I remember the days of gaming internet cafes. I also remember the day I was introduced to Diablo 2 for the PC along with Battlenet. Play your character for 3 hours and it was saved forever. So, I payed for an all day pass and sat in front of a computer screen and played a Druid with a penchant for Poison Vine and wolves. The Lord of Destruction expansion brought me the joys of the Necromancer with skeletons and golems, which to this day, I have fun with.
And now with Windows 11, I still play Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction 1.14B with no Battlenet because Blizzard discontinued Battlenet support in favor of later Diablo games, including, to my understanding, Diablo II: Resurrected. I typically play a Necromancer. Summon some skeletons, some skeleton mages, a golem, and between them and my hireling, sit back and just enjoy the show, reviving with new fallen enemies as needed.
However, there are some times that I really just want to kill stuff. And that is when I typically play Breath of the Wild. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is highly satisfying for me to kill stuff in, because they have a mechanic in the game that happens every 2 hours and 48 game play minutes called a Blood Moon. Basically, the blood moon resets all of the enemies you have killed up to that point. So, you kill everything around you, wait just a bit, the blood moon occurs and revives all the monsters for you and you go and kill everything again. And on days where I don’t feel like killing stuff, I can hunt for bugs, climb trees, cut down the trees, light the trees on fire, quest, cut grass, ride a horse, fish or surf the wind currents while shooting arrows at dragons that occasionally fly by. It’s fun! But, the question becomes why is it fun?
As the Deaf autistic weirdo, part of my days are inevitably spent in advocating for my needs. Recently, I had a recertification for a program that I was on, and it was set for a telephone interview on August 7th, as part of the requirement for the recertification. The problem was, and still is, that I don’t have a videophone or a TTY, so calling anyone or being called by anyone is problematic to say the least. Hence, when I turned in the paperwork to start the process on July 28th, I asked for an in person appointment with an ASL interpreter present. Hearing nothing back, I went to the office on August 5th, in person, and requested once more, note in hand, that my phone interview be rescheduled as an in person appointment with an ASL interpreter present. I was told to come back on the 12th to find out when the appointment would be. And I thought my problem was solved until on the 7th, the office tried to call me for a phone interview. Because I cannot hear on the phone, I did not answer the call they placed, and due to that, they sent out a notice that I had missed my interview that was on the phone that I cannot hear on. And they called again on the 12th to tell me my appointment would be on the 13th, but again, I can’t hear on the phone, so I went in person to ask and they told me they had sent me a letter saying the appointment was the next day. By the way, that letter actually arrived in my mailbox on the 18th. Hence, it was a good thing I went in person that day. Needless to say, I did go on the 13th and things seemed to have worked out. However, in the heat of those days, my autistic deaf weirdo brain was going, “It’s in the file that I can’t hear so why are you calling someone on the phone that cannot hear you on the phone?!?”
Since society tends to frown on real-world violence, I came home, still burning with rage, and channeled it into something harmless. I booted up a game, picked my pixelated avatar, and let them go full berserker on other little sprites on the screen. And in destroying fictional enemies on a computer screen or a Nintendo Switch screen is perfectly legal and a healthy release of negative energy, I was able to channel all my frustration into unaliving monsters and gaining gold and EXP for it. For me, it is cathartic when I am angry, frustrated, overwhelmed… just to come back to a world I know, be it Tantagel, Hyrule, Tristram or any of a number of other realms out there, and just blow up things, destroy things, unalive things. I honestly believe that in some ways, video games don’t promote violence, but solves violence, because it gives an outlet to do these things in a legal and healthy way. And at its core, that is what catharsis actually is.
The term catharsis comes from ancient Greek drama—it means emotional cleansing.
By acting out aggression in a controlled, imaginary setting, you release tension that might otherwise fester or explode in unhealthy ways. Video games offer a safe, fictional space to express intense emotions—especially ones like rage or frustration that are socially discouraged in real life. You’re not hurting anyone. You’re just letting your inner storm play out in pixels.
Aside from that, raging in video games releases adrenaline and dopamine. You can go from feeling angry and powerless and frustrated at the situation you’re facing to being able to wipe out entire areas of enemies that come against you on a whim, and that is empowering. It flips the script for your brain, and you often times get rewarded for doing so, which reinforces the idea that “I have power over this game, this situation, this realm, this story,” and after all, isn’t life just one big story? And when we think about life and our situations as the stories we tell ourselves and the realities we let ourselves believe, knowing that we can control other stories helps us to not feel so powerless in our own story in real life.
So, rage.
Destroy.
Kill ’em all.
And feel better.
And if you need some game suggestions, here are a few I recommend:
(Please note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means if you click on a product link and buy something, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
These earnings help support my blog, advocacy, and creative work. Thank you for being part of this journey and for supporting what I do.)
Nintendo Switch:
Diablo Eternal Collection
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Darksiders: Warmastered Edition
Hades
PC:
Diablo II (+ Lord of Destruction)
Titan Quest
Torchlight
RIFT