About: Dungeon "anxiety", Being afraid of failing or getting back into the game

[Gemina]

Is this whole thing about "tank-anxiety", "dungeon-anxiety", heal-anxiety",... a modern new trend now?
Saw posts and threads like this more often in the last few weeks, but this never was a big thing like a year ago

It's trendy if players were to use it as an excuse to behave and play in a manner that doesn't even come close to the general expectations of someone in DF. For example: A player queueing as a tank to reduce/eliminate wait time, can't hold aggro for crap, and then says they have tank-anxiety.

Those who truly have issues don't even really make it known to everyone else. They either don't queue at all, or will only go into content with people they know and trust. Some will withdraw from the queue once it pops, essentially chickening out. They also have a tendency to go so above and beyond what is expected of them that they easily outperform the average player even though they feel like they aren't playing well at all. They overmeld leveling gear, practice on a dummy for hours on end, study a guide 5-10 times before going into the content, etc. Even then, they are still not comfortable and their hearts are racing like crazy.

Maybe you guys should play single player games, if you don't like to play with others?
It's just a game, you won't die in RL, if you die in a Dungeon o:
There is nothing bad about failing, just learn from it

It's not that they don't like playing with others. As of matter of fact, they actually enjoy it very much, and that's why they chose the mmo format. They just have difficulty. Resorting to single player games isn't the answer for them, and telling them it's just a game and to not worry about failing doesn't help at all. It's very dismissive and shows you have absolutely no clue how their mind works. They already know it's a game and there is no danger of them actually dying. They are their own worst enemy.

The way to overcome this fear and anxiety is to face it. They have to queue for the DF without the safety net of their friends and FC mates and allow themselves to put their hard work to practice. When they do, there probably isn't anyone better or more understanding you can have in your PUG.