Does playing traditional games help or hurt people with social anxiety?

Does playing traditional games help or hurt people with social anxiety?

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The only one who can help people with social anxiety is themselves.
And the right brew of drugs. Right brew of drugs always helps.

Both are possible. With a supportive group of people you get along with, RPGs can give you a chance to express yourself and experiment in a scenario where there is no real cost to failure, using roleplaying to become more at peace with yourself.

Alternatively, with shitty people it can be a really bad time, reinforcing anxiety and making it even worse. Being aware of how it's affecting you and only sticking around if it's positive is important.

Also, OP, are you the same person who made a post about roleplaying online? I wrote up a response but the thread was deleted before I could post it.

Yes. I just cannot do it in person. After about fifteen minutes I'm jittery, flinching, and my heart rate increases. After twenty five minutes I can't speak clearly, it just comes up as hiccups. Shortly after I'm hyperventilating and tears are flowing even though I am physically fine. I thought experimenting with online play would help curb this so I don't embarrass everyone slightly related to me at social gatherings by constantly staying out of view and ducking outside every ten minutes.

I'll repost what I had written up then, hopefully it might be some help to you-

It could, although while you avoid the physical presence issues you have to deal with the fact that people online can be complete cunts.

Pick up games are very, very variable. You might find good ones, you might get a string of shit. No matter what sort of community you're going into, in my experience the same basic methodology is kinda necessary.

Join any games that look interesting, but don't get too invested. Most games die before starting the vast majority of the time. Talk to the GM, talk to the other players, see how you get along with them. Rapport and mutual understanding is a very important part of roleplaying games.

Use those opportunities to make connections, get to know good GMs or players who are similar in style and taste to you, which will lead you to be able to more reliably find games you'll enjoy instead of rolling the dice every time with strangers.

Don't be disheartened by the shit games, and if your anxiety is playing up then politely excuse yourself and do whatever you need to be comfortable. Most good GMs will be understanding and will want to help, and the ones who'll be a dick about it aren't worth playing with.

There is this psychological school of thought that thinks confrontation helps a lot with anxiety. If you're afraid of spiders what helps most is a lot of contact with spiders, and the best way to cure vertigo is to look up heights (all under controlled conditions of course). Pretending to be an elf with 3-6 other neckbeards (which, let's be honest, is really embarassing to do) could help from this confrontational perspective.

But that's just my two cents.

As someone with social anxiety, as much as you might feel embarrassed it's okay to duck out if you need time to yourself. Of course context makes it harder to do, whether you have a space to retreat to in the context etc, but I gained a lot of confidence by spending time around friends of my brother and such, people who were just around the house. Maybe only for a few minutes at a time at first, but politely excusing yourself doesn't offend anyone, and most people will understand if you have a very limited capacity for social engagement and won't try to push it on you if you're honest with them.

Although, again, very much depends on the people you're around. I was lucky, and I just hope you can find people who can be similarly supportive.

Thank you for the ideas. I'll see if I can contact some old friends for an online game.

I don't know about traditional games, but being on Veeky Forums certainly improved my social skills, you stupid faggot.

Yes, especially if you GM and/or play with strangers. Even a shit game will hopefully hekp you learn to be more aggressive.

Confrontation is the only solution to fear.

>I don't know about traditional games, but being on Veeky Forums certainly improved my social skills, you stupid faggot.

I'm working on coming out of my shell in terms of speaking to an audience of more than four people thanks to traditional games. Learning organization skills, improving my confidence, that sort of thing. Being a first-time DM will be fun.

>social anxiety
>started playing dnd 5 weeks ago
>every week I'm less and less meek
>Starting to get more social from our last session
>Fuck moving to another state in a few days

It helps in my case, but it depends how open the person with anxiety is.

Ehhh.. How bad is it? I'd keep my charisma stat neutral to avoid the risk of DM's being "you didn't roleplay" and lose even if your CHA is high.

GMing helped with my confidence a lot but Im playing with close friends. Being in the center of attention requires a good deal of improv while pretending like you have a plan. Only one person has ever heard me sing until last night.

>DM's being "you didn't roleplay"
This is fucking cancer. If you see this bullshit, know that it's the DM/group who are shitheads and not you.

It's a real problem that Veeky Forumsames cater to both the people who have trouble interacting with others and the people who have trouble knowing when to stop.

