserable its mechanics and community are.

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?

I have played since the original game, it has been a big part of my life and I feel like Splatoon 3 in particular was the first game where I was in the position to take it seriously. The past year I've become a captain for our team, Genesis Wave, with hopes that will this keep my motivation going by having practice to look forward to every few days and making friends along the way. Whether it be playing solo, playing as a team, or even interacting with the community outside, there are still hurdles and frustrations - but there is no other series or community as charming and inclusive as this one, and I'm here to stay.

 

[Grushi]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
I get frustrated sometimes, though mainly in X battles. I'm a high power X grinder so anarchy battles are a lot more casual to me. I can just be silly and not care if I go 5-16 because I'm having fun doing it.

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
This is a tricky one to answer but if I had to say what tilts me most, it's feeling like I'm not playing my best, not as well as I know I can play, and losing power over it (number go down aaa), or failing to carry my friends.
Sometimes things just aren't working out for some reason, your brain is trying to process something else so you can't focus on the game no matter how hard you try. When that happens to me and I lose a lot more games than I should I get upset and start questioning myself, with a negative bias.

A big thing I've had with this game is getting a sense of pride from my skills. I'm not that confident irl, so when so many people started praising my skills and I'm clearly one of the better players in game (my peak power is 3300, just to specify I'm not like, A rank haha), results wise, it's become one of the things I'm proud of! Which isn't a bad thing imo, you just need to watch yourself to not grow disdainful of lower level players, everyone grows at their own pace and no one is required to be good.
So whenever the praise I hear from others gets questioned by my results, it kinda hurts, honestly. Maybe I see myself as better than I truly am, or my skills are suited to X battles in particular? I don't know frankly, but I'm probably just having a bad day, or being stressed about something.

Tl;dr I get most frustrated when I'm not playing as well as I technically should be. I don't like not playing at my peak, when the matches matter.


Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
Well, I guess that's where the ego comes up-
Kind of, I really enjoy the feeling of improving at something overtime, and I still have things to learn about splatoon. It's really engaging to think and execute plans in game, there's a lot of depth to it.

I really love the community too! I've met some really cool people through this game, even some purely in game that are genuinely dear to me, and I love that! This fast paced, competitive online pvp game also has a community full of fun people, and that's not something you can say about most pvp games, sadly. Not to mention the much better inclusivity.

And like others, I've also grown up with this series. It's been a big part of me throughout all my life, to the point where it probably impacted my personality, haha. So I love the series to death.

 

[reelrollsweat]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon? / What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
im definitely an internal tilter. i feel like my main cause of tilting is just pushing myself too hard. its usually a combo of playing technical weapons + going in with poor mental. the past few times i can remember having bad sessions, i think i was just underperforming and didnt realize i was tilting soon enough to stop tilt queueing. occasionally i get tilted at bad teammates/overly strong opponents/that sort of thing but thats usually just bc im having a bad session already and im subconsciously searching for things to get mad at LOL. on a good day those things are just a bit annoying and then i stop caring once the next game starts. overall tho my best tilt remedy is to just close the game and try again another time

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
i tilt more than i would like but the vast majority of my experience is still positive and i don't think a couple bad sessions should ruin my enjoyment of the game ^^

 

[sevenleaf]

so where do we submit our info for the $10 amazon gift card raffle? /j

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
oh have i. i'm more of an inward tilter so if things aren't going right i get frustrated with myself really easily. also less of a "screaming on vc" type of tilter and more of a "crying after the luti set" tilter. the fact that i'm in a not so great place mental health-wise right now probably doesn't help me keep a level head when playing

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
i'm a (very low level) competitive player so when practice/scrims/tournaments don't go well that can get me tilting. particularly if i feel like i'm playing as well as i can but still not as well as i'd like to, or well enough to enable my team to win matches. i've honestly felt like the weakest link on my team for a while and i'm at a place where i'm struggling to see where to start improving. i can also get myself into weird complexes about getting splatted by the same player multiple times or getting outplayed by an opponent who uses a weapon i also play (i'm a dualie main and the first time the all-dualie challenge ran i had to stop playing it because i physically could not stop myself from going "oh every other dualie player is just better than me" every time i got outplayed or splatted). i also get frustrated with myself often when i'm trying my best to give verbal callouts when playing with my team and all i can get out is something along the lines of "uhhh left side st-- swor-- stamp-- no, splash-- in pit-- i'm down". while i'm more or less verbal i struggle with verbal communication at the best of times, so trying to communicate information really succinctly and really quickly is... hard, to say the least. it feels at this point like a barrier i can't get past.

i think even though nearly all the interactions i've had with other players in the comp scene have been positive and i'm the one who once went on a rant on this very forum about how the negative stereotypes about competitive gaming aren't true, there's still a part of me that expects every opponent i don't already know personally to be laughing at me on the other side of the screen. like at this point this isn't rational at all, i've never run into an outwardly toxic opposing team beyond just like, some kids squidbagging my teammates and me in open, but it's still a persistent feeling. probably says more about me than about the scene tbh

i also sometimes get frustrated when someone i'm playing with gets more tilted than i am. like, if i feel like a play session is going well, but someone i'm on vc with really doesn't see it that way. this mostly happens when i play with more casual friends, oddly enough