Some groups play FATAL. Some groups think it's all about AHCTING. Both groups are terrible people.

Hurts. I increasingly find myself fixating more and more on fantasy worlds and imaginary things that occur within games, and thinking less and less about ways to improve my utterly mundane life, which at the moment is going nowhere. At this rate I'm on course to transition from mildly autistic demi-normalfag to full on schizoid loner.

>After about fifteen minutes I'm jittery, flinching, and my heart rate increases. After twenty five minutes I can't speak clearly, it just comes up as hiccups. Shortly after I'm hyperventilating and tears are flowing even though I am physically fine.
My dick is hard.

Generally help. It's probably going to be displacing a solitary activity like vidya and it gets you out there interacting with people in a more hospitable atmosphere then a part time job for example.

>you now realize that you're the only person posting in this thread

I had a DM pull this on me when I said that I wanted to cozy up to a a pair of suspicious looking female NPCs. I spilled spaghetti and offered to let them buy me a drink then tossed my dice. DM looked and said "that's a really good number. Yeah, you got it."

Campaign fell apart due to non-attendance by other players a few weeks later.

It can be frustrating because you are thrown into a situation where your fears are being tested.

However, overcoming an obstacle, I think, necessitates some trial by fire. As the game continues, you'll want more and more to have a voice and narrative say in the game, and not just avoid contact with players and NPCs alike while "playing".

Has done both for me lately, but it's worth it. Every so often I'll get really emotional from it, for no real reason, and just kind of freeze up, apologize, and disengage for the rest of the day, retreat to my room and try to deal with it without bothering anyone else. I imagine it's pretty awkward/irritating for them, but I'd prefer that to ending up in tears in front of them, so it seems the lesser evil.
On the other hand, lately especially, as I feel I'm starting to get the hang of the system we're playing with, and playing as a player instead of trying to GM, I've noticed I've been a hell of a lot more confident with it, and that confidence is starting to improve my regular social interactions as well. I'm doubting myself less and starting to feel like I actually can accomplish things socially, apart from during those low moments. While the change is gradual, it's a definite improvement, and the low moments and stress are worth it.

It's a real pity the friend who's most into it with me isn't actually around all that often and is heading back home again soon. He lives in another city and visits during the holidays, during which time we end up playing for days on end. My other friends, I have to pester to get involved in a game, if I manage to at all. Think I need to take the next plunge and start trying to play with strangers online instead of just people I'm comfortable with. Anyone got any advice on how often cam/voice are an expectation in online games? I'd really prefer to avoid them until I've played a few games and know whichever system we're using reasonably well: I've mostly used my friend's own personal d10 system up until now.

I know it helped me socialize immensely. I didn't have diagnosable anxiety but it was my only social outlet as a kid because of a bad home situation.

But it can also be a crutch. You can isolate yourself with people just like you, and get in a rut, or even be held back by a social circle that accepts or encourages behavior that is socially crippling anywhere else

I'm very bad at socializing, so I figured a little online play can help me learn to communicate my ideas to other people.

I have anxiety and here is my experience:

When I'm going to play the game, everything inside me screams to not go and find a way out. Strategies and excuses just flood me in a second. Then when it's over, I force myself to go anyway.

During and after I game, I feel a lot more relaxed. The hardest part is getting over that initial repulsion that says "no" from every cell in your body.

HERE, HAVE AN OLD TALE OF GAMING PAST.

suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/18458666/

I do know that some people in recent years have done actual psychological thesis for their PhDs on how tabletop games can help people with social anxiety and clinical depression.

I don't know if there is any actual science involved in it, but I believe the overarching theory is basically, "being social in a roleplay setting - where there are no real potential consequences that affect your real life self - helps build self-esteem and confidence to help combat/lessen anxiety levels for real-life scenarios."

In my case, it really helped me get out of my shell. I had been depressed, had social anxiety, and generally wasn't doing very well, never seeing anyone until I started DMing regularly IRL for people I knew from the internet. It gave me opportunities to be with a limited number of people, outside of public spaces, where I'm usually nervous. It gave me control over stuff (even if imaginary), and it made me realize people appreciate what I do.

boardgaming has become a social crutch for me, I get social interaction set within a structured frame and rules, which helps with my awkwardness

Haven't studies been published on this matter?

I know they've shown that roleplaying can help with depression, help prisoners rehabilitate, etc.