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
it's fun :) nah to go into more detail splatoon is honestly the first pvp game that's really grabbed my interest. when i'm not beating myself up over every mistake i make i genuinely enjoy the gameplay, learning new strategies, how satisfying it is to play well, etc etc. as much as im telling myself "oh im the worst player on this team and i should give up" every other day i just like the game too much to give up on it. the reason i wanted to get into comp in the first place was because i got hooked on the game as a casual player and found myself wanting to take it further

i've also just met so many cool people through even my corner of low-level comp splatoon (shoutout to my teammates & everyone we've played against here ). another reason i got into comp was because what i saw of the scene from the outside looking in made it seem like a community i wanted to be a part of. it's not a perfect community by any means (we've been reminded of that quite a bit this year), but i saw enough good to want to be there. and i don't regret that, like i've said i've had pretty much nothing but good experiences interacting with other players

also just... i'm on a team, so i've made a commitment to play and try to improve. no matter how down i get about my skills i'm not willing to just back out of that.

i'm also really invested in the story and the lore of splatoon and making OCs and all that, but i would probably still be into all that even if i didn't get into comp and didn't play the game nearly as much as i do

to add on a bit (because i never shut up):

i think tilting in any game that has more complicated gameplay than a visual novel or walking simulator is inevitable. not that everyone will tilt at every game in the same way, but that everybody's got a threshold for frustration in video games and it seems like a sisyphean task to try to avoid making players tilt. i don't even think tilt and liking a game are necessarily at odds - like, i tilt (in my sad wet cat way) because i care about how well i do because i like splatoon enough to want to pursue competitive play.

i always found it weird when i'd see free agent posts saying they don't tilt, or FA and team recruitment posts alike saying they're looking for players who don't tilt. like yeah, never tilting ever is the ideal, but a team is composed of human beings with complicated emotions! someone who says they don't tilt in their FA post is either lying, defining 'tilt' in a way that covers only stuff like 'throwing your controller and screaming on the mic' and conveniently excluding the ways they tilt, or... might not care enough about improving to have their emotions impacted by the game. (which is fine! but i fail to see why someone like that would be looking for a competitive team, unless their only goal is to run quad goo tuber in weeklies or something.) it's more helpful to acknowledge how you tilt and be open with your teammates about this stuff.

(also gl with your dissertation, op! ngl i would be interested in reading it when you're done with it)

 

[Mili]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
Yes

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
The matchmaking in general is especially painful, mostly on anarchy, where team compositions can be very messed up for any side, I don't feel I can try anchor or backline weapons without my team having at least 2 or 3 of them.

I also feel very frustrated when I'm unable to do anything the whole game, be it because my teammates aren't that good and I'm against better players than me, weapon composition, etc.

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
I love this game a looooooot, from art, music, gameplay, even if I can get angry, I also feel like I want to improve at this game, specifically with certain weapons, I think getting tilted is not that big of a deal.
I think I also like getting badges like the 999EVP from Salmon run heheh.

 

[isaac4]

Amazing timing to respond to this thread as I just finished playing some Anarchy Open.


Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
Definitely and it happens almost every time I play. There are some rare days where I don't get tilted but those are usually from shorter sessions where S3 matchmaking doesn't get the opportunity to match me up with with an Aerospray, Squiffer, and Big Swig comp.


What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
Most of my frustration comes from feeling like the influence I have on the match results ends up being very minimal. I can get a quad or push the objective to get the lead but I can't control what my teammates do.
If I get paired up with a Neo Sploosh and they just decide to place Beakons around the map instead of helping our team in a fight then there's nothing I can do about it.
This ends up extending to how I feel about my own gameplay.
If I'm constantly losing matches then it can't just be my team, I have to be doing something wrong but I can't tell what that problem is and that frustrates me.
Wanting to improve but not knowing what I even have to improve to begin with is a very annoying feeling.

It's very different from my previous competitive experience with Smash Ultimate.
Since competitive Smash is focused on 1v1's, I felt like I always had an idea on what to improve and it wasn't very hard to do so either. I had a routine and went into the training room a lot to practice combo's, movement, and much more.
I don't have that same experience in S3 so the path to improvement is less clear to me and leads into me getting frustrated when I feel like I've hit a roadblock that I can't figure out.

There's also some outside factors that do end up affecting how badly I take losses. I try to not to let my personal issues affect my hobbies but I can't deny that if things were better then I wouldn't get as tilted from a terrible match performance as much as I currently do.


Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
Part of it is just stubbornness, I've already spent so much time with S3 that it would feel wrong to give it up now.
There's also the fact that I would be leaving the parts of the game that I do actually like. I might get extremely frustrated from a match but I also get invested in the story and world of Splatoon.
I would also be giving up playing my favorite weapons and the gameplay of Splatoon is not something I can get anywhere else.

My main reason for always coming back though is because of the community here on Squidboards (and Machine lol).
The terrible matches I get and my personal frustrations with my progress as a player don't compare to the amount of enjoyment I get discussing about the game and talking to everyone here.

 

[tazmily menace]

Have you ever been frustrated or tilted while playing Splatoon?
when i first started playing splatoon, yeah. but after a while i just stopped caring

What, if anything, frustrates/tilts you?
it’s when my team gets spawncamped or when i go on a 10-match losing streak that really makes me wanna punch a hole in the wall

Why do you come back to Splatoon even after all the frustration?
it’s because i, well… still love this game to bits. my love for the funny squid and octopus game overpowers any frustration i’ve had. also, i’m rather invested in the lore.